Making chocolate at home

Hi Everybody,

I am interested in making chocolate at home from scratch, from roasting the cocoa bean to the chocolate bar. I live in the United Kingdom. UK, but making chocolate here is not so well supported as in USA.

I think, I have found a source of cocoa beans on

e-bay(cocoaman)UK, and also giant juicer, I think can be purchased via e-bay as well. There seems to be many models, but most are available in the USA, are

there any cheaper alternatives to the giant juicer?

The last thing is the wet/dry grinder to remove any

grittiness from the chocolate. I have found 3, models, but Im not sure if they are suitable, Premier, 1.5 L. wonder stone grinder, Premier, 2.0 L. table top compact stone wet grinder and the Butterfly, Matchless table top wet grinder, 2.0 L?

Also, I am looking for a good book on making Chocolate at home, from scratch, from cocoa beans to chocolate bar? Is there anybody that could help me? Any help, or suggestions would be very much appreciated!

I know that the Premiers work for making chocolate and I'd imagine the Butterfly would, as well. The Butterfly's 3-wheel configuration is pretty interesting as it basically doubles the grinding surface area.

Hi Ben,

Thanks very much for the information on grinders.

Is there any substitute for the ' giant juicer', I see there are many models on e-bay, but all seem to

be USA based with expensive postage?

Kind regards

Robert.

There is a website solely dedicated to making chocolate at home.

It's www.ChocolateAlchemy.com

Cheers.

Brad

Hi Brad,

Thanks very much for the link, much appreciated!

Cheers Rob.

If the juicer is to pre-grind the nibs before putting them in the melanger, I'd suggest skipping it altogether. You can put nibs directly into the melanger.

Hi Ben,

That sounds like a good idea, but would you haveto be very careful in making sure all the 'husks' were removed from the roasted cocoa beans? I have seen the filter on the juicer produces the cocoa mass, but does also filter catchparticles of 'husks' out. Is, this what you have done just transfer the nibs directly into the grinder?

Best Rob.

Yes, you'll want to make sure that it is well-winnowed. I just winnow and then put the winnowed nib into the melanger.

Hi Ben,

Thanks very much, I appreciate all your help.

Best Rob.