Every pastry chef should perfectly master chocolate. In this article, you will learn the basics about cocoa and how to choose the best chocolate for your recipes. Remember that every good pastries comes from excellent raw material.
ORIGINS
Cocoa beans come from the cocoa tree. It can be sourced from a variety of countries throughout the world.
The cocoa tree needs a warm (24/27°C) and humid climate (2500 millimetres of water per year), therefore a tropical climate so that it can be cultivated under the protection of tall plants such as banana and palm trees. After three years of growth, it is already 3 to 5 meters tall. The cocoa tree starts to produce pods after 5 to 6 years. As an adult (around the age of 12), it can grow up to 10 metres tall and can live for 25 to 40 years. A cocoa tree produces an average of 150 fruits, each pod contains between 25 and 75 beans grouped in ears which are called cocoa beans. A cocoa tree represents up to 6 kg of merchantable cocoa. The cocoa tree multiplies mainly by sowing and the seeds must be sown very quickly because they have a very short germination period (1 or 2 weeks).
Here is a map of the main cocoa-producing countries in the world:
There are different varieties of cocoa trees, but the most common are :
the forastero gives the most common cocoa with a bitter taste and strong aromas. It accounts for more than 70% of world production. (generally coming from Amazonia and Africa)
the criollo gives the finest, most aromatic cocoa beans, with a sweet taste despite a slight bitterness. This production is in decline because the criollo is not very resistant to disease.( generally coming from America)
the hybrid trinitario, obtained by crossing the forastero and the criollo, is grown all over the world. It produces fine cacaos.
You can also found other types of cocoa such as Amelonado,Guiana, Curaray, Marañon, Nacional, Nanay, Purús, Nacional … I let you comment this article if you want me to write a complete guide about cocoa tree.
FROM COCOA TO ...
Cocoa can be used in different ways in baking.
Cocoa paste is composed of 100% cocoa and is used as glaze for fondant, choux pastry and desserts. It also enhances the taste of chocolate in creams and mousses. It brings a deep chocolate colour and slightly reduces the sweetness of the preparations.
Cocoa butter is generally in powder form, it is composed of fatty acids and melts at 35°C. It is used to liquefy chocolate couverture (to spray an entremet, to decorate candies or chocolate pieces). It provides a barrier against humidity and has a hardening role for confectionery.
Cocoa powder is commonly In bags, it is composed of 80% stabilized cocoa powder.
Chocolate (generally distributed in slabs or tablets) is a mixture of dry, defatted cocoa, sugar and cocoa butter. Sometimes it is composed of milk fat, milk powder and lecithin. Used to make moulded pieces or sweets, it is incorporated into recipes for mousses and ganaches. It is also used as a decorative element (shavings or fans). Be careful because a chocolate brought to more than 50°C burns the chocolate.
MAKING QUALITY CHOCOLATE
The process of making fine chocolate hasn't changed much since 19 century.The process of turning cacao into chocolate, not surprisingly, starts with the beans. For fine chocolate, the selection and mix of beans is very important.Making chocolate from these beans is a complex process that requires a dozen distinct steps.
The fruits of the cocoa tree are harvested twice a year, when they reach maturity. The ripe pods can be recognized by their change in colour.
Peeling off : Two to three days after harvesting, the fruits are opened to extract the seeds. A knife is used to split the pod lengthwise, parallel to the natural grooves. The seeds are then separated from the pulp and sorted.
Fermenting: One day after the pods have been peeled, the beans are placed under banana leaves, where they will remain for a whole week to ferment. It is used to eliminate the pulp remains, prevent germination, initiate the development of the aroma and reduce bitterness.
There are three stages of fermentation:
1) Alcoholic fermentation where the sweet pulp degrades in the absence of oxygen.
2) brief lactic fermentation, which marks the end of the anaerobic period.
3) Acetic fermentation, where the heat increases significantly due to enzymatic activity, reaching an average of 44 to 47°C. The seeds, initially whitish or violet, change colour and darken to approach brown.
Drying : Depending on the country, the beans are now cleaned by suction to remove all traces of impurities.
For a better conservation of seeds, it is preferable to decrease at most the rate of moisture which they contain. This is done by drying them artificially or in the sun for about two weeks.
Winnowing : At this stage, the beans are sent to a chocolate factory where they will first be crushed to separate the shell from the grain itself.
After being coarsely ground, the particles are poured into a kind of sieve that will only allow the grain to pass through.
If one is trying to make cocoa powder, it is useful to alkalinize the grains to make the substance soluble. Just by adding potassium carbonate during the milling process to obtain alkalized paste, or on the contrary natural.
Roasting : Just like coffee, cocoa only really takes on its aroma during roasting. In a way, the beans are roasted at 140°C in a rotating cylinder.
The colour of the beans darkens during this process and the humidity is considerably reduced.
Grinding : Once roasted, the seeds are put into mills and refined to obtain extremely fine grains. The melangeur has granite runners which revolve on a steel or stone bed to mash the nibs into a thick paste. This is the cocoa paste or cocoa mass.
