For this blending technique, nibs from various origins are mixed in the supply hopper of the cocoa grinder.īeans are ground to “liberate” the cocoa butter, which, once melted gives the paste its liquid texture. Valrhona does not mix bean origins all these steps are carried out for each individual origin.ĭuring this step, Valrhona will mix together beans from similar origins to create exquisitely unique cocoa flavours: this is known as a pure origin, or will blend mixing together different origins.
The beans are roasted in a “globe” with gas-heated air to develop the flavour precursors, to dry the beans and to detach the shell from the bean in order to make further separation easier.Ĭrushing is used for bursting open the cocoa beans and separating the shells and the nibs (“grué” – tiny cocoa fragments) as much as possible. Roasting is a key step essential for developing the Taste of chocolate. Valrhona uses various criteria to analyse the beans, including a panel of experts who test the organoleptic quality. This step is essential in ensuring bean compliance before beginning the chocolate manufacturing cycle. The clean beans are then conditioned in Big Bags, each bag holds 1 ton of beans. The beans are cleaned and destoned to remove any foreign body present: pod fragments, stones, etc.
The beans shipped from Venezuela take 28 days to reach their destination those shipped from Papua New Guinea take 90 days. The beans are then shipped to the port of Le Havre, and then transported by truck to the chocolate factory at Tain l’Hermitage. Impurities, foreign bodies and waste are carefully eliminated from the beans before bagging them. Roofs slide over the decks to protect the beans from bad weather. Valrhona privileges drying in the sun, in fresh air, on wooden decks.
Bean to bar free#
Then the beans are stirred resulting in acetic fermentation, a process using oxygen.īeans are dried to reduce their intrinsic moisture level to below 7%, thus halting the fermentation process definitively, and permitting shipment and storage which is free from re-fermentation risk. The beans are covered with banana leaves: resulting in ethanol fermentation, a process without oxygen 20 to 40 beans are extracted per pod.īeans are fermented naturally, either on the ground itself or in crates, depending on the country.įermentation stimulates the chocolate flavour precursors through its two-stage process: Sorting requires the pods to be cut open with a machete, or clubbed, to let the beans fall to be separated from the “rachis”. Then the pods are sorted and only the healthiest are kept. Various tools, such as the machete, the pike pole or shears are used for harvesting.įirstly, bunches of beans, covered in a white pulp called mucilage, are extracted from the pod. Here, Valrhona has unwrapped a treasured project to save threatened cocoa varieties, particularly Porcelana, a variety of Criollo.Ĭocoa pods are only harvested when ripe a technique which preserves the tree and ensures blossoming over and over again. Valrhona gives great importance to its long-lasting relationships with its partner-planters, especially in Venezuela where it owns a plantation and where it can perfect the fine art of cocoa culture. Our ingredients have been used to inspire our name – Lucocoa.The cocoa tree is very “hard to please” optimally thriving under an ambient temperature of at least 25☌, in a moist atmosphere containing over 80% humidity, offering significant annual rainfall, ideally around 1800mm, and never-ending shade. This combination gives our bars a uniquely rich and warm flavour. Our bars are only sweetened with unrefined coconut sugar and the superfood lucuma (A fruit from Peru). We promised to never use refined sugar, additives, preservatives or any nasties. Our chocolate is made in small batched and each batch is carefully made over a period of three days.
In doing this we joined a niche group of only a small handful of chocolate makers in the UK. Our beans are from Haiti, Belize, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. This, we achieved by using only rare Criollo and Trinitario cocoa beans that make up less than 15% of the world's cocoa. We searched high and low around this great world looking for cocoa beans that ticked the right boxes - Those that combined the best taste, finest quality, were organic and had the fairest practices in place. It was the only way we could be sure that our chocolate contained the finest ingredients and was made to an excellent standard. We decided to make our chocolate from scratch– from the cocoa bean itself.
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