The Vlogging Truth: How to make Chocolate!

Hello Everyone,

I have waited a might long time to do this as I am on a new journey to live a healthier life diet wise. Before I get into the recipe and ingredient aspect of it, I want to share what exactly is chocolate. chocolate's main ingredient isn't chocolate firstly. Its main ingredient is actually Cocoa and cocoa is very, very bitter. It is a bean or a seed looking bean that comes from the Cocoa tree. It is housed in a cocoon looking fruit and seeded. I learned that chocolate and confectionery companies pack a whole lot of sugar into their chocolate. Cocoa is very, very bitter and to get rid of that bitterness you have to add lots of sugar and milk. At least when you make your own chocolate you can ddetermine how much sugar and milk you want to add.

Ingredients:

. Cocoa Beans http://amzn.to/2gtLfCn

. Condensed Milk http://amzn.to/2gLdv7K

Products:

. Mill (substitute) http://amzn.to/2fAkkUF

. Grease Paper http://amzn.to/2g54sgP

1. In total the cocoa beans I purchased from my local market was about 3 pounds I think. That is just an estimate. Initially the cocoa beans were a bit moist on the outside and because I had never purchased them before or knew nothing about them I had them sitting in the refrigerator for months. Every few weeks I would crack one and ensure it isn't spoiling. They were very fresh when I was ready for them regardless of how long I had them in the refrigerator.

2. I spread the Cocoa Beans into a baking tray and put them in the oven until I heard a popping sound. The popping sound indicates that the shell is breaking away from the actual seed that we will get our chocolate from.

3. After roasting, removing the shell is very easy. It reminds me a lot like shelling peanuts. When the shell of the cocoa bean was too hard to crack after roasting, I would set those aside and roast again until I had shelled everything.

4. Now we will grind the roasted shelled cocoa beans. This grinder that I used was purchased in Guyana. I am not sure if you can find this easily where you are, but I did manage to find one online here at http://amzn.to/2fAkkUF. The first time I grind the cocoa beans into dust, the dust was very course. I realized that passing the course cocoa dust through the mill until it became soft, did the trick.

5. Now it is time for the fun part. We are going to add milk and sugar to our cocoa to get what everyone knows as chocolate. With the little amount of milk and sugar I added, I actually made dark chocolate. I added 1 part condensed milk (which already has sugar), two parts cocoa cream and mixed the ingredients together.

Mixing cocoa and condensed milk together

6. It is time to microwave. I put it on 1 minute first, but because of the amount of cocoa and condensed milk, 1 minute was not enough. I put in 4 minutes additional on the microwave. You can play with your minutes depending on how fast or slow your microwave it. If you are not into microwaving food, you can cook yours in a pot over fire until everything melts together. I should let you know that cocoa beans have a natural oil and when grinded into a smooth texture it is nice and soft, but when left at room temperature overnight it clumps up and becomes dry, but the moment it touches heat and moisture it gets soft again.

7. After microwaving, stir until it becomes cool again.

8. Place chocolate on a flat surface that is covered with grease paper and spread chocolate into a thick sheet. Cover with another sheet of grease paper and flatten with a metal baking sheet for a smooth top.