Woman Shares How to Make Real Homemade Chocolate With 'Rotten' Cacao Seeds

One chef's guide to making chocolate bars from fermented cacao seeds has fascinated the internet.

My Nguyen has amassed a considerable following for her healthy recipes and home cooking hacks on social media, including the chocolate bar manual, which has reached a whopping 51 million views on YouTube since it was posted in September 2021.

Nguyen told Newsweek that the video blew up her YouTube channel overnight, winning her 100,000 subscribers in 24 hours.

"It really just changed my career, making chocolate!" she said.

In the video, Nguyen showed how she hammered open a cacao pod to extract the seeds and fermented them for seven days. After that period, even the experienced chef recoiled at the odor of the seeds.

"I'm gonna transform these boiled, rotten, fermented cacao seeds and make chocolate," she declared.

Nguyen then baked the seeds at 400 degrees for 12 minutes and peeled off the shells to reveal cacao nibs.

Next, she blended the cacao nibs with sugar and coconut oil. After freezing the mixture in a tray for 30 minutes, she held up the mouth-watering result: a perfect chocolate bar.

Millions of viewers have been intrigued by the transformation of repulsive, rotten cacao seeds into a delicious dessert.

"I still don't understand how some human opened the pod, looked at the gooey alien larva inside, and let it rot before roasting it, crushing with sugar and oil, and making chocolate," one commenter mused.

Nguyen said that while her audience enjoyed many of her videos for their applicability to everyday life, the interest factor was what set her chocolate video apart.

"I don't think anyone's gonna order $40 of cacao pods and ferment it for a week and then make two chocolate bars from it," she laughed. "What was interesting was it was more educational."

As the restaurant industry has continued to suffer from the effects of COVID-19, many chefs have contended with restaurant closures and layoffs. Of the 20.5 million jobs that were lost in April 2020, approximately 5.9 million—almost one-third—were in the restaurant industry, according to a U.S. Department of Labor report. Some chefs have turned to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter to access consumers who are eating out less and looking to improve their home cooking.

Although the National Restaurant Association projected in February that restaurant sales would increase this year, the group said that rising labor and food costs would continue to dog the industry's slow recovery. Sales in 2022 will remain below pre-pandemic levels when adjusted for inflation, according to the "State of the Restaurant Industry Report."