Do you know what happens in the life of a chocolate bar before you sink your teeth into it? No?
Don't worry, by the end of this article you'll be (almost) an expert too!
We're going to break down, step by step, how tiny cocoa beans turn into lovely bars of chocolate ready to enjoy.
Warning: do not try this at home!
Step 1: Roasting the beans
Once the cocoa beans arrive, it all starts with roasting. A word that'll be familiar to coffee lovers.
During this step, the little beans are cooked in a big machine where it's very, very, VERY hot, even hotter than your sun lounger this summer! (Around 120 degrees, no joke!)
That's right, all the moisture has to be removed from the beans; this is also what allows them to develop and release all their aromas!
Step 2: Grinding
Once roasted, the beans are cracked, meaning the little shell is removed to keep only the cocoa fragments (also known as nibs: a technical word worth remembering to impress your dinner guests). The nibs are then ground into a thick paste called cocoa mass. Mmm, we're already licking our lips! Shame we can't share the smell through this article.
Step 3: Mixing
The cocoa mass is then mixed, and mixed, and mixed, and mixed for hours… So many hours that anyone behind on Game of Thrones could catch up completely.
A little sugar is added, or even milk powder if you want a milk chocolate bar like our Paris Multi bar! For the smoothness, we can thank the cocoa butter, which makes up 50% of the beans.
Step 4: Conching and refining
The paste already looks pretty great, but for extra fluidity and smoothness it's stirred for hours in the conche (second technical word to remember to impress the in-laws) for 10 to 48 hours! Pay attention, we're nearly at the Holy Grail with this step, because this is when the cocoa paste loses its acidity and becomes CHOCOLAAAAATE?
This is the moment when every being on earth would love to dip a finger into the tank, remembering licking the edge of the bowl when Mum was finishing her chocolate cake. YUM!
At the end of this step we get what's called couverture. Come on, just a few more steps and we're nearly there!
Step 5: Tempering
The chocolate continues its journey to the tempering machine, which, as the name suggests, keeps the chocolate at a perfect 32 degrees. To give the flavours a twist, you can add a little caramel, some good Guérande salt, hazelnuts and so on.
Step 6: Moulding
From the tempering machine, lovely chocolate flows into the bar mould! Yes, yes, we know what you're thinking: it looks like a chocolate fountain, and you'd love to put your mouth under the spout and slip into a chocolate coma.
Step 7: Freezing, then unmoulding
Finally, the bar goes in the freezer for 30 minutes, just enough time for twenty sit-ups, 6 minutes of planking, 50 jumping jacks and 40 squats, because yes, a chocolate bar has to be earned. The cocoa butter sets so everything can be neatly turned out of the mould.
And BOOOM, that's a chocolate bar! #ohyeah
All that's left is to give a talented artist a ring to dress it in a charming sleeve and BOOOOM again, that's a gorgeous bar by Le chocolat des Français.
PS: In French, "freezage" isn't in the dictionary; we just made it up to keep the "-age" rhyme going. Sorry!
