Chocolate Terminology

Do You Know?

Couverture - cocoa beans transformed into bars of chocolate, or the quality coating used for making chocolate covered confections.

Chocolatier - one who creates confections from chocolate. Different from chocolate makers who create fancy chocolates, such as bonbons and truffles from cocoa beans and other ingredients.

Ganache - cream and chocolate, melted slowly and lovingly together.

Roasting the beans - this needs to be done at the right temperature for the right amount of time.

Winnowing - breaking the cocoa beans into small pieces called nibs and removing the shells.

Conching - in large vats called conchs, with very forceful kneading the cocoa beans are ground into nibs, usually with sugar, to form a chocolate paste, to the desired smoothness and to develop the flavors. The conching process reduces the moistness of cocoa mass and removes the volatile acids; in other words raw unprocessed chocolate is not ready to eat, because it is to gritty. To make it smooth, liquid and rich it is rolled and kneaded, at the right temperature. The process was invented in 1879.

Hedonistic sensation of eating chocolate - how it melts in the mouth, the sheer joy, delight, the pleasure of the senses and pleasant consequences when it starts to break apart and the way the rich flavors and sugars are released.

Additives - depending on the final desired outcome certain ingredients might be added; vanilla, more cocoa butter and or soy lecithin.

Tempered - the process of heating the chocolate and then cooling it to a certain temperature, so that it has beautiful sheen and suitable snap.

Enjoy!!