Cocoa beans have numerous similarities to coffee beans, with some important differences in processes. They are both fermented (fermented cocoa almost looks already roasted), roasted and ground for use. Cocoa beans come in three primary varietals, Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario but there are hundreds of strains for each. Very loosely, Criollo are analogous to Arabica coffee in that it is the cream of the crop and has the most delicate and complex array of flavors. But in many cases, this can also mean a very mild chocolate.
The Forastero can be compared to Robusta coffee in its disease resistance and higher production, but that is where the comparison ends. Where robusta is just horrid 99% of the time, Forastero is not like that. It has a strong full cocoa flavor, but depending on the grade and preparation, can be rather one dimensional. Well prepared Forastero is what most of us are used to eating in chocolate.
Finally, Trinitario is a hybrid of the two, and can have various characters of both parents. Often a Trinitario bean is spoken of as having a strong or weak Criollo influence.
I really like how the C-Spot lays it out. I recommend you check them out instead of me copying all of their stellar information here. I will quote this though.
Practically every popular resource divides cacáo into 3 primary varietals: Criollo, Forastero, & Trinitario; an overly simplistic & deeply flawed scheme, & by no means hard & fast distinctions because cacáo is notoriously promiscuous, engendering classification nightmares, & often plain guesswork. With so much genetic cross-pollination, hybridization, mutation, & recombination, it’s rare & increasingly difficult to find any pure forms. To adapt a thought from Immanuel Kant… out of the crooked timber of Theobroma cacáo, nothing entirely straight can be picked. And yet complex crosses are necessary in order to select for genotypes with fine flavor, high yield, & resistance to diseases/pests.
You may see a 4th general varietal mentioned, Nacional. I tend to fall into the class of folks who consider it more of a Primary Strain along with the following:
Amazon
Amelonado
Beniano
Bicolor
Contamana
Criollo
Grandiflorum
Guiana
Juruá
Nacional
Purús
The next step down in granulation are Cultivar Strains.
Amazonas, Bahia, Cacao Monka, Canoabo, Carenero, Catongo, Caucano, CCN-51, CCRP, Ceylan, Chuao, Chuno, Comum, Cumboto, Cuyagua, EET, Esmeraldas, Guasare, ICS, IMC 67, Indio Rojo, Java, La Red, Maracaibo, Matina, Merideño, Nicaliso, Ocumare, Pajarito, Pandora, Perija, Playa Alta, Porcelana, Rio Caribe, Sur Del Lago, Theobahia, Trinitario
Roasted vs Raw
I know there is a lot of information out there about the health benefits of chocolate, and I know some people like to eat cocoa in it's raw form for "maximum" health benefits. Personally, I do not recommend eating ANY cocoa raw. All commercial cocoa beans have been fermented by various yeasts and micro organisms, and are often open air dried. In addition, e.coli and Salmonella can be present on the surface of the husk. Proper roasting completely kills any potential surface contamination that may be present, makes them safe to eat and develops the flavors associated with chocolate. And proper, delicate roasting does not significantly reduce the health benefits of cocoa - after all, the benefits were originally found in finished chocolate, not raw cocoa beans. Keep that in mind.
There is even some debate as to whether the nutrients and various flavonoids are even nutritionally "available" in the raw form since roasting alters the physical structure of the cocoa bean and makes it easier to digest. If you do want to eat cocoa beans whole as a snack, go right ahead - just roast them first. And if you really don't want to roast them, please peel them.
Sorting
I strongly believe that cocoa beans should not be sorted for anything except foreign materials.
The very short version are my observations that
1) The look of a bean bears no correlation to its flavor, either good or bad.
2) Unpalatable flavors on their own can lend complexity and depth of flavor (think clove or all spice).
3) As beans preparation has become more sorted and pretty, flavorful dynamic chocolate have become more rare.
Why you should not sort in more depth.
If you are in doubt I suggest making two batches, one sorted and one not. Taste them blind and see what you think. Let science and observation be your guide.
Recipe Formulation and names:
To get you started, here are some basic windows for making different types of chocolate. Just don’t forget your total much always equal 100%. Our Formulator is helpful for that.
Dark/non milk chocolate
Cocoa nibs 60-80%
Cocoa butter 0-10%
Sugar 20-40%
Milk Chocolate
Cocoa nibs 10-40%
Cocoa butter 10-30%
Milk powder 10-25%
Sugar 20-40%
White Chocolate
Cocoa nibs 0%
Cocoa butter 30-40%
Milk powder 30-40%
Sugar 30-40%
The FDA regulates what certain types of chocolate are called when they are sold.
White Chocolate:
0% cocoa solids
More than 20% cocoa butter
More than 3.5% milk fat
More than 14% milk solids
Less than 55% sugar
Sweet Chocolate
More than 15% cocoa liquor (total of cocoa solids and cocoa butter)
Less than 12 milk solids
Milk Chocolate
More than 10% cocoa liquor (total of cocoa solids and butter)
More than 3.39 % milk fat
12% milk solids or more.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that dark chocolate, whether labeled bittersweet, semisweet, or dark, must be at least 35 percent cocoa.
There is a more in depth here:
Those rule only apply if you are selling your chocolate. If you are making you chocolate at home for personal consumption you can do whatever you wish as long as you hold to some basics that assure the recipe can actually be made.
There are two big rules in chocolate making.
#1 NO WATER
#2 Make sure you have enough fat in the recipe to allow sufficient fluidity to refine.
For #1 that just means no honey, syrup, etc. Chocolate is what is known as a non-Newtonian fluid and in this case, if you add water in any form, it stops being a non-Newtonian fluid so it stops being chocolate. Feel free to geek out about it here in our Viscosity Article.
For #2, it is notoriously hard to give exact answers but there are really good rules of thumb. Basically, most dark chocolate recipes require around 35% fat. There is a good margin of safety there. In some cases you can get down to 30% fat and all is good. If you dry all your ingredients you can often get away with even less fat.
On the other hand, milk chocolates often require upwards to 40% fat or more due to interesting chemical bonding that occur between some of the milk protein molecules that lead to a higher viscosity.
How much more cocoa butter do you need? I don’t know as there are just too many variables involved. What I suggest is that you add it empirically while you are making the chocolate and record your numbers.
At the end of the day, that is the real key to recipes.
Make it.
Taste and evaluate it.
Make an educated guess what is and isn’t to your liking and either add more of one or more ingredients to it (recording everything of course) or make it again and repeat the process.
Said another way, iterate, learn, iterate again until you are happy.
Our Formulator is helpful when you are contemplating changes as it gives you how much fat and various proportions that are in your proposed recipe.
Other ingredients
There are a large number of non-standard ingredients that can be added to chocolate for a variety of flavors and textures.
For ones that you want or need to refine in, I strongly recommend you do very small test batches to determine if they are even compatible.
Start with very small (<1%) amounts of essential oils and other strongly flavored ingredients.
For bulk ingredients like coffee and various freeze dried fruit powders start at 1-2% and work your way up.