# Making Chocolate from cocoa powder



## tbobker

I want to make a bar of chocolate from coco powder. How can i do this:

My initial thought is to do this:


Melt coco powder in pan with butter and sugar
Put into pot and freeze in freezer
get it out - it didnt work, but nice and rich chocolate.
How can i i get this right, i want to be a chocolatier?!


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## TATTRAT

welcome to DC!

research my friend, research. I am  not 100% sure what you would come up with with your method...

Chocolate takes a LOT of preparation and milling/grinding. For your preparation, you might want to reverse engineer the Dutch method

Courtesy of wiki

*Chocolate production*



 


 Chocolate


 To make 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of chocolate, about 300 to 600 beans are processed, depending on the desired cocoa content. In a factory, the beans are washed and roasted. Next they are de-hulled by a "nibber" machine that also removes the germ. The nibs are ground between three sets of stones into a thick creamy paste. This "liquor" is converted to cocoa powder by removing part of its fatty oils (the "cocoa butter") using a hydraulic press or the Broma process. This process produces around 50% cocoa butter and 50% cocoa powder. Standard cocoa powder has a fat content of approximately 10-12 percent. The extracted fatty oils are used in confectionery, soaps, and cosmetics.
 Adding an alkali produces Dutch process cocoa powder, which is less acidic, darker and more mellow in flavour than what is generally available in most of the world. Regular (nonalkalized) cocoa is acidic, so when added to an alkaline ingredient like baking soda, the two react and leave a byproduct.


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## college_cook

I'm about 95% sure you can't make a chocolate bar from cocoa powder.  I think chocolate as we know is most made up of cocoa butter.


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## tbobker

*Mmmmm*

I like the information you gave me, however baking powder and coco powder - a reaction!  What reaction?!

Perhaps some goldern syrup in with my mixture.

I have to say i did try my mixture and it was incredibly rich. I didnt melt it for long enough either. Maybe if i did it might have been ok.?


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## TATTRAT

I really think if you want to make chocolate, you need to start with the bean.


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## tbobker

That is fair, but whe you start with the bean surely it creates coco powder anyway, you mentioned it above?!

So if i start with coco powder what do i need to make it?


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## TATTRAT

First you would need to re-incorporate the proper amounts of cocoa butter. 
Then, you would need to mill/grind it until it is smooth and not grainy.

Then, it needs to be tempered...multiple time to get the desired sheen and finish. 

Then, comes the additives...

All in all, I appreciate your wanting to try to do it, I guess I just think that thee are far too many  awesome and superior chocolates out there on the market, that are readily available.

I think it would be like trying to make sawdust, back into a tree.


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## candelbc

TATTRAT said:
			
		

> All in all, I appreciate your wanting to try to do it, I guess I just think that thee are far too many awesome and superior chocolates out there on the market, that are readily available.
> 
> I think it would be like trying to make sawdust, back into a tree.


 
Nice analogy... And very true!

-Brad


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## tbobker

*Great*

Ok thanks, perhaps when my master peice chocolate bar is finished i will send you a picture?! Or a slice?!


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## aguynamedrobert

Hello,
Well hopefully I can shed some light on this subject and help out...

You can make chocolate from cocoa powder.  There are companies that make their chocolate like that.  Here are some things to remember though...

1) When the cocoa butter and cocoa powder are separated their have not been refined down to the correct partical size....so you might get a grainy chocolate.
2) NEVER EVER add water or a water based product to Chocolate!  If you do it will either turn it into a ganache or just seize up the chocolate.  If you are going to make a chocolate bar then you will need cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and sugar.  If you want to add anything else it needs to be water free! Unless you are adding a dired fruit or something...the little water in that will be fine.
3) You will have to temper the chocolate(like said earlier)
4) If you want to add flavors to the chocolate then use "essential oils".  Those are the flavors from the flavor source and have no water. They are fat based. 
5) You can certainly make this chocolate bar but it will not come out as good as a company might make it because you do not have a refiner(partical size) or a conche(heating and agitating machine to develop flavors) but you can certainly have fun with it and make a chocolate you will enjoy...

Hope this helps,
Robert Noel
Chocolate Connoisseur
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base
Chocolatier Noël - Gourmet Chocolate Tastings


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## jasonr

I think the idea is kind of cool, but why would you do this? It's not like it will be your chocolate. Someone else selected the beans, someone else did all of the initial work. You're essentially just taking a finished product (cocoa powder) and reverse engineering it into another finished product (chocolate).

This would be like taking heavy cream from the supermarket and turning it into butter. You could do it, but why? It would still be the same cream, from the same cow. You wouldn't have "created" it.

And needless to say, your home grown product is going to be vastly inferior to anything made by professionals.


