Everything starts with cocoa beans

Whatever chocolate product you want to make, your chocolate production process starts with cocoa beans. After leaving them to ferment for a few days, the beans are dried to reduce the moisture level.

Roasting is vital because it develops the chocolate flavor. The beans break down in the roaster, and the shell is removed through the winnowing step, separating the cocoa nibs from their husk. If there is any residual shell, this could affect the flavor of the chocolate.

Chocolate bars, chocolate bonbons, chocolate coatings… the list goes on, you name it

Bonbons and Truffles: Brothers without scuffles

Chocolate bonbons and truffle balls are similar chocolate products, usually mistaken for each other. Which makes what, then?

Both require chocolate tempering, can be molded or enrobed, and can come in many designs. The same chocolate making equipment for bonbons and truffles can be used to produce each other. The difference lies in their core, literally.

You can consider chocolate-shelled products as truffles when their core is filled with ganache. A tempering machine raises the temperature of the chocolate to 46°C before cooling it to around 26°C. A second process then reheats it to 30°C.

On the other hand, bonbons have cores made of fruit puree, caramel, nut pastes, and many more. The process starts filling the molds with tempered chocolate to form the shell. To get rid of any air bubbles, molds must be vibrated. After hardening, the shell is filled and sealed with another chocolate layer.

Do you always need a chocolate tempering machine for making your chocolate coating?

No, definitely not.

Compound chocolate is also known as compound coating since it is widely used for coating candy bars. Since there is no cocoa butter, compound coatings don’t need to be tempered, but simply melted and used.

Compound chocolate is made from cocoa, vegetable fats, and sweeteners. Vegetable fats such as coconut oil and palm oil are used as replacements for cocoa butter and instead of chocolate liquor, it has cocoa powder inside.

Molding vs. enrobing for your chocolate products

Choosing to use a chocolate enrober or a chocolate melting machine depends on the design of your chocolate product and its filling.

When using molding, you need to form the shell of your product first, fill it with a flavoring, cover it and cool it. Compared to molding, enrobing is a faster method. You have to form the core of your product first and then you can pour your liquid chocolate over it.

Enrobing machines can also work with several ingredients, such as nuts or chili powder.