336 Diploma in Advanced Culinary Arts | Baking & Patisserie away the lighter shell. The de-shelled beans (now mostly broken) are referred to as nibs. The nib and remaining shell fragments should be passed through the germ separator. Here vibratory perforated screen cylinders or sieves can be used to separate the germ from the nib. Alkalization This is the stage which further develops the flavour and colour. The nib should be soaked in a alkaline solution which is held in suitable non corrosive vats and then dried. The alkaline chemicals used are ammonia, potassium and sodium bicarbonate. Grinding This process may be carried out using granite rolls, roll refiners or rotating and fixed steel disc pulverisers. The nibs are ground into considerably smaller particles, a process which helps release a large amount of fat and results in the mass becoming a thick syrup. Extraction of Cocoa butter The cocoa fluid or mass is then fed into felt-lined steel pans fitted with a movable perforated lid. When subjected to hydraulic pressure some of the fat is forced through the filter leaving behind a solid residue known as press cake. The press cake is used for producing cocoa powder. This is then removed, cooled (to set the colour), pulverized and lastly sieved. It becomes a very fine powder a small quantity of salt and flavouring (vanilla) is usually added before it is marketed as the familiar cocoa powder. Processing of chocolate The processing of chocolate includes the first nine stages as for the processing of cocoa and involves further stages. Mixing or Mélangeur The chocolate mass is thoroughly mixed with powdered sugar in the mélangeur. A mélangeur (French mixer) of traditional design consists of two vertically positioned rotating heavy rollers standing on horizontally heated beds. During loading the mélangeur should be heated to 40° C the mixing operation is carried out at 50° C to 60° C. Mixing should not be longer than 20-25 minutes. During the mixing process the chocolate mix becomes homogeneous. Refining This is done by passing the mixture through a series of five heavy steel rollers to reduce the size o f the individual non- fat particles further, So that the chocolate will be very smooth to the palate. Each roller operates at different speeds, arranged to cause the chocolate to flow from the lowest vertically upwards to the top roll. The lowest roll is operated at the slowest speed. Feed rate and temperatures should be kept constant. The latter may be fixed within the range 20° C to 40° C. Refined chocolate should be removed from the top roll by accurately positioning the scraper, blades and discharge into containers. Conching It is the final stage and concerned with producing a standard quality of chocolate.
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