Godel Chocolate Factory Tour

Are you aware that there is such thing as World Chocolate Day celebrated every 7th day of July?  Google to the rescue...check history. :) 

And it's perfect timing. We had the chance to see how chocolates are being manufactured… straight from the factory. Thank you Godel for the fun day with your "sweets" and "giant machines."

All Godel choco products are made from the finest cacao locally sourced out from cacao growers in Davao and South Cotabato.  If others are keeping secret the manufacturing side of their products, Godel is confident and proud to share with their customers how they make their chocolates.

Choco Bars and Tablea

Choco Bombs and Stir-ins

Cacao Tea

== G -- O -- D -- E -- L ==

The Process of Making Chocolates

SORTING

The process starts with the SORTING, the most tedious step.  After separating the beans by size using a size-sorter machine, it will undergo another sorting, this time, manually by hands (and eyes) based on set criteria. 

Sorting Guide

If bean falls on any of the 5 illustrations on the guide, double, moldy, cracked, flat and half, it goes to the reject tray.

the rejected beans

Otherwise, it goes to the "good ones" tray

 

the "good ones"

Bean testing is also being performed per batch of cacao deliveries to check if the fermentation of the batch of beans delivered are good.   

Fermentation Test Sampling

In this test, around 50 beans will be put into this case enclosure, will be cut into halves to check on the inside color

cut into halves

The inside color of the beans denotes its fermentation grade. If mostly brown, that means fermentation is good and they can proceed to roasting. If color is mostly purple, or black, beans are not good.

But before roasting, the beans will again be randomly tested but this time, to check for moisture using a moisture meter. 

moisture meter

Moisture is a big factor affecting the taste and acidity of the finish product. If you want quality output, you have to be thorough on this stage of production. Godel is definitely practicing quality control at its best having to undergo all these steps. 

When the beans passed the manual sorting, fermentation and moisture test, Roasting is next.

ROASTING

The roasting machine Godel is using can handle 8-kg of beans per batch. Beans should be roasted for 40 minutes in medium temperature around 120 to 130 deg., then it will be vacuum cooled for 8 minutes to prevent any moisture from developing.

 

CRACKING

The cooled beans will then be cracked using this machine.

WINNOWING

Winnowing followed. This is the process where the nibs are separated from the husk. 

From this point, there is no more waste. The husks gathered can still be used to make cocoa tea. 

The nibs go to the next stage, Refining/Conching

  

REFINING / CONCHING

In this stage, the nibs are transformed into cocoa mass. Some cacao chocolate producers stop at this point and proceed with molding. Godel doesn't. They want a finer texture and is focus on quality. 

Refining the Nibs

not yet so refine at this stage

For a finer quality output, the cocoa mass is transferred to a ball milling machine to spin for another 2 to 3 hours. It is from this point that you can put add-on flavorings to the cacao mixture, sugar, milk, or cream.  

Conching follow. This is a process used in the manufactire of chocolates whereby a surface scraping mixer and agitator, known as conche, evenly distributes cocoa butter within the chocolate and may act as pollisher of the particles. 

After "conching" process

TEMPERING, DOSING, MOLDING

The chocolate mass, sweet or unsweetened, is placed into molds (here at 9 grams for each tablea), and then tempered.

This process, dosing, tempering and molding, can also be done manually but requires a lot of hardwork and effort :)

COOLING / DEMOLDING

The tempered molds are placed in the ref for 2-3 minutes to let them harden.

 

Freezing 2-3 minutes

Demolding (photo credits, Happeningph.com)

PACKAGING

The hard set tablea are packed in tubs while the chocolate bars are packed in a horizontal packing machine.

 

THE TASTING

And finally.... we get a taste of it all!!!  

50% choco with almonds

Salted Caramel

Chocolate Bomb

Cocoa-filled Choco

It’s a really fun chocolate factory tour!

Godel offers SOLUTIONS (tools/equipment) for chocolate makers as well as products (chocolates/tablea/tea) for chocolate lovers. We were also toured the Vesmach machines area.

We even took a peek on their bakery tools and accessories display area. 

 

The pictures says it all!  Everything about baking, you can find it at Godel/JCG Marketing/Vesmach. 

JCG and Godel products are available online, thru Lazada and Shopee. You can also order direct from them.

For interested companies or individuals, you can call  at 632-88693754 to 56 to book an appointment. For more information about the company and their products, check out their social media pages. 

Godel Chocolate Facebook - fb.me/godelchocolate
Instagram - instagram.com/godel_chocolate
Youtube - youtube.com/godelchocolate

Vesmach Facebook - fb.me/vesmach
Instagram - instagram.com/vesmach_ph
Youtube - youtube.com/vesmachtv

Such an awesome day inside a "chocolate factory." Thank you Ms. Marie of Godel for the very warm welcome! Congratulations and more power! Special thanks to Sir Ver Garcia of Bloggers Association of the Philippines for organizing the visit.