How to make real chocolate from scratch with cocoa nibs, butter and sugar/ jaggery?
Real chocolate are made with really ingredients like cocoa nibs (roasted cocoa beans which are winnowed and cracked), cocoa butter (hydraulic pressed cocoa liquor) and sugar / jaggery / sweetener made without the use of preservatives or emulsifiers like lecithin, etc.
The chocolates we are used to eating in India are mostly compound chocolate which requires adding of cocoa fragrances to make it smell like chocolate, collars to make it looks like chocolate and cocoa butter alternatives like palm oil and other hydrogenated vegetable oils, etc with loads of sugar, preservatives and emulsifiers. These are cheap and can be easily obtained in ₹400/- per kg. Whereas real cocoa beans costs as much as the cost of compound chocolate.
Real chocolates are known to be a cardio vascular supplement which helps your heart numerous functions including lowering blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart attack, improving mood, reducing stress, helps with weight management, etc. These benefits are lost when you eat compound chocolate. Real chocolates have antioxidants, polyphenols, nitric oxide, flavanol, micro nutrients, etc.
Recipe for chocolate making and what cocoa percentage mean?
When you read on a label that says 50%, it means the cocoa content in it is 50% of the total weight. Cocoa content= cocoa nibs + cocoa butter. Similarly for 70%, the ingredients will usually be 65% cocoa nibs, 5% cocoa butter (as this is expensive) and 30% sugar / jaggery (any sweetener).
Assuming you are having a 70% real dark chocolate and it weight approx 100grams-
Cocoa nibs will be 65grams
Cocoa butter 5grams
Sugar 30grams.
If you are trying a real chocolate for the first time I wouldn’t recommend you going beyond 60% as cocoa is bitter, really bitter and as Indians we have been trained to eat overly sweet items for generations and thanks to FMCG and Chocolates company which have only offered us sweeter options.
Next time before buying chocolates read its ingredients.
Coming to recipe and the equipment you require to make a real 50% chocolate. I use 10% cocoa butter to make it more delicious as this is what melts the chocolate on our tongue. I will show you how I make it.
50% Chocolate recipe
Cocoa nibs- 400grams
Cocoa butter- 100grams
Sugar/ jaggery powder- 500grams
will make a batch of 1000gram (1KG) batch.
You will need a wet grinder, mixer grinder, some spatula and moulds / storing utensil.
Step 1- ad very little cocoa nibs to your mixer and pre-ground it to the semi liquid viscous stage. Don’t stress the mixture, take small quantities and ground, once it reaches semi viscous state, pour it in your wet grinder which I am assuming is super clean and dry. CHOCOLATES HATE WATER. Continue to do this till you ground all the 400grams cocoa nibs and have added it to your wet grinder.
Scrape out nibs that have stuck to the wall of wet grinder using spatula. Let the wet grinder run for 12 hours. You can give the wet grinder a break every couple of hours.
Step 2- melt cocoa butter using double boiler method (bain marie method). Not slowly add sugar in it (very little) and pour very little cocoa butter on the wheels wait for 15-20 mins till the sugar has mixed with cocoa. Add little more sugar and pour cocoa butter on the wheels and let it run for 15-20 mins and keep repeating will the time you have added all the 500grams of sugar and 100grams of cocoa butter. The tricky part is don’t let the cocoa butter finish before sugar, it should both end together with cocoa butter being the last to be added. Let it run for 30-36 hours by giving the wet grinder a break every few hours.
Your chocolate should look like this- https://www.instagram.com/p/CYV9wk-tF62/
Step 3- pour the warm chocolates in the mould and refrigerate for a few hours. Unmould and enjoy.
I enjoy licking the residue chocolates in the wet grinder. It is heavenly delicious and the feeling of those warm viscous sweet chocolate on my hands transports me to another world. I get the most sensual thought doing this.
I hope you like/ want to try making this recipe yourself. Feel free to modify it according to your taste and ping me if you need any help. Here’s my WhatsApp https://mmoorree.com/whatsapp/
Last but not the least. I sell 1KG pack in all variation so you do not have to worry about buying things from different places in their required quantity. My prices is way reasonable because all my life I have done business with only businesses (B2B client). Ping me for the prices https://mmoorree.com/whatsapp/
Important note-
Chocolate liqueur is only cocoa nibs that are grounded for several hours/ days to reduce the micron size to 20-25.
Chocolate hates water/ moisture. As low is 0.5grams of water can ruin 1KG of chocolate.
Source- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4696435/
