Wouldn’t it be great if you could make your own chocolate right in the comfort of your own home? Well, it can be done but it does take a tremendous amount of effort! Some of the top leading brands today started out by making their own handmade chocolates from home. The creator of top brand ‘Lily O’Brian’ started creating chocolate using just a few pots and pans in her own home. Now she is a famous chocolate creator, creating some of the most delicious chocolates in the country! So could you possibly become the next Lily O’Brian? Well it’s doubtful but you never know!
The Benefits of Homemade Chocolate and how it is done
Homemade chocolate always tends to taste better than factory made chocolate. That is why many Belgian chocolate creators use only homemade methods. The flavour tends to be a lot creamier and richer than factory made chocolate, and the advantage is, you tend to know what is going in the chocolate if you make it yourself!
Another advantage of the homemade method is that the outer shell of the chocolate does not tend to be waxy, and it simply melts in the mouth. Truffles are particularly delicious homemade, though they do tend to be a lot harder to make if you have not got any experience whatsoever!
Usually homemade chocolates by the ordinary person do not tend to be as sweet as what we are used to. This is because the art of making chocolate is quite a complicated and lengthy process, which often requires plenty of machinery to help to make it as sweet as we are used to. So, the chocolate you can make does tend to be slightly bitterer in taste than usual. However, if that does not put you off, then if you can find raw cocoa beans then you will be able to create a rough chocolate. You can do this by:
• First roast the beans at around 400 degrees C for roughly half an hour. Once they have roasted they should become dark brown and look similar to a coffee bean.
• Next the husks need to come off which can take a while, but it is essential so that you can reach the nibs inside.
• Once you have removed the husks, you then need to use a Mortar and Pestle to break up the cocoa bean, and then grind the bits in a spice grinder until they are finely grounded.
• Again using the Mortar and Pestle, grind the beans even more by hand. The longer you grind them for, the smoother the chocolate will be.
• Heat the mixture in a pan for a few minutes only and then repeat the grinding process with the Mortar and Pestle once more.
• Now that the mixture is smooth, you need to add sugar which is usually roughly ¼ of a cup to one pound of beans, vanilla, and perhaps a little cinnamon.
• Keep the mixture in a container in the refrigerator until it sets and then you have your chocolate!
It may not taste exactly like something you would buy in a shop but practice does make perfect!
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