The Tanauan City Cacao Farmers Association received a 2-day training on cacao chocolate processing with an Awareness Seminar on Basic Food Hygiene from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Batangas, in partnership with the Office of the City Agriculture of Tanauan. The training was held at the association’s production facility in Brgy. Janopol Occidental, Tanauan City, Batangas, on
September 5-6.
Twenty-five members of the association participated in the training, which covered the science of chocolate. The discussion touched on cacao bean production, the biochemical profile of cacao and the ingredients of the seeds, biochemical quality parameters, cacao production steps, and its equipment. Cacao production processes such as tempering, molding, cooling, and packaging were also explained and
demonstrated to the participants.
After 16 hours of refining the ground cacao nibs, the chocolate underwent manual tempering to ensure a good shine, snap, and contraction during production. The tempered and stabilized particles were immediately poured into molds and cooled for 1 hour to achieve a more refined quality.
An awareness seminar on basic food hygiene was also integrated into the training to strengthen their food safety implementation and ensure that the chocolate products they produce conform to standards.
Mr. Romel M. Felismino, University Researcher II at the Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of the Philippines Los Baños, served as the resource speaker of the 2-day activity. Meanwhile, Tanauan City Mayor Nelson “Sonny” Collantes thanked the DOST-Batangas for the conduct of the technology training, which he mentioned was a good advantage for the association.
