Lesson video

Hello, everybody.

It is Mrs. Hardisty here for your English lesson for today.

It's a good one.

We are going to be learning all about how chocolate is made.

So there's going to be lots of different stages to learn about from how the cocoa beans are grown, all the way through to what happens in the factories to turn those cocoa beans into chocolate.

It's a really interesting process and I think you're going to really enjoy it.

So when you're ready, let's get started.

This is what we are going to do in today's lesson.

We're going to look at some technical vocabulary, some particular words that we will need in our explanation texts, and then we're going to learn how chocolate is made in different stages.

At the end of each stage, we are going to write our summary, our sentences that sums up what we have learned.

For this lesson you will need an exercise book or paper and a pencil.

Please make sure you have those things and then we can start.

We'll begin with our key vocabulary.

My turn, your turn.

Cocoa.

Cocoa is a plant that is used to make chocolate.

Harvest.

To harvest something is to pick and collect ripe fruit.

Machete.

We're going to do this with an action.

Machete.

A machete is a long blade or knife used for chopping fruit.

And then ferment.

And again, that's do it with an action.

Ferment.

'Cause this will help us understand what it means.

This is a process when beans break down and change colour.

Nib.

The nib is the tiny, soft centre of a cocoa bean.

Chocolate liquor.

This is the paste that is made from the nibs.

And then finally, winnower.

Let's try that one again, winnower.

This is a machine that removes the seed shells.

We'll learn more about the winnower later on in the lesson.

Let's now understand the process of how chocolate is made.

How is chocolate made? There are four main stages.

Harvesting, roasting, where things are put in an oven.

Grinding where they're crushed, and then for mixing and moulding, where they take the shape of the chocolates that we then buy and eat.

We're going to start with harvesting.

Chocolate comes from cocoa pods.

Cocoa pods are these rugby ball shaped and size pods that grow on cocoa trees.

These cocoa trees grow on family run farms. They can only grow in certain parts of the world where it's hot enough.

If I show you my map, you can see that they come from West Africa, Central America, some parts of South America, and a few areas of Asia.

But the most important growing areas, the ones that produce the most are West Africa and then South America and some bits of Central America.

Inside these pods are beans and it's the beans that are used to turn into chocolate.

The farmers harvest the pods by using their machete and they chop off the pods from the cocoa trees.

The cocoa trees can be quite tall so the farmers are really skilled in reaching up high and being able to chop these pods down.

Then they use the machete to split the pods in half so that they can then scoop out the beans that are inside the pod.

There are normally between around 30 and 50 beans inside the pod.

At this stage, the beans are kind of white and pulpy.

Let's check what we have learned so far.

Where do cocoa trees not grow? Is it Central America, Europe, West Africa, or South America? Can you tell me which one was it? Point to it.

Well done.

It's Europe, because Europe isn't hot enough to grow cocoa trees.

How big are the cocoa pods that grow up the trunk of the tree? Are they the size and shape of a tennis ball, a rugby ball, a football, or a ping pong ball? Again, tell me.

Point to it on your screen.

That's right.

They are the shape and size of a rugby ball.

Finally, can you remember how many seeds are in the pods? Is it between 30 and 50 or between 50 and 100? Which one was it? Tell me.

That's right.

It's between 30 and 50.

That's not the end of the harvesting stage.

Let's find out what happens to the beans next.

The beans are put in large trays and then they're covered with a layer of banana leaves.

Now banana trees grow in the same parts of the world as cocoa trees.

So there are lots of banana leaves available and these leaves are nice and big so they can cover the trays.

The reason why leaves are put on top is because it traps the heat underneath and the beans start to warm up.

As they warm up, they ferment and they break down and that pulpy kind of pulpiness breaks down and they turn from white to brown.

Finally in the harvesting stage, the beans are laid out on straw mats in the sun for one week.

This is really important because if they're put straight in bags after they've fermented, they would grow mouldy.

So they have to dry out first of all.

They're put on these straw mats to dry out and then they're packed into bags once they're dried and they're shipped, they're transported, they're taken to chocolate factories where the next stage happens.

Let's just check again what we've done.

True or false.

Farmers use banana leaves to ferment the beans.

Is that true or false? It's true, isn't it? The beans grow warm and moist, kind of wet under the leaves, and the white outer pulp breaks down.

Show me thumbs again, true or false.

The beans are put straight into bags to be transported.

Is that true or false? That's false.

The beans need to dry before they're put in the bags or they will grow mouldy.

We're going to pause now and think about everything that we've learned about the harvesting stage and we're going to write one sentence to describe what happens.

It's just going to be a short sentence.

We're not going to have lots of detail in it because that's going to come later on in the unit when we explain everything in more detail.

Here's my example.

Cocoa beans are grown, harvested, fermented, and dried in hot countries.

We've got all the main things that happen in the harvesting stage.

I'd like you now to pause your video, get your paper and pencil and write one sentence about what happens in the harvesting stage.

Well done.

Now we're on to the second stage, which is the roasting stage, and this is much shorter.

Once the beans arrive at the chocolate factories, they are sorted by hand.

The people who work in the factory sort the seeds by their size, so how big they are, and the country that they have come from.

Once they're sorted, each group of beans is then put in an oven and roasted or cooked.

They're roasted for anywhere between 30 minutes, which is about half an hour, to up to two hours, depending on the size of the beans.

These ovens are really hot.

They are 250 degrees Celsius.

As the beans are roasting, they are rotated.

