Chocolate: From Cocoa Pod to Bar - How It's Made

Nova: Buckle up, Explorers.

Cosmo: Brains in!

Nova: Wheels up!

Nova & Cosmo: Brain Bus, let's GO!

Nova: You're on The Brain Bus.

Nova: I'm Nova, your driver.

Nova: And today we're heading somewhere amazing.

Nova: Are you ready, Explorers?

Nova: We're going... to a chocolate tree.

Nova: Chocolate starts as a big bumpy fruit.

Nova: It grows right on a tree trunk.

Nova: Like a tree wearing little footballs!

Nova: Can you picture that?

Nova: A tree. Wearing. Footballs.

Nova: That's where chocolate begins.

Nova: Let me tell you the whole story.

Nova: The story of how a seed becomes chocolate.

Nova: Far away, in a hot and rainy place...

Nova: There is a special tree.

Nova: It's called a cocoa tree.

Nova: Can you say... cocoa?

Nova: Cocoa. Good, Explorers.

Nova: The cocoa tree grows big bumpy fruits.

Nova: We call them pods.

Nova: The pods grow right out of the trunk.

Nova: Not on branches. Right on the trunk!

Nova: And the pods are so pretty.

Nova: They can be yellow.

Nova: Or orange.

Nova: Or red.

Nova: Or purple.

Nova: Like a rainbow growing on a tree.

Nova: Can you say... pod?

Nova: Pod. You've got it.

Nova: A farmer comes along with a big knife.

Nova: The farmer carefully cuts a pod open.

Nova: And inside...

Nova: Oh, Explorers.

Nova: Inside are little seeds.

Nova: White and squishy and covered in slippery goo.

Nova: They don't look like chocolate yet.

Nova: Not even a little bit.

Nova: And if you tasted one right now?

Nova: Yuck. So bitter!

Nova: Not sweet at all.

Nova: But the seeds have a long journey ahead.

Nova: First, the seeds need a rest.

Nova: The farmer piles the seeds up.

Nova: And covers them with big banana leaves.

Nova: Tucked in. All cosy.

Nova: The seeds rest there for about a whole week.

Nova: That's like a very long sleepover.

Nova: Under their leaf blankets.

Nova: And something magical happens while they sleep.

Nova: They start to smell... chocolatey.

Nova: Can you say... seeds?

Nova: Seeds. Wonderful.

Nova: After their long rest, the seeds wake up.

Nova: The farmer spreads them out in the sunshine.

Nova: The seeds dry in the sun.

Nova: They turn brown.

Nova: And crunchy.

Nova: Then - into a big warm oven they go.

Nova: The seeds get roasted.

Nova: Like cookies baking.

Nova: That smell. Ohh.

Nova: That's the chocolate smell starting.

Nova: After roasting, the seeds get smooshed.

Nova: And squished.

Nova: And stirred around and around and around.

Nova: All that smooshing turns them into a thick paste.

Nova: Like the warmest, creamiest porridge you ever saw.

Nova: Then in goes the sugar.

Nova: In goes the milk.

Nova: And it gets stirred and stirred for hours and hours.

Nova: Until it's perfectly smooth.

Nova: Now here comes the very last step.

Nova: The warm liquid chocolate gets poured.

Nova: Into a mold shaped like a bar.

Nova: Or a bunny.

Nova: Or a star.

Nova: And then - into the cold room.

Nova: The chocolate has a little sleep.

Nova: A cool, quiet sleep.

Nova: And when it wakes up...

Nova: It's chocolate.

Nova: Real chocolate.

Nova: The kind you know.

Nova: From a little seed.

Nova: On a big bumpy fruit.

Nova: On a tree.

Nova: But wait - before we go further.

Nova: Did you know that people have loved cacao for a very long time?

Nova: This part of our story comes from the Olmec people.

Nova: The Olmec people lived in what is now southern Mexico.

Nova: That was over three thousand years ago.

Nova: The Olmec people found the cocoa tree.

Nova: And they loved what was inside.

Nova: They were some of the very first people ever to use cacao.

Nova: And later, the Maya people of Mesoamerica -

Nova: The Maya people loved cacao too.

Nova: And many Maya people still do today.

