Technology determines taste

IF WE TAKE A LOOK at modern-day chocolate manufacturing practices, it's clear that industrial production is a very technical affair. If the cocoa paste is to be transformed into chocolate, it has sugar, possibly also cocoa butter, and milk products added to it, depending on the final product. To create chocolate paste, cocoa butter is used not only as part of the cocoa paste, but also as a pure fat. Cocoa butter is obtained by pressing prepared cocoa paste.

To begin with, the cocoa beans are coarsely ground in a crusher. The shells of the "cocoa nib" are suctioned off using strong air currents for further use in other industries. The cocoa nibs, which are still coarse, are then ground in special mills to create a fine "cocoa paste". The heat generated by the pressure and friction allows the cocoa butter (approx 50%) contained in the beans to melt. The now liquid cocoa paste is very dark in colour; it has a characteristic, strong aroma and flavour and gradually thickens as it cools. At a particle size of around 100 mμ, it forms the basis for chocolate production. A delicate melt is only achieved at a particle size of less than 25mμ. If the chocolate is too coarse, it has a rough, sandy character. If the particles are too small, the chocolate sticks to the teeth.

In the next step, the cocoa paste goes into the "mixer", or mélangeur, where it is blended with the other three basic chocolate ingredients of cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder along with the closely-guarded secret ingredients in the relevant recipe, all added in precisely the right quantities, and then kneaded intensively for 30 minutes.

The fat content determines the flow characteristics, and the mixture must be of a very specific consistency when it leaves the mixer in order to achieve the best rolling results in the next stage of the processing chain. In the raffineur (refiner), the cocoa paste is rolled out in a two-stage process to create a wafer-thin layer: it first passes through a twin roller and then through a five-roller mechanism (comprising five cooled steel rollers that prevent the paste from liquefying). As a result of all this rolling, the coarse chocolate paste is transformed in the heat and pressure into a much finer mixture whose individual components are no longer distinguishable to the human tongue (15 to 20 mμ).

The "cocoa cake", as it is known, is produced almost as a by-product of the rolling process. This cocoa cake is ground and sieved to produce cocoa powder. The cocoa butter, which is also obtained during the rolling process, is a very valuable fat with a strong aroma.

In its original state, the cocoa paste is still very bitter and sharp, since the individual ingredients have not yet blended together perfectly. This is why the chocolate is "conched", or refined. In the "conching" process, as it is known, the paste is warmed and moved for hours at a time. Unwanted aromas are made to disappear and the cocoa butter surrounds the tiny particles of chocolate. The effect is that the chocolate no longer tastes as bitter, it becomes creamy and it melts beautifully on the tongue. This inspired method was developed by Rodolphe Lindt as far back as 1879, five years after Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate.

The magic word: cocoa butter

Cocoa butter is an important raw material for creating chocolate. It is what makes chocolate chocolate, and gives it its incredible flavour and melting properties.

It's all about the melt. Some of the cocoa paste is fed through largNike