Demo: Making Chocolate at Home....From Bean to Bar

[Lior]

How about to Israel? I put this demo link on our local chocolate forum. I just loved the demo. Now I want togo check out the site. I hope that packaging that was talked about is also there!

[A Patric]

How about to Israel? I put this demo link on our local chocolate forum. I just loved the demo. Now I want togo check out the site. I hope that packaging that was talked about is also there!

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Hi Lior,

Well, unfortunately anything outside of North America isn't even on the radar at the moment.

As for the packaging, you can see it at http://www.Patric-Chocolate.com

The theme of the site, with the painting of the cacao pods, is based upon the packaging. You can also see a small version if you click on the 70% Madagascar bar to read the description.

However, the photo is still relatively small. So, I have uploaded a few larger photos that you can find here, including one of the unwrapped bars:

Package 1

Package 2

Package 3

Package 4

Bars

Enjoy!

Alan

[Lior]

Beautiful-just beautiful! The bars look so streamlined and clean-I love it!! I enjoyed looking at your blog as well. Thank you!!!

[CKatCook]

Very nice!!! Can't wait to order some....

and make my own as soon as the piggy bank allows...

[Kerry Beal]

I met up with Alan today at the NY chocolate show and was thrilled to get some of his chocolate. A couple of eG'ers and I have just been sitting around analysing the show and tasting Alan's chocolate.

We are smitten. It is fabulous. Fruity, smooth, beautifully tempered, a joy to enjoy.

[John DePaula]

I met up with Alan today at the NY chocolate show and was thrilled to get some of his chocolate.  A couple of eG'ers and I have just been sitting around analysing the show and tasting Alan's chocolate.

We are smitten.  It is fabulous.  Fruity, smooth, beautifully tempered, a joy to enjoy.

←

Where's that "I'm so jealous" emoticon when you need it???

[Lior]

I second that! I feel so far away from it all!!

[Tri2Cook]

I'm looking forward to trying it. I was really busy at work this week, then he was gone for the show at the end of the week. I tried calling yesterday but he wasn't available (I didn't expect him to be on a saturday but thought since I had some time it was worth a try). I'm going to call again on monday. Kerry's seal of approval makes me even more sure of the decision I'd already made to order 20 bars (I can already picture the faces of anybody overhearing the call "Yeah, send me a kilo of the good stuff") and feature it as part of a chocolate party I have to put together.

[A Patric]

Hi all,

Rather than take up too much space by posting a number of links to various reviews of the 70% Madagascar bar and new Patric Chocolate articles/interviews, let me just offer one link where I have compiled them:

http://www.patric-chocolate.com/store/press_and_bio.php

A few of the links are particularly relevant to this thread as I talk about some of my processes in quite a bit of detail. These are particularly in the interviews. However, the chocolate reviews will also be interesting to those who have followed this thread.

And by the way, since I haven't mentioned it in a while, if you aren't on my mailing list already, then you can sign up here. The sign-up box is on the top-right.

Best,

Alan

[Shalmanese]

I have to say, when I first visited your website, that picture of the chocolate tempering kinda looks like, um... something else.

[kitchenspecialist]

Now we have Inno Melangeurs and CocoaT Grindeurs specifically designed for chocolate procesing. The roller stones assembly come as one piece for easy cleaning and to reduce the chocolate liquor waste. Specially designed conical stones enhances the grinding process. Our Grindeurs can easily produce chocolate liquor at 30 micron size.

These are also great for the marzepan, Gianduja and other nut pastes. More details can b found at cocoatown.com.

[Kerry Beal]

Now we have Inno Melangeurs and CocoaT Grindeurs specifically designed for chocolate procesing. The roller stones assembly come as one piece for easy cleaning and to reduce the chocolate liquor waste. Specially designed conical stones enhances the grinding process. Our Grindeurs can easily produce chocolate liquor at 30 micron size.

These are also great for the marzepan, Gianduja and other nut pastes. More details can b found at cocoatown.com.

Alan's original demo shows using the champion juicer to make the chocolate liquor - can I assume that these units just allow you to drop in the roasted nibs? Do you need to grind the sugar fine -- or can it be thrown in as is?

[prairiegirl]

From my understanding, the juicer is for breaking down the nibs. I have the juicer and have done crude chocolate batches. The juicer uses metal little teeth to chew up whatever you put in the machine. It also heats everything up because of the friction. This may affect the texture of the chocolate if you put sugar into the juicer with the nibs. I have never done so. I do use a vita mix or now the thermamix to blend in sugar. I rarely make chocolate from scratch so this is my experience. Hey, I do plan on getting a melanger for small batch production soon!

[Kerry Beal]

From my understanding, the juicer is for breaking down the nibs. I have the juicer and have done crude chocolate batches. The juicer uses metal little teeth to chew up whatever you put in the machine. It also heats everything up because of the friction. This may affect the texture of the chocolate if you put sugar into the juicer with the nibs. I have never done so. I do use a vita mix or now the thermamix to blend in sugar. I rarely make chocolate from scratch so this is my experience. Hey, I do plan on getting a melanger for small batch production soon!

I think the latest on the Chocolate Alchemy site has you doing without the juicer - I think i heard for these newer grinders that adjustments had been made to the pressure of the rollers on the stone - eliminating that first step. Hope kitchenspecialist can confirm.

