A Closer Look: Chocolate

WHAT IS CHOCOLATE?
Chocolate is one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world. It is made mostly from cocoa beans and can be used in many ways, including sweets such as chocolate bars; baking, both as flavoring and decor; beverages, such as chocolate milk drinks; and flavoring items such as ice cream, yogurts, and much more.

HOW IS CHOCOLATE MADE?
HARVESTING: Chocolate comes from cacao pods which are harvested from cacao trees. The pods are then cut open to extract the cacao beans.

FERMENTATION & DRYING: The beans are then laid in a sunny field covered in banana peels to ferment for a few days. After fermentation, the beans are then spread out in the sun to dry.

ROASTING: Once the beans are dried, the beans are transported to a manufacturing plant and roasted while they are in their shell.

WINNOWING: The roasted beans are then cracked open to remove the outer shell, leaving behind the cacao nibs.

PRESSING: The nibs are then pressed into “chocolate liquor”. This liquor can be used either as is in the chocolate manufacturing or processed in a filter press to separate the liquid (cocoa butter) from the solids, which are ground into cocoa powder.

The cocoa butter is filtered to remove all remaining solids and can then be refined in a steam vacuum process to remove the chocolate scent. The color is then removed with a clay filter.

COCOA POWDER
There are two main types of cocoa powder available, natural and alkalized (Dutch processed). Natural cocoa powder is left untreated in its natural state. It is a lighter brown and naturally acidic. When used in baking, the addition of an alkaline substance such as baking soda will aid in the leavening of the recipe due to the reaction of the acid with the alkaline that produces carbon dioxide.

Alkalized cocoa powder, or Dutch Processed cocoa powder, is washed with an alkali solution that neutralizes the cocoa’s acidity. This process reduces the acidity and darkens the color, ranging from a deep reddish brown to nearly black. This is commonly used in baking with recipes that call for baking powder which has a neutral pH.

CHOCOLATE MANUFACTURING
MIXING: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, and milk components (if needed) are mixed together. Compound chocolate is made of cocoa powder and vegetable fat, which is used as a substitute for the more expensive cocoa butter. Compound chocolate is widely used in commercial confectionery and baking due to the lower cost and ease of handling.

REFINING AND CONCHING: After mixing, the chocolate is passed between a series of rollers for particle size reduction and then the chocolate is continuously mixed for a long time in a process called conching, which helps improve texture and flavor. Ingredients such as lecithin, vanilla flavor and additional cocoa butter can be added during this process.

TEMPERING: The chocolate is then cooled and reheated to stabilize the chocolate, giving the final product a smooth and a glossy finish.

MOLDING AND COOLING: The tempered chocolate is then poured into molds to form bars or other shapes and then cooled to set and then removed from the mold and packaged.

Each step can be adjusted to produce a different type of chocolate.

IS CHOCOLATE KOSHER?
Liquid chocolate turns into solid at room temperature, which can cause challenges at the manufacturing plants and, therefore, the chocolate is kept hot. This is usually done with hot water or steam in the jackets of the holding tanks. This can pose a kashrus concern if the same water or steam is shared with chocolate of a different status (dairy, non-kosher, or chometz).

Cocoa liquor and liquid chocolate can be shipped in heated tankers between manufacturing plants. If the tankers carried a non-kosher product or a product of a different kosher status they need to be kosherized before transporting kosher product.

The refining process to remove the odor of the butter oil can potentially be done on equipment shared with non-kosher productions (animal fats are also processed on such equipment).

All the ingredients and processing equipment used in the chocolate production need to be the same kosher status as the desired end product (pareve/dairy/Passover/Cholov Yisroel). There are many possible additives that are used to reduce costs or produce a product with a specific flavor or filling, therefore, chocolate should only be consumed with a reliable kosher certification.

DAIRY EQUIPMENT: Dark chocolate that is processed on dairy equipment will usually be certified as dairy and not as dairy equipment due to the common practice of emptying the lines during changeovers without washing them. This allows small amounts of dairy chocolate to be mixed in the dark chocolate, even when not declared on the label due to the low levels. The DE designation is only used for products without any dairy residue.

Chocolate production equipment is usually heated and requires kashering when changing kosher status from non-kosher to kosher, dairy to pareve or Cholov Yisroel, and for Passover productions. While the typical way to kasher such equipment is with boiling water (hagala), this is a challenge with chocolate equipment – companies are very reluctant to introduce water to chocolate equipment because if any water gets into the actual chocolate it ruins the production.

There is a discussion whether hagala can be done with oil or with chocolate. OK Kosher will only use water for hagala because shaar mashkim (other liquids) are only allowed to be used bidieved¹ and since chocolate is solid at room temp it is not clear that it can be considered “mashke”². OK Kosher will either kasher with water (on rare occasions) and then the company will make sure the equipment is completely dry before resuming the production, or kasher with libun (fire) if the process is above yad soledes and the equipment cannot be dedicated to a specific kosher status. Performing libun requires careful planning since the machinery often has many layers and very thick walls. A series of calculations, based on the temperature of the fire and the thickness of the walls of the machine, are made to determine the amount of time needed to complete the libun.

Needless to say, when OK Kosher certifies special productions such as Kosher for Pesach and Cholov Yisroel chocolate, the entire process is supervised by a mashgiach temidi.

רמ”א או”ח תנב, ה.בשעת הדחק .איגר א, פג 1 one can follow the law of בדיעבד – תשובות ר”ע
ראה אגרות משה יו”ד א, ס ויו”ד ב, מא 2

Rabbi Hendel is a member of the OK Kosher Vaad HaKashrus.