3. On the Golden Road to Chocolate
Plain chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate
Cocoa paste, cocoa butter, sugar and milk are the four basic ingredients for making chocolate.
By blending them in accordance with specific recipes the three types of chocolate
are obtained which form the basis of every product assortment, namely
Plain chocolate: cocoa paste + cocoa butter + sugar
Milk chocolate: cocoa paste + cocoa butter + sugar + milk
White chocolate: cocoa butter + sugar + milk
Swiss foodstuffs regulations specify the limits within which the blending ratios
are allowed to vary; the latitude is sufficiently wide, however,
to enable the recipes of the various manufacturers to have their own character.
Kneading
In the case of milk chocolate for example, the cocoa paste, cocoa butter,
powdered or condensed milk, sugar and flavouring - maybe vanilla - go into the mixer,
where they are pulverised and kneaded. The result is a homogeneous, paste-like mixture,
which is already pleasant to the taste: chocolate at last! It is still gritty to the palate,
however, and does not yet possess the final flavour which makes it so popular.
It bas to be further refined.
Rolling
Depending on the design of the rolling mils, three or five vertically mounted steel rollers
rotate in opposite directions. Under heavy pressure they pulverise the tiny particles
of cocoa and sugar down to a size of approx. 30 microns. (One micron is a thousandth part
of a millimetre!) The cloying paste is first forced between the two lowest rollers.
Since the roller above is rotating at a faster speed it picks up the paste and feeds
it upwards on to the next roller, until, with the pressure increasing all the time and
the clearance between the rollers getting less and less, a very fine,
flaky powder can be scraped off the top roller by a fixed blade.
Conching
But still the chocolate paste is not smooth enough to satisfy our palates.
The separate flavours of the individual ingredients have not yet combined;
the pure, rounded aroma is still missing. But within two or three days ail that will have
been put right. For during this period the chocolate paste will be refined
to such an extent in the conches that it will flatter even the most discriminating palate.
Conches (from the Spanish word “concha”, meaning a shell) is the name given to the troughs
in which 100 to 1000 kilograms of chocolate paste at a time can be heated up to 80 C and,
while being constantly stirred, is given a velvet smoothness by the addition of certain
amounts of cocoa butter and of the very valuable lecithin. In the horizontal troughs or
conches, for example, a roller travels constantly from one end of the container to
the other. In the circular conches, which are in more general use today as a result of
their increased efficiency — their capacity can be as great as 9 tons — a similar effect is
achieved by means of rotary movement. A kind of aeration of the liquid chocolate paste
then takes place in the conches: its bitter taste gradually disappears and the flavour is
fully developed. At the same time, the ultimate homogeneity of the chocolate is produced
and a soft film of cocoa butter begins to form around each of the extremely small particles.
The chocolate no longer seems sandy, but dissolves meltingly on the tongue.
It has attained the outstanding purity which gives it its reputation.
Further methods of refining have been developed as part of rationalisation of the production process.
The elimination of the bitter taste and homogenisation no longer take place simultaneously
in the conches, but in separate manufacturing operations. These processes ensure a uniform
high quality of the chocolate and permit substantial economies in space, time and energy.
Temporary Storage
On the hand, the conches are always filled with the largest amounts possible
in the interests of efficient production. On the other hand, the moulding machines
can only accept small amounts of chocolate paste at one time, in order to shape it into bars,
chocolates and other products. Temporary storage is therefore necessary.
For shorter periods in store, the chocolate is retained in its liquid state,
but for longer storage it is solidified, usually in the form of hundredweight blocks.
These blocks must be reheated before further processing so that they liquefy again.
Tempering
Before the forming process, the chocolate paste must be heated to 50 C and then cooled
to a specific temperature a little over 30 C depending on the product.
This thickens the chocolate and imparts the right flow properties for filling the moulds.
This complex operation is performed in the tempering plant and is necessary to give
the final chocolate product a delicate composition, a uniform structure and a well-rounded
flavour. The storage life is also increased in this way.
Source : Chocologie published by Chocosuisse CH-3000 Bern
