Thought of the Day

“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” – Albert Einstein

Here here on the above quote. With everything I or anyone else can teach you about chocolate making and in this case tempering, you have to learn by doing.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.” – Albert Einstein

Your chocolate is done – congratulations. In general, tempering is the next step. There are a number of ways, and I will touch on them. As a thought, I highly recommend a good thermometer. It’s one variable easy to control.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not!” The Lorax – Dr. Seuss

Refining is probably the most mysterious yet simplest of the chocolate making steps. Place your ingredients (cocoa liquer, sugar and any optional ingredients like cocoa butter and lecithin) and refing with the Alchemist’s Stone Chocolate Melanger until the “grit” is gone. That’s it. Probably 12 hours at a minimum, up to 72 hours if you feel like it. Oh, and how do you tell? Taste it!

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” – Walt Disney

Refining and conching are two different things. The confusion is that they often occur at the same time. In home chocolate making, don’t fret about conching. Just refine and 95% of the time, conching will take care of itself.

“Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.” – John Galsworthy

Refining is the next step after turning your nibs into liqueur (either by the Champion or the Melanger. The ONLY product I have found that will do this is the Santha Stone Melanger (formering known as the Santha Wet Grinder).

“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” – Aldous Huxley

There are two ways to grind your nibs into liqueur. You will have to decide which is best for you….continued

1) Champion Juicer. I find I prefer the 1/2 – 1 hour or so it takes to grind and clean up a few pounds of nibs

2) Santha Stone Melanger. You can grind the nibs into liqueur with the Melanger, but you have to do it little by little, usually heating the nibs and granite bowl a bit first. All in all, it takes about the same time as the Champion, but is a bit more work for you and the equipment.

“If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.” – Will Rogers

There are two ways to grind your nibs into liqueur. You will have to decide which is best for you.

1) With the Champion Juicer. The benefit here is the screen in the Juicer will remove any residual husk from your winnowing. The drawback is you have another piece of equipement (which you many already have if you use it for cracking instead of the Cocoa mill)

2) With the Santha Stone Melanger. The benefit here is one less piece of equipment. The drawback here is that you may have bits of refined husk (which are not harmful, but may affect flavor) in your final chocolate and you will push the Melanger to its limit.

a little more on this Monday…

“If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.” – Will Rogers

There are two ways to grind your nibs into liqueur. You will have to decide which is best for you.

1) With the Champion Juicer. The benefit here is the screen in the Juicer will remove any residual husk from your winnowing. The drawback is you have another piece of equipement (which you many already have if you use it for cracking instead of the Cocoa mill)

2) With the Santha Stone Melanger. The benefit here is one less piece of equipment. The drawback here is that you may have bits of refined husk (which are not harmful, but may affect flavor) in your final chocolate and you will push the Melanger to its limit.

a little more on this Monday…

“If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.” – Will Rogers

There are two ways to grind your nibs into liqueur. You will have to decide which is best for you.

1) With the Champion Juicer. The benefit here is the screen in the Juicer will remove any residual husk from your winnowing. The drawback is you have another piece of equipement (which you many already have if you use it for cracking instead of the Cocoa mill)

2) With the Santha Stone Melanger. The benefit here is one less piece of equipment. The drawback here is that you may have bits of refined husk (which are not harmful, but may affect flavor) in your final chocolate and you will push the Melanger to its limit.

a little more on this Monday…

“What if you have a cure for apathy, and nobody cares? “

Winnowing: OK, you have cracked your cocoa beans. Now you have to separate them from the husk. The only good way I know of is a blow dryer, a large bowl (12-18”) and stirring by hand. The husk is lighter and with a little practice and technique, you can remove 95% of the husk in 1-2 minutes for a couple pounds.

we are working on a table top winnower but work is slow