Cocoa Beans

Traditionally, primary processing of cocoa involved whole bean roasting. Pretreating cocoa beans with the Micronizer, to separate the hull from the nib, for the first time allowed nib roasting, a revolutionary step for the industry resulting in substantial increases in yield, quality, flavour and above all else profits.

In 1976 the first Micronizer was sold in the Netherlands for the pre-treatment of cocoa beans. To date, the Micronizer has emerged as the industry’s preferred choice for thermally pre-treating cocoa beans to enable nib roasting; Micronizers feature in over 60% of all cocoa bean processing worldwide.

Noted for its reliability and very low maintenance costs, the infra red process ensures cleanliness, optimum shell separation (with less than 0.3% loss of nib in shell), larger nib %, fewer fines, no fat migration or measurable loss of cocoa butter, improved roaster performance, superior flavour development during roasting and major reductions in bacterial plate counts, insect fragments and rodent hair contamination.

Depending on the quality of the beans, surface temperatures of 115ºC are reached in 45 seconds. The radiant heat causes the shell to dry out very quickly (loosening). The infra red energy absorbed by the bean causes a rapid rise in water vapour pressure at the surface, and the shell splits away from the cotyledon. The hot cocoa beans are transported direct to the winnower. Currently Micronizing’s MR30 series processes a capacity of 8 tonnes per hour.