[Tri2Cook]

Digging this up because it's the only thread that came up in the search with "bean to bar" in the subject line. I'm wondering if I'm correct in my assessment based on perusing the internet and checking out cocoa nib prices that rolling your own is primarily a labor of love? Unless I'm overlooking something, which is entirely possible since I have no experience in this area, it looks to me like higher end commercial couvertures sell in the same general price range per kg as what it would cost to make it yourself. Good but perhaps not top tier chocolate (entirely subjective, I realize) can be purchased for much less than the cost of making it yourself. So am I overlooking something or is that pretty accurate? This is not an attempt to lessen the idea of making it yourself, I'm looking forward to giving it a shot, just wondering if I'm correct that cost is not one of the factors in deciding to make your own.

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

I'm wondering if I'm correct in my assessment based on perusing the internet and checking out cocoa nib prices that rolling your own is primarily a labor of love?

 

Probably.  But also consider that nibs already have a significant portion of the work done - the roasting, cracking, winnowing, and a preliminary chop - so they may be higher priced than raw or whole beans.  And sugar is inexpensive, so that drives the price down unless you're making a 100% unsweetened chocolate.

[Tri2Cook]

2 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Probably.  But also consider that nibs already have a significant portion of the work done - the roasting, cracking, winnowing, and a preliminary chop - so they may be higher priced than raw or whole beans.  And sugar is inexpensive, so that drives the price down unless you're making a 100% unsweetened chocolate.

Good points. I've been doing quite a bit of reading and video watching on the subject recently but I hadn't found much information on the economics of it. I'm not interested in getting into any serious bean to bar production so it doesn't really matter a whole lot, was mainly just curious. Besides, I don't think any playing around I'd do will be considered actual bean to bar by the purists regardless of whether I start with whole beans or nibs because I don't have plans to produce the cocoa butter myself. 

[pastrygirl]

 

32 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Besides, I don't think any playing around I'd do will be considered actual bean to bar by the purists regardless of whether I start with whole beans or nibs because I don't have plans to produce the cocoa butter myself. 

 

Is extra cocoa butter always added?  I thought there was enough fat in the nibs already.  I checked a couple of Felchlin couverture boxes, and they do have cocoa butter listed as an ingredient but I know there are other chocolate makers who make a big deal about using only two ingredients, cacao and sugar.  So maybe the extra fat is only if you want couverture? 

 

Dandelion is one of the 'we use only cacao and sugar' companies:  "Even amongst our fellow New American makers, our chocolate is special because we only use two ingredients: cacao and sugar. We don’t add cocoa butter, vanilla, lecithin, or any of the other usual chocolate suspects". http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/process/#anchor  Bellflower, too.  I actually checked out this guy's "factory" a few months ago, they have a tiny roaster and do production in a converted 2 car garage in a residential area.  It gave me hope for the commercial kitchen pipe dreams I have for my garage.     http://www.bellflowerchocolate.com/bean-to-bar-chocolate/

However, I can't tell you how smooth or fluid either of those chocolates are.

Edited May 8, 2018 by pastrygirl (log)

[Tri2Cook]

43 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

 

Is extra cocoa butter always added?  I thought there was enough fat in the nibs already.  I checked a couple of Felchlin couverture boxes, and they do have cocoa butter listed as an ingredient but I know there are other chocolate makers who make a big deal about using only two ingredients, cacao and sugar.  So maybe the extra fat is only if you want couverture? 

 

I don't know if it's always added but every tutorial I've read or watched included it. I'm not really interested in getting into any of the niche categories of minimalist ingredients or special designations, I just want to see if I can make some tasty chocolate. I appreciate the efforts of those who do explore the possibilities with anything related to food and cooking, it's just not an area I want to get into myself. 

In regards to the "bar" part of "bean to bar", what's a good size for molding bars?

[pastrygirl]

4 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

In regards to the "bar" part of "bean to bar", what's a good size for molding bars?

 

Chef's choice!  I think anywhere around 50-85 grams or 2-3 oz is a good bar size.  Though I suppose a "reasonable" serving size is more like an ounce of chocolate at a time.

[Jim D.]

I don't know if this information is relevant to the discussion of cocoa butter or not, but....

 

I bought some Fortunato milk chocolate from Chef Rubber (the only dealer for it in the U.S.). It's a newly discovered chocolate from Peru that has (IMHO) an extraordinary taste. In actuality the beans are processed by Felchlin in Switzerland, though their name is not on it. When I bought a large amount to use for my Christmas chocolates, I was informed by Chef Rubber that if I intended to use it to make shells, I needed to add a tiny amount of lecithin to it as well as 3-5% cocoa butter "to make thinner shells." I should have paid more attention to that advice, but I used the chocolate without any additives. It had a wonderful flavor but thickened up a lot after a while and made making shells much too difficult. I now use it only for ganaches. So I would deduce that adding cocoa butter is the norm for couvertures.

 

 

[pastrygirl]

36 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

So I would deduce that adding cocoa butter is the norm for couvertures.

 

Does anyone have any non-couverture chocolate that they can check the ingredients for added cocoa butter? 

 

I think for bars, you're fine with just cacao and sugar, it's the thin shell molding and enrobing that begs for added fluidity. 

 

 

[Pastrypastmidnight]

I just bought a bunch of bars for a tasting class. 

 

No added cocoa butter:

Dick Taylor Belize

Dandelion Madagascar 

Dandelion Ecuador 

Domori Criollo Chuao

Domori Arriba

Ritual Peru Marañón

 

added cocoa butter

Ritual Madagascar Sambirano

Ritual Ecuador Camino Verde

Solstice Uganda

Rózsavölgyi Porcelana

 

added cocoa butter and lecithin

François Pralus Cuba