Field Trip: Dandelion Chocolate

Last week my pastry class had the opportunity to go on a tour of Dandelion Chocolate, a small batch chocolate making company. We got to see the process of how they make chocolate and tasted quite a few different kinds while we were there. 

For more about Dandelion's process: http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/process/#anchor

Dried Cacao Pods with Cacao Beans

The first part of the tour was the bean room. Cacao beans are grown from 20 degrees north to 20 degrees south of the equator. The beans are both fermented and dried at the plantation. Fermentation usually occurs over 6 days followed by drying the beans for 6-7 days. This has to be done very soon after removing the pods from the tree to prevent rot. Last year Dandelion used 8 metric tons of cacao beans. Each of us tried a "raw" cacao bean (it might not be considered raw because it can get up 135°F during fermentation). In most cases the cacao pulp (mucilage) is discarded, but Dandelion sells a cacao pulp smoothie, so we also got to try the raw cacao pulp which had a very mild, sweet flavor.

Cacao beans sliced open with the bean guillotine to see the quality of the fermentation
(This is normally only done if they are looking at a new supplier)

After the beans are sorted the workers at Dandelion roast the beans in a modified coffee roaster. Dandelion likes a light roast on their beans, between 180-225°F. I got to try a roasted bean. It was really bitter, but in a sort of pleasant way (if you've ever eaten unsweetened cacao nibs you know what I'm talking about). The husk of the bean is then removed from the nibs using a machine that was originally intended for brewing. Next, the beans go through a winnower to sort the nibs from the husk.

Cacao nibs after being in the melanger for one day
(I don't believe there is sugar in this batch yet)

Cacao nibs and sugar after two days in the melanger
(It is lighter in color because it is a different kind of bean, but the texture difference is from the amount of time)

The cacao nibs are then put into a melanger which is a grinder with granite wheels. Melangers are originally from India and used to grind spices. Sugar is added during the melanging process. Dandelion only uses cacao nibs and sugar in their chocolate. They don't add cocoa butter or anything else that is sometimes added to chocolate (more about that later). Dandelion usually melanges their chocolate for 3 days.

The last step that we got to see during the tour was their tempering machine. We all looked at it lustfully, as we had been tempering everything by hand all week. (I will explain the process of tempering in my giant chocolate post tomorrow.) Dandelion makes 550 chocolate bars a day, so it would be crazy to temper by hand.

After the tour, we went upstairs to do some tastings. In the photo above there are four cups of nibs that are labeled 1 through 4. Under that there were four piece of chocolate that were also labeled. We had to try to see if we could match the chocolate bar to the nibs that they were made from. I got two of them correct; it was harder than I thought it would be!

Ingredients in chocolate

We also did a tasting of the ingredients that are often added to chocolate. From top down they are: milk powder (what makes milk chocolate milk chocolate), vanilla, sugar, soy lecithin (used to thin the chocolate and make it smoother), cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and cacao nibs. 

We also tasted come chocolate that wasn't made by Dandelion. We tried a 100%, 62%, 58% (this was a dark milk which is becoming more of a thing), candy melts, and a white chocolate bar. I am not usually a fan of white chocolate, but I liked this one because it was made with goat's milk powder, rather than the usual cow's milk powder. It was really interesting.

Something that people often don't know is that the percentage listed on the chocolate bar is the percent of the bar that is made of some part of the cacao pod. That means that one company's 65% might not be as dark as another companies 62% because the 65% might have more cocoa butter and less cacao nibs. In class we have been using a 31% white chocolate for most project involving white chocolate.

Bird's-eye view of the Factory 

Tomorrow I will be a chocolate roundup post for all of last week!