Another bite of chocolate?

When cocoa trees on small family farms and in the rainforests of India start to bear their fruits, their pods carry ripening cocoa beans. They look like the seeds of a tropical fruit in which you would expect to find anything but the taste of chocolate.

If harvested at the right time, the beans together with the pulp change their taste during the fermentation process. They are placed in wooden crates and left to ferment in a subtropical climate for almost a week to undergo an amazing transformation into gourmet chocolate. The fruity tones are reduced to give way to a deep cocoa aroma.

The wet, slimy cocoa beans must be dried to stop fermentation and develop their taste. The drying process takes place in direct sunlight to prevent mould infestation. The taste is being rounded and intensified. This is where it will be kept fresh.

Primeval forests and plantations are full of life - insects, yeasts and bacteria, all of which must be removed once the cocoa beans have been transported from family farms and sorted. Hot steam helps us to preserve the clean, natural character of the beans.

Just as coffee beans deepen their colour, flavour and taste during roasting, cocoa beans undergo a fairly similar treatment. We are faced with the daunting task of finding the right roasting temperature and time for each phase of the roasting process to make sure that the finished chocolate has the perfect taste.

The roasted, cooled cocoa beans are cut up into pieces so that it is possible to remove the barren husks that coat each of the seeds. At this point, we are only left with the concentrated natural product of the cocoa beans stripped of any unnecessary components.

As soon as the chopped beans are blended with sugar and milk between the rollers of the machine, they will turn into a milk chocolate base. The longer the rollers work, the finer the result. Perfection is achieved by connecting the rolling machine to conching drums powerful enough to develop and release even the subtlest flavours and aromas.

Nevertheless, the melted chocolate would not be soft and tender enough if we just let it cool down on its own. We have to temper it to encourage controlled crystallization and solidification into moulds to form the right structure. The most telling indicator of quality is the sound and feel of chocolate as you break it. Sometimes we add nuts, while at other times we are in the mood for a bit of fruit. Each table is different - prepared according to one of our recipes.

Wrapping the bars and storing them in boxes and warehouses, as well as delivering them to shops, is just the final stage of the process which allows you to become part of our enjoyable adventure. Maybe right now you're savouring a square of chocolate yourself while reading these sweet lines.