Step 1 – Heating and cooling
This is the first step in our process and involves heating and cooling of couverture chocolate using precise temperatures while keeping the chocolate in motion. A good shine and snap on chocolate are the results of consistently small cocoa butter crystals produced by the tempering process. If chocolate is not tempered properly, the cocoa butter crystallization is uneven, resulting in a dull, streaky appearance with a rough and chewy texture.
Our chocolate tempering machine is the work-horse in our operation, it produces large batches of perfectly tempered chocolate and holds it at the correct working temperature for the next step in chocolate making, You can temper chocolate by hand if you do not have a tempering machine.
Hand Tempered Chocolate
Method:
- Gently heat the chocolate to 45°C using a double boiler, spatula and thermometer
- Cool the chocolate down by taking the chocolate off the boil and stirring until it cools to 27°C.
- Back on the boil, heat the chocolate slightly whilst stirring. If dark chocolate: 31-32°C If milk chocolate: 29-30°C
Step 2: Chocolate Moulding
In this step we pour tempered chocolate into moulds, cool it to around 18 degrees Celsius and then unmould.
Our tempering machine is fitted with a dosing head that measures the correct dose of chocolate into our moulds. The chocolate moulds then get placed onto a vibration table that settles the chocolate evenly across the mould and into all the corners and at the same time releases any trapped bubbles.
We designed and custom-made our Drakensberg Chocolate moulds so that we have an original product inside and out. Our classic range of 80g Drakensberg Chocolate Bars have our logo with our mountains etched into the chocolate. Our 160g Mountain Bar Chocolate, is made from a truly unique chocolate mould and makes a really great gift from the mountains.
We commissioned Steve Bull, a famous artist who lives in our area to produce a piece of art that we turned into a chocolate mould. He spent weeks chiselling our mountain range into a piece of wood the size of a chocolate bar and it was this beautiful design that became our famous 160g Mountain Bar; chocolate and art all wrapped up deliciously to take home and enjoy.
We also mould different-shaped chocolate products like chocolate lollies and our range of hot chocolate dippers and pralines.
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