Sign In 0 Our Process Making the magic – our process: We’re proud to say we make our chocolate from scratch. From harvesting the cacao pods in Ecuador, right through to the finished Ombar on the shelf. It requires heaps of hard work, teamwork and commitment, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Keeping close to our cacao sparks our creativity and helps us be the best chocolate champions we can be. 1. Harvesting Farmers who own small-holdings in Ecuador harvest the pods from cacao trees and scoop out the beans. 2. Fermenting These beans are taken to a post-harvest station nearby where the beans are carefully fermented in wooden boxes for 3-4 days under the watchful eye of Paola. 3. Drying Once fermented, the beans are left on raised beds to air dry in the sun before being transported to our partner in the capital of Ecuador, Quito. 4. Winnowing Here the beans are dried once more before being broken into pieces (nibs) and the papery husk removed. 5. Shipping The nibs are shipped by boat to our chocolate factory in Cambridge, UK. 6. Grinding We then carefully grind the cacao nibs into a smooth paste called cacao mass. This is our starting point for chocolate. 7. Refining The mass is pumped into another machine called a refiner-conch where it is mixed with the other ingredients and ground for up to 24 hours until the consistency is silky smooth. This is liquid chocolate. 8. Tempering We then pump the chocolate into a machine that cools it to a very specific temperature that forms a crystal structure in the cocoa butter. This is what gives chocolate a nice snap. It’s more stable too. 9. Moulding The crystallised chocolate is deposited into our special Ombar moulds to form bars (or buttons) with a swanky hi-tech Swiss depositing machine and the bars are then cooled in a giant fridge for about 40 minutes. 10. Demoulding If we’ve got the crystallisation stage right, then the chocolate should be hard. We then demould the chocolate by hand. 11. Wrapping Finally, the chocolate bars are packed on our classic, Swiss wrapping machines. Ta Dah! A small and perfectly formed Ombar is ready. MoreOm Stories (See our latest news) Say Hello Join our team FAQs Ts & Cs Privacy Policy © 2021 Ombar. All rights reserved. Design by The Collaborators. Our website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Ombar In cookies is also great. But that's a different story... Want to know more about website cookies? Right this way