Dark Chocolate
The simplest type of chocolate, in processing terms, is dark chocolate.
Here the cocoa liquor, extra cocoa butter and sugar are mixed to form a stiff paste.
The paste is then passed through refining rolls on order to further reduce the particle size of the mixture (particularly of the sugar).
After refining, the resulting “flake” is “concealed,” i.e., mixed intensively with extra cocoa butter for several hours, of not days.
During conching, the viscosity of the chocolate is gradually educed and the flavor of the chocolate becomes more rounded.
Control of particle size, both during liquor grinding and in the subsequent roll-refining, is critical. Chocolate should not taste gritty, but neither should it be so fine that the texture becomes slimy.
Control of particle size also contributes to the control of chocolate viscosity, which is vital to the the chocolate manufacturer.
Viscosity must be reduced to the point where it is suitable for enrobing finished confectionary centers, or for molding into tablets.
Viscosity is directly related to the work that is put into the chocolate in the conche.
Viscosity can also be reduced by adding extra cocoa butter, but this will be an expensive route because of the cost of cocoa butter and it will not necessarily result in a preferred product.
Lecithin is also added at the conching stage as an aid to viscosity reduction.
Dark Chocolate
The simplest type of chocolate, in processing terms, is dark chocolate.
Here the cocoa liquor, extra cocoa butter and sugar are mixed to form a stiff paste.
The paste is then passed through refining rolls on order to further reduce the particle size of the mixture (particularly of the sugar).
After refining, the resulting “flake” is “concealed,” i.e., mixed intensively with extra cocoa butter for several hours, of not days.
During conching, the viscosity of the chocolate is gradually educed and the flavor of the chocolate becomes more rounded.
Control of particle size, both during liquor grinding and in the subsequent roll-refining, is critical. Chocolate should not taste gritty, but neither should it be so fine that the texture becomes slimy.
Control of particle size also contributes to the control of chocolate viscosity, which is vital to the the chocolate manufacturer.
Viscosity must be reduced to the point where it is suitable for enrobing finished confectionary centers, or for molding into tablets.
Viscosity is directly related to the work that is put into the chocolate in the conche.
Viscosity can also be reduced by adding extra cocoa butter, but this will be an expensive route because of the cost of cocoa butter and it will not necessarily result in a preferred product.
Lecithin is also added at the conching stage as an aid to viscosity reduction.
Dark Chocolate
