Equipment
There are 4 products.
With the right bean to bar equipment, a cocoa bean becomes a bar of chocolate step by step. In this category you will find the melangeur for bean to bar, the cocoa bean cracker, a 30 x 45 cm marble slab and a hot air gun for chocolate. Here is which tool helps at which stage.
From bean to bar: the steps
1. Roasting
Our whole cocoa beans are raw, so you roast them yourself on a tray in the oven. Roasting develops the flavour and loosens the shell. Then let the beans cool completely.
2. Cracking and winnowing
The cocoa bean cracker breaks the roasted beans into coarse pieces. You then separate the light shells from the nibs, for example with a cool stream of air. This is called winnowing. The cleaner the nibs, the finer the chocolate tastes.
3. Grinding and conching in the melangeur
In the melangeur for bean to bar, stone rollers grind the nibs into liquid cocoa mass. Then add sugar and any other ingredients. Over many hours the mass becomes finer, smoother and milder: grinding and conching happen in the same machine. Tip: warm the bowl and rollers with the hot air gun first so the nibs liquefy faster.
4. Tempering and moulding
For a bar that shines and snaps, the chocolate must be tempered. On the marble slab you table part of the chocolate until it thickens, then mix it back in. The hot air gun lets you adjust the temperature precisely. If you work with larger quantities, one of our chocolate tempering machines makes life easier. All the methods in detail: different tempering methods.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need every piece of equipment?
If you start with nibs rather than raw beans, you can skip cracking and winnowing. A melangeur and a way to temper are then enough. You will find nibs and beans under cocoa beans and nibs, and cocoa butter and sugars under bean to bar ingredients.
Can a blender replace the melangeur?
A blender chops but does not refine finely enough, so the chocolate stays gritty. For a smooth texture you need the slow grinding of a melangeur's stone rollers.
Where can I try it out?
In the Bean to Bar course in Adliswil you go through every step with guidance. The full range is under Bean to Bar.