Hershey Park

On May 1st some of Miss Eberhardt’s students attended an Orchestra Field Trip to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania and brought me along for all of the fun! They went to a competition at a high school and then enjoyed the rest of the day going on rides at Hershey Park.

It started raining mid-day, so they decided to go to the Hershey tour. It was fun and educational as well. While on the tour, students learned about how chocolate is made and about cocoa fermentation (an important topic of our studies in biology!) and other topics covered in biology class.

This is the journey that a little cocoa bean takes to become the delicious chocolate from Hershey’s!

Cocoa starts from the cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao). This tree grows in South America, Africa, and Indonesia. This tree grows a fruit about the size of a small pineapple. Inside this fruit are 20 – 40 seeds, otherwise known as cocoa beans.

The beans are harvested from the trunks and branches of the cocoa tree with a curved knife or a long pole. They are harvested when green, as this is when the pods are ripest and the beans will have the best aroma and flavor. The pods are opened with a machete and the pulp and cocoa seeds are removed. The rind is discarded. The pulp and seeds are placed together in bins for about a week. This “sweats” the pulp and seeds and the pulp liquefies as it ferments. They drain the fermented pulp away, and leave the cocoa beans to be collected. Fermenting the beans is where the flavor comes from. Then they dry the beans for roasting.

Then the beans are cleaned and roasted to bring out the flavor. Then, the roasted beans are winnowed. This removes the meat (a.k.a. the nib) of the bean from the shell. Then the nibs are ground and a viscous liquid forms, called chocolate liquor (there is no actual liquor though). This chocolate liquor is pure unsweetened chocolate. It is very bitter. Ingredients are added to the chocolate liquor like sugar, milk, and flavors like vanilla.

The chocolate goes through a machine that mills the chocolate, or massages and blends the ingredients together. This can take from 2 to 6 days.

Then the chocolate is tempered, heating the chocolate slowly, and then letting it cool, allowing the molecules solidify in an orderly fashion. If the chocolate is not tempered properly, the chocolate will separate. The chocolate is poured into molds, cooled, and sent to packaging. Then it hits the stores for everyone to enjoy!

I had a great day with Sara and Julia at Hershey Park. Even though we were on an Orchestra field trip in an amusement park, biology was still in our mines as we gained even more information relating to our in-class studies! See you all soon!

XOXO, Wilhemina