Chocolate Making Notes
Chocolate Making Notes
Chocolate Making Notes
such as chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, and milk powder, in quantities that make up the different types of chocolate, are blended in mixers to a paste with the consistency of dough. Chocolate refiners, a set of rollers, crush the paste into flakes that are significantly reduced in size. This step is critical in determining how smooth chocolate is when eaten. At Ghirardelli, we refine many of our chocolates to 19 microns, giving them an extremely smooth texture with no "graininess," unlike other mass market chocolates that are only refined to 40 microns. Conching Conching is a flavor development process during which the chocolate is put under constant agitation. The conching machines, called "conches," have large paddles that sweep back and forth through the refined chocolate mass anywhere from a few hours to several days. Conching reduces moisture, drives off any lingering acidic flavors, and coats each particle of chocolate with a layer of cocoa butter. The resulting chocolate has a smoother, mellower flavor.
Belgian Recipes
. Godiva Dark Chocolate is made from cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, and sugar that together deliver a rich flavor and texture. Cacao percentages refer to the amount of the recipe that is made from the cocoa bean. In chocolate that has a very high percentage of cacao, the strong and deep characteristics of the cocoa bean become more prominent. There is less sugar, so the chocolate is less sweet. Godiva Milk Chocolate also includes cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, and sugar. The addition of milk brings a new characteristic of sweetness and creaminess. Milk chocolates tend to have a lower percentage of cacao, and therefore tend to be sweeter than dark chocolate. Godiva White Chocolate is made of cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, but does not contain any cocoa solids. It is the sweetest of the three types of chocolate.
center, allowing enough space for a thin layer of melted chocolate to be layered over the filling. After cooling, the chocolates are released from the mold. This method is used in the creation of our Milk Chocolate Bliss, Midnight Swirl, and Dark Lion of Belgium, among others. Godiva produces some symmetrical shell-molded confections by "book-molding" two identical filled molds together. The Heart, Walnut, Chestnut, and Scallop, are among our book-molded creations. The shell-molding process has enabled Godiva to design unique molds. Milk and Dark Almond Bark