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## Charleysaunt

Since cocoa can be used as a sub for chocolate by adding fat (for example, in a brownie recipe), I guess it theoretically can be done. The best chocolate is using cocoa butter. Cheap chocolate adds other kinds of fats. Why do you want to do it? It will be no better a product than the quality you start with.


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## aguynamedrobert

It could still be fun to make your own chocolate from cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and sugar.  Of course it isn't completely from scratch but you still get to design is just how you want it.....The sweetness level, the mouthfeel(somewhat), the melt, the cocoa percetange...

Might as well have some fun with it...

Robert
Chocolate Guild :: The Chocolate Connoisseur's Home Base


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## Miss Shyra

Being someone who lives very isolated from a local convince store or even someplace where I can readily access cacao beans as many are given specifically to "chocolateers" as like to call them and not for common household use. 

But recently a very large company moved into town, the name Whole Foods, and one of their products is something known as a "cacao nib" I now use the one with no sugar added to make my chocolate.

Don't despair, you're very brave for wanting to experiment like this. I once wanted to know how exactly to make chocolate from cocoa powder, I got so frustrated that I ended up taking coconut paste and Bakers chocolate to make my homemade chocolate. Good Luck!


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## larry_stewart

Ive sat through the automated Hershey ride again and again ( and probably have a several videos/ dvd's of the singing cows and dancing Hershey kisses).  It seems like a long, tedious process.  And it is one of those things that you wonder, how did they think they would get something so delicious from the innitial ingredient, that tastes like crap.  

Ive actually ordered a cacao pod online.  Separated the seeds.  Roasted them. Ground them down .....and tried to do my best impression of Milton Hershey.  As you can see, It was a lot of fun, but Milty has nothing to worry about.

I think its great to attempt to make something from raw products   or even processed products.  How many times do we buy the frozen cookie dough, or betty crocker cake mixes,  cook them up, then call them homemade?   I think if there is a will, there is a way.  Might not be worth the effort in the long run, but , knock yourself out.  It will be a fun experiment, and even a rewarding one if you can pull it off.

Here is the link to the fresh cacao pods, if u get further inspired.

Fresh Tropical Fruits


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## GenesisLWolf

*Ouch Shot down?*



jasonr said:


> I think the idea is kind of cool, but why would you do this? It's not like it will be your chocolate. Someone else selected the beans, someone else did all of the initial work. You're essentially just taking a finished product (cocoa powder) and reverse engineering it into another finished product (chocolate).
> 
> This would be like taking heavy cream from the supermarket and turning it into butter. You could do it, but why? It would still be the same cream, from the same cow. You wouldn't have "created" it.
> 
> And needless to say, your home grown product is going to be vastly inferior to anything made by professionals.


 
Sad to see so many sceptics, if people are trying to look for ways to do something an easier way they are obviously not trying to get perfection. These types of ideas and experimentation are what have formed many recipes and here people are just shooting others down?
I personally think there must be a way to create even mock chocolate without going throuhg the tedious process of grinding the cocoa beans etc. themselves. And what does it matter what ingredients he uses.. just because he's not grinding the beans? Does that mean its not his anyway because someone else grew them?
Would it also be wrong for people to make their own wine, beer, cheese or ginger ale? Good luck if you haven't already done it.. i'll be sure to experiment myself soon  I'll let you guys know hoe it goes.


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## justplainbill

GenesisLWolf said:


> Sad to see so many sceptics, if people are trying to look for ways to do something an easier way they are obviously not trying to get perfection. These types of ideas and experimentation are what have formed many recipes and here people are just shooting others down?
> I personally think there must be a way to create even mock chocolate without going throuhg the tedious process of grinding the cocoa beans etc. themselves. And what does it matter what ingredients he uses.. just because he's not grinding the beans? Does that mean its not his anyway because someone else grew them?
> Would it also be wrong for people to make their own wine, beer, cheese or ginger ale? Good luck if you haven't already done it.. i'll be sure to experiment myself soon  I'll let you guys know hoe it goes.



You'll likely be more successful if you avoid using Dutch (alkali) processed cocoa.  Penzeys has the good cocoa as well as the Dutch Process stuff


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## Imran77

Dear Experts,

I need a help for making conch chocolate crispy after coating on ice cream bars. I have conch ice cream and making coating chocolate in it but when i coat my vanilla ice cream with my chocolate, its taste like a greesy not a crispy. My recipe to make chocolate based is Sugar, Palm Oil, Cocoa Powder, whey powder, vanilla powder, Soya Lecithin (.66%). My Chocolate Fat % is 55%, Solid is 99%. Particle size 22 micron, conch time 4 hrs on 50 C temp

although  another 3rd party chocolate manufacture making chocolate with same recipe and it is very hard and crispy after freezing 

CAN ANYONE HELP TO FIGURE OUT WHAT AM I DOING WRONG DURING MAKING CHOCOLATE ON MY CONCH MACHINE


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef

Here's a nickel. 
Go buy a Hershey bar!


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