Making Chocolate

Today (and also the day before and the day before that and also the day before that as well as the day before that, so a total of five days) I made chocolate with a melanger.

This was a possibility that I had been thinking about for a while. Eventually, I realized it would make great content for this blog. The supplier was CocoaTown, a chocolate equipment supplier I have mentioned before, most noticeably during the first Northwest Chocolate UnConference, where I demonstrated their cracker/winnower design. The model number is T5, and while I only used 454 grams of nibs in my first run, the melanger could hold way more than that, although I would only recommend using up to a kilogram of nibs. This is my personal opinion, however.

Assembly was probably the most straightforward part of the process, a rare statement. We screwed the legs onto the bottom (this part, admittedly, required some very fine motor skills), washed the wheels that would go inside the melanger, as well as the melanger basin itself, and lastly, connected the wheel column to the base of the melanger via a simple tab and slot.

The concept of this model was the as the basin spins, the wheel column would be held in place at both the top and bottom (the top was connected to a long plastic bit that ran across the top and was able to swing back and forth, allowing the basin to be released and locked), which makes the wheels themselves spin in opposite directions. They were opposite from each other relative to the wheel column, and this means that when liquid chocolate was being circulated, it would go in a circuitous route through the basin, led by centripetal (or is it centrifugal?) force. There was a plastic bit that stayed stationary, scraping off the chocolate that would inevitably accumulate on the sides of the basin, allowing even distribution of the chocolate particles. The wheels where at an angle to the bottom, and they were more pyramidal than circular, and this allowed a lot more chocolate to fall under them than if they had been circular.

Before I could get into the actual chocolate-making, I had to apply a layer of cocoa butter (the fat present is chocolate) to all surfaces, which would make it run smoother in the beginning, when the nibs were still solid and the wheels would encounter more resistance.

I also heated up the nibs a little, so that they would be crushed with less resistance. This happens because cocoa butter melts pretty fast, and I wanted to get that process sped up as much as possible.

I took measurements of weight and found that if I wanted to make 70% chocolate with 454 grams of nibs, I would require just over 194 grams of sugar. I decided to add milk powder further into the process, but I'll discuss that later.

The stage was now set for the chocolate-making to begin. And begin I did.

Dropping nibs into the now-running melanger by the handful, I did my best to make sure non eof them bounced out, which was very much a hazard in the first ten minutes or so, meaning I had to keep the lid on. This also means that heat was being kept in, helping break down the nibs as well. Volatile aroma compounds were being kept in as well, which meant that if I kept the lid on, the chocolate would never actually taste like chocolate due to the presence of the horribly bitter, astringent chemical compounds. As a result, when I lifted the lid to take a sniff about thirty minutes in, the smell was so amazingly powerful it made my eyes water. Eventually, after I had blasted the side of the basin (now spinning rapidly) with a hair dryer for a minute or so, I felt there was enough heat present, so I opened the lid and let the chocolate circulate. This was all performed in the evening, and after three hours or so, I had to go to bed. So I did that, leaving the melanger running overnight. I had done tastings every thirty minutes, and until I took the lid off, the flavor was such that I had to keep slices of peaches on hand to (once I had analyzed it) get rid of the terribly bitter and astringent flavor.

In the morning, I add my 194 grams of sugar, and waited some more. When I couldn't feel the sugar, I had to make a decision. If the chocolate was refined, then I could pull it, but I did not feel it was conched enough. Conversely, if I were to keep circulating it, then it was at risk of over-refining. I decided to keep it in.

I then stopped the melanger when I felt it was conched. The following week, I had tennis camp for nine hours every day, and I was in no condition to temper it when I came back, exhausted and sore. So I waited until the weekend to temper, and the my milk powder came. On the spur of the moment, I decided to put some of that in too, 15% by weight for a good strong milkiness, but not so that it would overpower the other flavors.

This meant that it would have to refine a little bit longer, so after another 8 hours or so, I moved on the tempering, which did not go well at all. I have one set of molds, so I just waited for the bars to cool and then checking if they were tempered or not. If they weren't, I remelted the chocolate and tried again. I wated almost all of the chocolate in this way, until the last three bars or so, when it finally worked, and I had three shiny bars to my name. Regrettably, I didn't get a picture of them, because I really have no idea how to operate a camera, unless it involves taking a slo-mo video of water balloons exploding (super satisfying, you should all try this), so you'll have to take my word.

So in reflection, I have found much more efficient ways of tempering (dipping a spoon in chocolate and letting that harden to see if it's in temper, using a piece of already-tenpered chocolate as a "seed" to allow the correct crystal formation to grow, patience), and I now know what not to do when cleaning up (dumping chocolate into the sink and pouring water over it, because it took me thirty minutes to unclog our drain). Next time, I will be armed with experience and knowledge, and when it comes to chocolate, you really don't need much else (besides a melanger, nibs, sugar, milk powder, paper towels in abundence, a heat gun, a thermometer, soap and water, cocoa butter, spoons, an oven, a power outlet, and a clear calendar, which is usually the biggest ask on the list).

Thanks to everyone who has helped me with this project and given me support over the many, many hours and weeks and months and even years. A special thanks to Balu at CocoaTown, for getting me this melanger in the first place (and trusting a twelve-year-old with high-RPM equipment), to Marc at andSons for getting this entire journey started in the first place, and most importantly, to my grandfather, who has done so much for me and will hopefully continue to do so, because I really don't know what i would do without you. I'd also like to thank my dad, for taking all of the photos (see the bit about my incompetence with cameras), and all of my friends at school, for asking me when they can try my chocolate (that's Phoebe, Zoe, Gianna, Archie, Theo, Mia, Elsa, Grace, Cora, Cleo and Cleo, and everyone else). Thanks to all of you, and I sincerely hope you a. enjoyed reading this massive block of text, and b. you are inspired in some way to get into a kitchen and make something through trial and error. It's an excellent experience.

Me applying a layer of cocoa butter to the melanger, who my 14-year-old brother has nicknamed Mortis.

I'm adding the warm nibs to the running melanger now. They occasionally fly in my face, which I don't really mind, because it makes me look very invested in the process, similar to how when someone frosts a cake it looks like they put in more effort if they get covered in icing (been there, done that).

After the nibs, sugar, and milk powder have been in the melanger for a total of 24 hours, I add extra cocoa butter to compensate for all of the extra stuff I threw in there that didn't have enough fat in it to keep the solids lubricated.

As an aside, I filmed myself tasting the chocolate, but no matter what I do, I can't make them upload. I'll just say that for the most part, it was terrible, until the sugar had been in for at least 8 hours.