They are spun inside the oven.

That is really important because it stops the beans from only being cooked on one side.

So if they weren't spun around, they'd only roast on one side.

But they are rotated, so they're slowly turned around and that means that they are evenly roasted on all the different sides.

Okay, what have you learned? What can you remember? How hot is the oven that the beans are roasted in? Can you remember? Is it 250 degrees or is it 100 degrees? Can you point to it? Can you tell me which one was it? That's right.

It's 250 degrees Celsius.

And then why are the beans rotated in the oven? Is it to ensure they're roasted evenly or is it to ensure they don't burn? Those are quite similar, but one of them is the more precise answer.

Which one is it? Can you point? Is it the pink or the blue answer? That's right.

They are rotated to ensure that they are roasted evenly.

That's the end of the roasting stage.

We again, are going to write a sentence that sums up what we have learned in this stage.

So here's my example.

The beans are roasted for between 30 minutes and two hours.

That's all I'm putting for now.

Can you now pause your video and write your own sentence all about what happens at the roasting stage? Well done.

We've had harvesting and we've had roasting.

Now we're at the third stage, grinding.

Grinding, crushing down.

At this stage the beans are really, really hard, and crunchy, and brittle.

That would make the chocolate really hard and crunchy.

What needs to happen is those shells need to be removed.

All of the beans are put in to this machine called a winnower.

Remember, we looked at that at the start of our lesson.

A winnower.

They're broken down and crushed down and everything is separated out.

The shells are lighter than the rest of the beans.

So there's a fan inside the winnower that blows the shells away.

All that is left are the nibs, the very centre of the bean.

It's these nibs that are then used to make the chocolate.

However, the nibs are still quite hard because they've been roasted.

They're put into another machine with these really big, heavy rollers and they are crushed and ground again to make sure that they're not hard.

It all turns into a paste called chocolate liquor.

The nibs are crushed and ground and turned into this paste called chocolate liquor.

Right.

Time to have a check and think what we have learned.

What is the name of the small centre of the bean? Is it the shell, the nib, the pod, or the paste? Can you tell me which one was it? Can you call it out? Which one was it? That's right.

It's the nib And what is removed in the winnower? We've got the same options here.

Shell, nib, pod, paste.

What is removed? What is blown away in the winnower? Do you remember? Point to it.

Shout it out.

That's right, it's the shell.

True or false.

Show me with your thumbs.

The paste that is formed is called chocolate liquor.

Is that true or false? That's right, it's true.

The liquor can then be used to form different sorts and shapes of chocolate.

Okay, so that was our grinding stage now.

We're going to summarise that in another sentence.

Here is my example.

I couldn't quite fit it all into one sentence, so I've done two, The beans are ground in a winnower and only the nibs are left.

These are crushed to form a paste.

That was my example.

Can you now pause the video and write your own sentence about the grinding stage.

We've had the harvesting stage, roasting, grinding, and now we've got to the mixing and moulding stage.

The chocolate paste, the chocolate liquor, now has milk and sugar added to it and mixed up together.

This makes the actual chocolate, So now it's got milk and sugar in, it's chocolate.

The amount of milk and sugar changes depending on the sort of chocolate that is being made.

There's a different level of sugar for dark chocolate.

There's less sugar.

There's more milk for milk chocolate.

So then you can make dark, and milk, and white chocolate.

But at this stage of the chocolate, it's still quite dry and crumbly so it's not ready to eat.

The chocolate is then pushed through these rollers several times and these rollers push out any lumps and make the chocolate really nice and smooth.

Finally, the chocolate has to be melted into a liquid so that it can be poured into moulds to make different shapes.

Sometimes it's poured straight into these moulds just to make pure chocolate.

And at other times, other ingredients are added before it's poured in.

You might have nuts, or fruits, or caramel, or other flavourings that are added to the chocolate.

I wonder what kind of chocolate you really like eating? Do you like ones with nuts in? Do you like chocolate with different flavourings, like strawberry or orange? If you do, this is what happens if the flavourings and those extra ingredients are added to the chocolate melted liquid, and then it's all poured into the moulds.

It's left to set to harden up in the moulds and then it's ready to be packaged up and sent to the shops.

Let's have another final check of what we have learned of the mixing and moulding stage.

What is added to the paste? What's added to the paste? Be careful here.

Is it milk and sugar or is it the fruit, caramel, and nuts? Which one is it? Pink or blue? Point to it, call it out.

That's right.

It's the milk and sugar that is added to the paste and then once it's all smoothed out and all the lumps have gone, then it's melted in the fridge and caramel and nuts are added.

But the milk and sugar are what's added to the paste.

Show me your thumbs.

True or false? Chocolate has to be melted before it is put in moulds.

Is that true or false? Well then, that's true.

The melted chocolate can be formed into different shapes by being poured into different moulds.

For example, it could be in the shape of a bar or like at Easter time, it might be formed into the shape of a bunny or an egg, so it can be different shapes.

Now it's time for us to do our final summarising sentence.

Again, I couldn't quite fit it all into one so I've done two.

Milk and sugar are added and the mixture is smoothed between rollers.

The chocolate is melted and poured into moulds.

That's my example.

Can you now pause your video and write your sentence, explaining what happens at the mixing and moulding stage? Fantastic work, everyone.

That was a lot of information, wasn't there? About how chocolate is made.

There were so many different stages and you have done really well at learning and understanding each one.

We're going to use all that information to write our own explanation texts about chocolate soon.

Bye.