This is the final step now. Did you hold out easily or did you already let the professionals make your chocolate? Let me tell you: It pays to be patient, even I finally made it. The chocolate mass reached about 45°C at some point and I did not forget to stir it. The instructions I read all told me to use a plastic or silicon item to keep the chocolate in motion. Furthermore it is important to make sure no water gets into the chocolate mass. It’s a lot to think about. =)

Anyway: I let the mass cool down again while stirring, stirring and stirring it. Afterwards it has to be warmed again so that it finally comes to a temperature of 30°C. This is the processing temperature.

Casting the chocolate into the mold

Here comes the fun part that I was looking forward to so much! Melted chocolate looks so incredibly good and it smells awesome. I love it! As the chocolate is for me, I guess nobody minds if I try a bit with my fingers? =) Then I cast the warm mass into the cooled mold. I don’t know how much fits in there, so I shake the plastic mold once in a while to spread everything evenly. The filled cast is gently tapped on the table to remove air bubbles in the chocolate bar. Done. Well almost, because now all I have is a milk chocolate bar, which looks a bit sad all alone. Luckily the additional ingredients are all here and I can decorate the bar straight away. The colourful chocolate dragées look so yummy and so do the gummy bears, too. I only have to wait for them to be completely solid. If I did everything correctly my selfmade chocolate bars will detach themselves from the mold without any problems. Either I am lucky or I am very talented: My chocolate bars look just perfect! They do not have any grey spots or lines and they did not break when I tried to get them out of the mold. They are beautifully lying in front of me. No for a very long time I guess. =)

Have you ever tried to make chocolate on your own? I’d really like to know how it was like, share your experience with me!

If you missed how I started to make chocolate on my own, you can find Part I and Part II of the report in our blog. There is also more information about the history of chocolate too. Learn about chocolate houses and Columbus.

Everything is prepared. It is amazing when you think of all the different steps that have already been mastered only to supply me with this block of couverture. So many things have happened before I can even start. It’s a long way from a cocoa fruit to chocolate.

Of beans and mosquitoes

The cacao needs a warm, humid climate to grow; also it only prospers in the shades. After being pollinated by little mosquitoes it takes four to nine months until the tree bears ripe fruits. These are being separated from the tree with huge machetes; the pulp and semen (the cocoa beans) are being taken out of the fruits and spread onto banana leaves. The pulp begins to detach itself from the beans, its bitter constituents oxidise and the beans take on their typical dark colour. This process is called fermentation. Before going to Europe and North America for further manipulation, the beans need another two weeks of drying to develop their characteristic aroma. Landed at their destination the cocoa beans are ready to be cleaned properly, for roasting and for finally being ground. It took quite a while but here it is: the cocoa mass. After adding cocoa butter, milk powder and sugar, rolling and conching the mass, it is finally done. This product is ready for the ultimate step: Becoming a chocolate bar!

Tempering

Compared to this complex production process, it is rather unimpressive what I will be doing now. The couverture is chopped up small. It is very important to cut the pieces in equally tiny pieces, so they can melt at the same pace. To make it melt I also need water that is exactly 55°C hot- which is hard to accomplish!. This specific temperature is incredibly important to help the chocolate reach the right crystal form, which again is necessary to process further. This temperature is also significant if you want to avoid grey spots and lines on your chocolate bar or to make sure it I doesn’t look dull or crumbly. As it seems it is really important to be precise and this needs a whole lot of patience. The latter isn’t really my strong point….

Did you miss how it all began? No problem, it's all in our blog. =)

I work for a chocolate company for about two months now, but never have I tried to make chocolate on my own. What a shame! But to be honest: I guess it must be quite difficult to make a pretty chocolate bar without using professional equipment. I don’t have any machines to help me find the right temperature for the chocolate, I don’t have a vibrating plate to make sure there won’t be any bubbles in the bar…. Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Every chocolate that has been made with love and passion will be good anyway, eh? =)

Preparations

First step: The supermarket. I bought milk chocolate couverture, gummy bears, sprinkles and chocolate dragées to decorate my bars; I’ve got walnuts, cornflakes and cinnamon at home already. It’s going to be delicious! But before I forget: If you also want to make your own chocolate bar, it is a lot easier to use couverture instead of chocolate. Due to a bigger part of cocoa butter in couverture you can spread it more evenly inside the mold you use.

Working the chocolate

Having instructions, the ingredients and tools prepared, I am back home and start unpacking the couverture. It’s kind of greasy. Isn’t it strange when you think of where this product originally comes from? In a large part it consists of beans that grew inside a cocoa fruit on a tree.
This tree originally comes from Mid- and South America and there is evidence for its significance in society even 1000 years ago. The sweet pulp of the cocoa fruit has already been used in 1100BC and the Aztecs used the beans as currency some hundred years later. It seems that even back then the value of this plant was known widely. If this is the reason why botanist Carl von Linné called it Theobroma (origins are the greek words theós [God] and bróma [food] -> Food for the Gods) or because cacao is known for being stimulating… who knows. There is proof however that theobromine, serotonin and dopamine, which can be found in chocolate, have an effect on your mood. They are supposed to make you happy! Is it possible that these contents even affect me when I only touch the chocolate? While chopping it I am extraordinarily happy.

I hope this good mood lasts until next week. This is when I am going to tell you how to proceed. If you can't wait, let chocri help you to create your personal chocolate bar! =)