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After roasting the cocoa beans almost taste like chocolate. They merely need refining. First of all the cocoa is coarsely milled and then ground. Depending on the variety being produced, further ingredients such as sugar, milk or cream powder, vanillin and lecithin are added. This mixture then goes to a series of rollers for further processing. The finer the individual particles are ground, the easier the chocolate melts in the mouth.
During conching, the next refinement stage, the chocolate mass is mixed over a long period and gradually heated. This allows the bitter substances to escape and the fat from the individual particles covers the cocoa pieces like a fine film. The duration of this process is an important quality criterion for chocolate. It can take as long as 90 hours.
The chocolate mass is now ready to be shaped into massive blocks or bars, individual chocolates and other specialities with nuts, almonds, fruits or liqueur.
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