Nova: They made a special drink from the seeds.

Nova: It was frothy. It was warm.

Nova: It tasted bitter, not sweet.

Nova: But to the Maya people, it was precious.

Nova: It was something very, very special.

Nova: And the Mexica people - sometimes called the Aztec people -

Nova: They loved cacao seeds so much...

Nova: They used them as money.

Nova: You could buy your breakfast with chocolate seeds.

Nova: People have known how wonderful cacao is for a long, long time.

Nova: Okay, Explorers. Quiz time!

Nova: I'm going to ask you three questions.

Nova: Take your very best guess.

Nova: Question one.

Nova: True or false...

Nova: Chocolate grows on a tree.

Nova: The answer is... TRUE!

Nova: The cocoa tree grows big bumpy pods.

Nova: And inside those pods are the seeds that become chocolate.

Nova: Question two.

Nova: True or false...

Nova: Cocoa seeds taste sweet when you first pick them.

Nova: The answer is... FALSE!

Nova: The seeds taste bitter at first. Yuck!

Nova: The sweetness comes later, when the sugar goes in.

Nova: Question three.

Nova: What color can cocoa pods be?

Nova: Is it... only brown?

Nova: Or... yellow, red, orange, or purple?

Nova: Or... only green?

Nova: Yellow, red, orange, or purple!

Nova: Like a little rainbow on the tree.

Nova: Farmers can tell when to pick them by the color.

Nova: Explorers, you thought so hard just now.

Nova: I could feel those brains working.

Nova: Every single question you tried.

Nova: And trying is the best thing of all.

Nova: Here come three wow facts.

Nova: Ready?

Nova: Fact one.

Nova: One cocoa pod is about the size of a small football.

Nova: A football. Full of chocolate seeds!

Nova: Fact two.

Nova: The Mexica people - sometimes called the Aztec people -

Nova: Used cacao beans as money.

Nova: Real money. For buying things!

Nova: Fact three.

Nova: Cocoa trees only grow in hot, rainy places.

Nova: Near the very middle of the Earth.

Nova: Where it's warm and wet every single day.

Nova: Wow.

Nova: Okay, Explorers. Here comes something fun.

Nova: Close your eyes if you can.

Nova: Let's pretend together.

Nova: You are a tiny cocoa seed.

Nova: You're snuggled inside a big bumpy fruit.

Nova: On a tree. Can you feel it?

Nova: Now a farmer picks the fruit.

Nova: And now you're tucked under big soft leaves.

Nova: Like a blanket. So cosy.

Nova: Can you feel how cosy that is?

Nova: Now you're out in the sunshine.

Nova: Warm. Toasty. Drying in the sun.

Nova: Now you're in the big warm oven.

Nova: Getting roasted. Getting that chocolate smell.

Nova: And now you're being stirred around and around.

Nova: Around and around in the big pot.

Nova: Can you wiggle your fingers like you're being stirred?

Nova: You did it. You became chocolate!

Nova: Here's a wondering question for everyone in the car.

Nova: If you could invent a brand new chocolate flavor...

Nova: What would you put in it?

Nova: Hmm. I wonder.

Nova: Explorers.

Nova: Let's just be still for a moment.

Nova: Think about that little seed.

Nova: It started inside a fruit on a tree.

Nova: It wasn't chocolate.

Nova: Not even close.

Nova: Then people changed it. Step by step.

Nova: A rest. Some sunshine. Some warmth. Some stirring.

Nova: Chocolate doesn't start as chocolate.

Nova: It starts as a fruit seed.

Nova: And people - very patient, very careful people - turn it into something wonderful.

Nova: Cacao trees have been growing on this Earth for millions and millions of years.

Nova: And people have been finding ways to love them for at least three thousand.

Nova: Every chocolate bar you've ever tasted carries that whole long story inside it.

Nova: And that's our stop for today, Explorers.

Nova: Next time, the Brain Bus is going somewhere brand new.

Nova: Somewhere full of creatures that glow in the dark.

Nova: I wonder what we'll find there.

Nova: Stay curious, stay clever, and keep that brain working!

Nova: Until the next stop, Explorers...

Cosmo: ...keep wondering.