Depending on the need, this paste can then be compressed in hydraulic presses (350-530 bars) to obtain on one side cocoa butter (a vegetable fat that can be used to make chocolate) and on the other side solid cocoa cakes, called cake (to make cocoa powder).
For the manufacture of chocolate, the unpressed cocoa paste is used to which different ingredients are added according to the type of chocolate required. Please note: you may find shea butter or palm oil in your chocolate for economic reasons.
Conching : To increase the homogeneity and smoothness of the assortment, it is necessary to heat the mixture while stirring it. This is done in a blender and takes about 12 hours.
The chocolate is kept at 70°C during this period, sometimes cocoa butter is added to make the chocolate more melting.
Emulsifiers (soya lecithin) are also added to prolong the effect of the stirring. Following conching, the liquid chocolate is tempered for several hours.
Tempering : After conching, the mixture must be cooled in different stages so that the cocoa butter crystallizes in the most stable way possible, resulting in a smooth and glossy chocolate.
The temperature must first be lowered to around 28°C in order to initiate crystallization. The mixture is then reheated to 32°C so that the crystals reorganise and finally cooled down again to 20°C.
These values vary according to the type of chocolate, as the proportion of cocoa butter is different. If the values are not respected, the chocolate will finally have a pasty texture and will have to be remelted.
Molding : Once the chocolate paste has been tempered, it is distributed in moulds that will give it its final shape.
To remove air bubbles, the moulds are gently agitated on conveyor belts.
The chocolates are then cooled and removed from the moulds.
VARIETIES
In the past few years, chocolate has become more of a gourmet food, tasted and talked about in much the same way as wine. The percentage you see on the wrappers of some of the better chocolates is the percentage of cocoa in the bar. The percentages is about how chocolatey the bar will taste. The more cocoa, the healthier the bar – at 99% cacao, there isn’t much room for sugar!
Almost all quality chocolate will have a percentage sign on the label, usually anywhere from a 50% up to as high as an 80% or maybe even higher. The percent is not an indicator of quality, but indicates the amount of cocoa mass present in the chocolate. Cocoa mass is the amount of cocoa butter and cocoa solids present in the chocolate. So a 50% bar is 50% sugar, the other 50% being made up of cocoa powder and cocoa butter.
There is plenty of chocolate varieties :
Cocoa powder: This unsweetened powder is pulverized, partially defatted chocolate liquor. Cocoa powder gives an intense chocolate taste. Natural cocoa powder is light brown, with a strong, pronounced chocolate flavor. It is slightly acidic, so it is best to use natural cocoa powder in recipes calling for baking soda.
Unsweetened chocolate: Also known as “bitter” or “baking” chocolate. This is pure chocolate liquor, composed solely of ground cocoa beans. Although it looks and smells like chocolate, it has a bitter taste and is not meant for consumption on its own—it is best used in cooking when it can be combined with sugar to make it more palatable. Because cocoa beans contain equal amounts of cocoa butter and cocoa solids, unsweetened chocolate lends a deep, rich chocolate flavor to baked goods. Unsweetened chocolate is the base ingredient in all other forms of chocolate, except white chocolate.
Dark chocolate: The cocoa content of commercial dark chocolate bars can range from 30 percent (sweet dark) to 70 to 80 percent for extremely dark bars. Bittersweet chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate also fall into the “dark chocolate” category.
Bittersweet chocolate: it contains at least 35 percent cocoa. Most bittersweet bars contain at least 50 percent chocolate liquor, with some bars pushing 70-80% chocolate liquor. This chocolate often has a deeper, more bitter flavor than sweet dark or semi-sweet bars. However, the amount of sugar in the chocolate is not regulated, so one manufacturer’s “bittersweet” bar may taste sweeter than another’s “semi-sweet” bar.
Milk chocolate: In addition to cocoa butter and chocolate liquor, milk chocolate contains either condensed milk (most European varieties) or dry milk solids. Milk chocolates are typically much sweeter than dark chocolate and have a lighter color and a less pronounced chocolate taste. Milk chocolate is more difficult to temper properly and more prone to overheating.
White chocolate: White chocolate gets its name from the cocoa butter it contains, but does not contain chocolate liquor or any other cocoa products. As a result, it has no pronounced chocolate taste but commonly tastes like vanilla or other added flavorings.
Couverture chocolate: Used primarily by professional bakers or confectioners, this chocolate contains a very high percent (at least 30 percent) of cocoa butter, as well as a high percentage of chocolate liquor. This high ratio makes it expensive, but it also means that the resulting chocolate is smooth and melts quickly and evenly. Couverture chocolate is the preferred chocolate for tempering and enrobing candies. It comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, and can be purchased online or at well-stocked cake decorating stores.
Gianduja chocolate: Gianduja is the name given to a European style of chocolate made from chocolate and nut paste. Hazelnut paste is most common, but gianduja can also be made with almond paste. It comes in milk or dark chocolate varieties. Gianduja chocolate can be used as a flavoring or as a substitute for milk or dark chocolate. At room temperature, it is soft enough to be rolled or cut but is too soft to use for molding chocolates.
