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Chocolate from Bean to Bar

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Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#31

Post by dylan604 »

estaseuropano wrote: post #26
bedobi wrote: post #3

countless plant and animal species have evolved and died out throughout the history of life on Earth humans have existed only for a tiny fraction of the duration of the history of complex life on Earth but somehow humans managed to co-exist with chocolate, sugarcane, vanilla, bovids (cow milk, steak), coffee and any number of stupidly tasty things I'm not going anywhere with this comment but, like, wow, no!? if human…

Its the other way around. The things we eat don't have a flavour. Flavour is created by our minds. Thus we evolved to find these things delicious, not the other way around - and this way also no surprise that there are tasty things all around us.

That sounds a lot like "Screw it. Insert me back in the matrix."

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#32

Post by dylan604 »

Xophmeister wrote: post #28
jihadjihad wrote: post #21

This is very strange to see on HN this morning...I was bored last night while eating a piece of dark chocolate, and began wondering how exactly they make it. I learned something fascinating: the primary thing that distinguishes "good" chocolate from "bad" chocolate, apart from taste, is the texture--more specifically, the crystal structure of tempered cocoa butter. There are in fact six different crystal forms of coc…

You can also do it by seeding, using chocolate with the right crystalline structure. This method is usually a lot less troublesome than the thermal shocking (tempering) approach.

That sounds like the non-HNer way of doing something. An HN reader will want to try doing it with a RaspPi or Arduino to control the temps to ensure a perfect level of Type V crystals. Maybe right up some code in Rust with React Native UI. Then, come up with test units to show the Type V levels are within parameters. No HNer would ever do this by hand when a weekend of coding/building could solve the problem.

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#33

Post by [deleted] »

estaseuropano wrote: post #26
bedobi wrote: post #3

countless plant and animal species have evolved and died out throughout the history of life on Earth humans have existed only for a tiny fraction of the duration of the history of complex life on Earth but somehow humans managed to co-exist with chocolate, sugarcane, vanilla, bovids (cow milk, steak), coffee and any number of stupidly tasty things I'm not going anywhere with this comment but, like, wow, no!? if human…

Its the other way around. The things we eat don't have a flavour. Flavour is created by our minds. Thus we evolved to find these things delicious, not the other way around - and this way also no surprise that there are tasty things all around us.

[deleted]

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#34

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

The article brings this up, but I'd say that in general home "bean to bar" chocolate isn't worth it unless you have chocolate conche machine, which you can get for about $300-$500 online. Otherwise you're going to end up with something quite gritty with a bad mouthfeel.

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#35

Post by SyzygistSix »

dylan604 wrote: post #32
Xophmeister wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also do it by seeding, using chocolate with the right crystalline structure. This method is usually a lot less troublesome than the thermal shocking (tempering) approach.

That sounds like the non-HNer way of doing something. An HN reader will want to try doing it with a RaspPi or Arduino to control the temps to ensure a perfect level of Type V crystals. Maybe right up some code in Rust with React Native UI. Then, come up with test units to show the Type V levels are within parameters. No HNer would ever do this by hand when a weekend of coding/building could solve the problem.

Doing that ends up requiring expensive equipment. And even then, it is common to seed chocolate. It's the same thing as using a yeast starter.

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#36

Post by SyzygistSix »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #34

The article brings this up, but I'd say that in general home "bean to bar" chocolate isn't worth it unless you have chocolate conche machine, which you can get for about $300-$500 online. Otherwise you're going to end up with something quite gritty with a bad mouthfeel.

Finding the correct roast takes some time as well. The roasting temperature varies between ~6 degrees Celsius and that variation can make a lot of difference in terms of the flavors that the roast brings out, and every type of bean is different. But I would imagine the process would be rather satisfying. I would add that a gritty feel is not a dealbreaker. There is a Mexican chocolate company, Taza? I think, that makes a more "traditional" grittier chocolate. It is quite enjoyable.

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#37

Post by SyzygistSix »

corpMaverick wrote: post #25
nerdbaggy wrote: post #15

Rotten episode on Chocolate is really eye opening about the staggering amounts of slavery, child labor, and corruption in the chocolate industry. Basically every brand you can think of is in on it. https://www.netflix.com/title/80146284

Is there something preventing us from cultivating Cacao beans in artificial environments(e.g.green houses).

Cost. It takes large orchards, and I would not be surprised if the surrounding ecosystem has some effect as well. One day, when energy is super cheap and superabundant, it will happen.

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#38

Post by SyzygistSix »

h2odragon wrote: post #22
renarl wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me wonder how many insanely taste things we are not experiencing because they went extinct or have not appeared yet. Defiantly there are way way more than the ones that we happened to overlap with.

Maybe fresh woolly mammoth tasted like ambrosia and unicorn spunk. There must have been some reason to hunt them beyond my ken; deer etc, smaller game seems much more viable otherwise.

I'm all for bringing back the woolly mammoth and finding out.

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#39

Post by hnrj95 »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #34

The article brings this up, but I'd say that in general home "bean to bar" chocolate isn't worth it unless you have chocolate conche machine, which you can get for about $300-$500 online. Otherwise you're going to end up with something quite gritty with a bad mouthfeel.

not sure how familiar you are with south indian cuisine, but the machine we use to make dosa batter also serves reasonably well for this purpose

Re: Chocolate from Bean to Bar

#40

Post by gonehome »

jihadjihad wrote: post #21

This is very strange to see on HN this morning...I was bored last night while eating a piece of dark chocolate, and began wondering how exactly they make it. I learned something fascinating: the primary thing that distinguishes "good" chocolate from "bad" chocolate, apart from taste, is the texture--more specifically, the crystal structure of tempered cocoa butter. There are in fact six different crystal forms of coc…

You can see them do this tempering process often when working with chocolate in The Great British Baking Show (in order to get the chocolate to be shiny).
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