Intro

For your viewing pleasure we have put together this highly instructional video on how you too can make chocolate at home. All you need are a few ordinary items you most likely already have around the house and some cocoa beans.

I learned this process from the Chocolate Alchemist when Gabe and I visited his chocolate making lab (in his garage) in Yoncalla, OR.

Thanks to Edwin for the wonderful Cacao brought to us directly from Guatemala. These beans came already roasted so I will just show you the method of processing the roasted beans to get unsweetened chocolate.

First you want to remove the husk (the paper-like material covering the nibs). This is done simply by cracking the bean with your fingers.

Once all the nibs are cracked and the husks have been removed it is now time to winnow the beans. This is the process of completely separating the husks from the nibs.

It is best to do this process outside.

With a hair drying simply blow away the husks, taking care not to blow away the nibs with it. Hold the hair dryer back about a foot from the bowl and have it on the lowest setting.

Once all the husks are removed it is now time to process. Time to bust out your Champion Juicer.

Process the beans in the juicer just as if you were going to make juice. Process the nibs through serveral times to make sure you have extracted all the possible chocolate.

At this point your house will be permiated with this intense amazing fresh chocolate aroma!!

Because conching is nearly impossible at home, (there is a way however and it is discussed at the chocolate alchemy website) options are slightly limited as to what you can do with this chocolate. It can be used as unsweetened baking chocolate or you can do what I plan on doing with mine… add sugar, cinnamon, and cayenne and use it for making drinking chocolate.

I hope you enjoyed the first video lesson!! Let me know if you experiment with making chocolate. I know it sounds like quite an undertaking but it really is a fun activity and ver satisfying.

You can purchase all the materials at http://www.chocolatealchemy.com/

 

11 Responses to “Making Chocolate at home: From bean to bar”

  1. cbaron

    Very nice, you have told me about this process before, but it is really great to see it. Now, how do I make hot fudge, so I don’t have to be a slave to Dairy Queen any more?

  2. jenjen

    I think this is a great idea. I , like yourself am very visual and I would benefit a lot from video recipes. Thanks for putting in all that effort for us.

  4. chocolaterie wanders

    An interesting approach. As old-fashioned European I have a hard time seeing things that used to be a science (and still are) being made at home – but I am also a guy who likes to experiment and if I had more time I would love to get into the whole chocolate ‘making’ business too. I might even buy some chocolate at the alchemist site to check it out. Thumbs up for this 🙂

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