It is very important to use the type of chocolate which is specified in your recipe. The quality of the chocolate is more important for recipes requiring fairly large amounts of chocolate compared to other ingredients (for example chocolate mousse, souffle, truffle, or a chocolate frosting). However, when you try a new recipe for the first time we recommend that you do not use very expensive chocolate before you have tested the recipe.
CHOOSING THE GOOD ONE ?
Now that you know how chocolate is made and what its characteristics are, all you need to know is how to choose your chocolate.
First of all, there is no chocolate better than any other, choosing a chocolate remains personal according to our tastes. However, the first piece of advice I can give you is to be very careful about the type of chocolate recommended in a recipe. There is always a reason for using this or that chocolate in a recipe. It is up to you to follow the instructions, however it is essential to understand why they chose that chocolate.
Let's now move on to my list of my best tips for choosing your chocolate:
1. Determine your budget :
Depending on your budget, the quality of your pastry will be different. Industrial chocolates are generally products rich in fat and sugar, ingredients that are added in abundance to flatter your senses and make you "addict" to push you to consume more and more of them. The result can be an impressive caloric intake. Artisanal chocolates can be more expensive, but their composition may be healthier and more interesting for your pastries. It's up to you to test chocolates in different price ranges to see what suits you best.
2. Read product labels carefully :
As you may know, the composition of a chocolate will strongly influence its price.
The production of chocolate requires only three ingredients: cocoa paste, cocoa butter and sugar, in varying proportions depending on the type of chocolate (dark, milk, white chocolate...).
Indicated in descending order, check that "cocoa" or "cocoa paste", and not "sugar" or "cocoa butter" appear first. Multiple additives are indicated either by their direct names or by the letter 'E...'.
In addition, sometimes other fats (palm oil, shea butter ...) complete the composition. Chocolate is naturally composed of cocoa butter, a vegetable fat obtained from cocoa beans. But cocoa butter is expensive, which is why more and more manufacturers are tending to replace it with cheaper vegetable fats to cut costs. So don't be fooled: check the type of fat used and opt for "pure cocoa butter" chocolates.
3. Learn how to differentiate the main varieties of cocoa :
Without a good cocoa bean, no good chocolate. This seems obvious, and yet consumers often have no information about the origin of chocolate. Traceability is difficult for cocoa because there are sometimes a dozen intermediaries between producers and final consumer. The soil, the climate, but also the cultivation techniques specific to each country influence its taste. Brands and craftsmen have developed "pure origin" chocolates, made with beans from the same country, the same region or even the same plantation. To produce this type of chocolate, the beans are not roasted but only dried, which limits the appearance of a substance called acrylamid, reputed to be carcinogenic when absorbed in excess.
There is also the phenomenon of "bean to bar". This practice that consists in eliminating unnecessary intermediates. The chocolate maker works directly with the cocoa producer.
4. Test the chocolate :
Don't be afraid to taste, test the chocolate before using it in a recipe. Here are my best tips for enjoying a good chocolate. At first glance, the chocolate should be homogeneous, shiny or satiny. It should be hard and smooth when you touch it.
The material must bluntly break apart when you taste it. If this is not the case, it is too soft or crumbles, proof of poor quality or too high tasting temperature. When you smell the chocolate, it should not smell only sugar. If it is a dark chocolate, a wide range of aromas can be detected, such as dried, red or yellow fruits, coffee, honey or spices. If it is milk chocolate, it is more like caramel.
5. Stop biting into chocolate :
To appreciate a chocolate, it is absolutely necessary to taste it. It's a heresy to bite into chocolate, as the flavour is too fleeting to fully appreciate it, with the added risk of absorbing inappropriate amounts of sugar and fat. A good chocolate should disintegrate slowly in the mouth ! The aromas should remain in the mouth for several minutes after tasting. This is what is known as lengthening, a very important criterion in chocolate tasting. Store it in a dark, dry place away from strong-smelling items such as peppermint or dirty socks. Chocolate has a tendency to absorb other odors. And do not store chocolate in the refrigerator. The optimal temperature for tasting is between 20 and 22 degrees.
Moreover, do not hesitate to savor chocolate with drinks or other dishes that will enhance its aromas. This is the case with coffee and tea. But also brandies and... beer. And, good news for gourmets, it is not recommended to be satisfied with just one piece of chocolate. Some aromas only come out in the second piece.
Bonus tip:
The cocoa bean is not everything. Its transformation will allow the flavours it contains to reveal themselves, or not. A process that includes a dozen different operations, from drying in the sun next to plantations, to "conching". Obviously, it is difficult for the consumer to know if the chocolate has been produced according to the rules of the trade. However: producers who "roast" the raw material are forced to add cocoa powder to give taste to their product, which is indicated in the composition on the packaging. It should also be noted that flavors begin to fade six months to a year after the chocolate has been made.
Now that you know all the basics about chocolate, you no longer have any reason not to know how to choose your chocolate. Tell me in the comments section what kind of content you would like to see on the blog so that you can learn more about chocolate.
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See you soon !
Lea from The Paris-Best.
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