Chocolate invades Europe

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It's OK to be a little different.

• Best way to eat
• The word Chocolate
• Roots of the cocoa tree
• 16th century chocolate
• Chocolate invades Europe
• The chocolate process
• Healthy Chocolate?
• Why Chocolate makes you "feel good"

The Chocolate Process :

The process of making fine chocolate hasn't changed much since the Swiss breakthroughs of the late 1800s.

Sorting cacao beans
The process of turning cacao into chocolate, not surprisingly, starts with the beans. For fine chocolate, the selection and mix of beans is very important. Companies like Scharffen Berger use up to 12 different varieties of beans from all over the world.

Roasting
All of the beans are sorted by hand before being roasted. Each variety of bean is roasted separately.Winnowing
Following the roasting process, the beans are loaded into a machine known as the winnower, which removes the hard outer hulls and separates the "nibs" of the beans by size. The nibs are the basic product used for chocolate production.

Melangéur
The melangéur has granite runners which revolve on a steel or stone bed to mash the nibs into a thick paste. Sugar and vanilla are added during this process.

Conching
The "chocolate liquor" from the melanguer is transferred to the "conche-refiner" for further processing. Heat is introduced and this process takes several hours (some chocolate makers will conche for up to 72 hours). Conching ensures that the liquid is evenly blended.

Tempering
Following conching, the liquid chocolate is tempered for several hours. The tempering process involves heating the chocolate liquor and then cooling it in several stages. This process stabilizes the cocoa butter crystals so that they become more uniform in size. It also gives the chocolate a bright luster and a sharp snap when you break it.

Molding and Packaging
The final steps in the process are molding the chocolate, allowing it to cool and harden, and then finally packaging it.

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H a r r y N a t a n d B e r n i e s i s i n t o d u c i n g t h e u l t i m a t e l i n e i n g o u r m e t c o f f e e s . W e h a v e s c o u r e d t h e S o u t h A m e r i c a a n d a b r o a d t o p u t t o g e t h e r a c o l l e c t i o n s o e x o t i c t h e r e i s n o c o m p a r is o n a n y w h e r e . W e c u s t o m b l e n d a n d r o a s t t h e b e s t b e a n s i n t h e wo r l d t o f i l l y o u r c u p w i t h t h e b e s t c o f f e e i n t h e w o r l d .