www.1howmany.com

   Food & Drink / How to Make Chocolate

Sooner or later, many chocolate lovers get interested in making chocolate. You might think that there is no reason for doing it of your own because you can buy chocolate in every store. We are not going to make you change your mind. There can be different motives for making chocolate and one of them is that it is just a fun and a great experience.

Now, let us start making chocolate.

Ingredients

We will teach you how to make chocolate from scratch, though it will be easier for beginners to use cocoa powder. So, you will need the following ingredients:

• Cocoa beans (dried and pre-fermented)
• Milk powder
• Cocoa butter
• Lecithin¹
• Sugar
• Vanilla (optional)

Step-by-step Guide

Now that you have got the necessary products, you can start making chocolate. We will not discuss the process of drying or fermenting beans. If you have a cocoa tree growing in your garden, you can find out how to do it, but most people buy dried and pre-fermented beans.

• Roasting beans - Put 100g of cocoa beans in a roasting pan. The oven should be heated to about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roast them for approximately five minutes, then turn the heat down to no more than 250 degrees and roast them for about ten minutes. You should keep an eye on the beans if you do not want them to burn. When they start cracking and popping, you will know that it is time to take them out. Now let the beans to cool down.
  
  
  
• Winnowing² nibs - There are two ways of doing it. You can peel off the skins or crack your beans and blow on them. We recommend you to put the beans into a plastic bag and whack them with the back of your frying pan. Then you can put them into a bowl and blow towards it with a hairdryer. Do it from some distance.
  
  
  
• Refining - It will be great if you are able to find a chocolate melangeur. If not, you can use a spice grinder. Now you should decide how sweet you chocolate will be. For example, if you want 60% chocolate, you need to take 70 grams of nibs and 30 grams of sugar in order to make 100 grams of chocolate. Grind the sugar into fine powder. Add nibs and continue grinding for about five minutes. When the liquid flows easily, it is done.
  
  
  
• Conching - Take a pestle and a mortar, heat them up, add your chocolate and begin to grind it. Stop it when you like the taste.
  
  
  
• Tempering - This stage is optional, but we recommend you not to skip it, because it will really make your chocolate better. You need to melt it first. Then cool down the chocolate and spread it out on a granite or marble surface. Work it around and add more. Then you can put it back into the bowl and mix it. If you see air bubble, it means you are doing everything right.
  
  
  

Voila! Your homemade chocolate is ready. Now you can give some shape to it. Remember that it is a basic recipe and you can also learn how to make chocolate desserts, truffles, cookies, etc.

Ask a Question

Ask any question beginning with "how many..." and get an expert answer.

Contact

Any problem will be solved when you consult our customer service.