Bean to Bar
Bean-to-Bar Chocolate: Step-by-Step for Beginners
Complete beginner's guide to making bean-to-bar chocolate at home. Covers every step from raw beans to finished bars with times, temperatures, and what to expect.
Bean to Bar
Food Safety for Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers
What home and small-batch makers need to know about Salmonella risk, roasting as a kill step, heavy metals, mycotoxins, PAHs, FDA shell limits, and basic HACCP principles.
Bean to Bar
Aging Chocolate: How Resting Improves Your Bars
Why freshly tempered chocolate doesn't taste its best, how flavor evolves over days and weeks of aging, optimal storage conditions, and when aging crosses into degradation.
Bean to Bar
Molding and Unmolding Chocolate: Getting Clean Release Every Time
Polycarbonate vs silicone molds, proper filling technique, cooling rates, contraction mechanics, common defects, and tips for molding inclusions and bonbons.
Bean to Bar
Diagnosing Chocolate Off-Flavors: Vinegary, Smoky, Metallic & More
A systematic troubleshooting guide for every common off-flavor in bean-to-bar chocolate. Root cause, fix, and prevention for vinegary, smoky, hammy, metallic, and chemical notes.
Bean to Bar
Chocolate Too Thick? How to Fix Viscosity Without Ruining Your Batch
Why your chocolate is too thick to work with, what the Casson model means in plain English, and the precise fixes — cocoa butter, lecithin, PGPR, and pre-refining sugar — that actually solve viscosity problems.
Bean to Bar
Chocolate Won't Temper? Troubleshooting Guide
Fix tempering problems with this systematic guide. Covers broken temper, soft set, bloom, over-seeding, and why room temperature and water both destroy temper.
Bean to Bar
Conching Chocolate: What It Does and How Long
Conching develops chocolate flavor by oxidizing volatile acids, shaping particles, and distributing fat. Learn how long to conch and what the three industrial phases do.
Bean to Bar
Fat Bloom vs Sugar Bloom: What Causes White Spots on Chocolate (and How to Prevent Them)
The two types of bloom distinguished visually and by cause. Fat bloom from crystal transition, sugar bloom from moisture — and the storage practices that prevent both.
Bean to Bar
How to Crack and Winnow Cacao Beans
Crack and winnow cacao beans to clean nibs using a Champion juicer, fan, and these exact methods. Includes the FDA husk limit and Dandelion's Ten-Minute Rule.
Bean to Bar
How to Roast Cacao Beans at Home
Roast cacao beans using the Behmor 2000AB or home oven with Nanci's three-phase system. Exact temperatures, times, and how to develop a profile for each origin.
Bean to Bar
How to Temper Chocolate: Complete Guide
Learn to temper chocolate using the seed method with exact temperatures for dark, milk, and white. Covers why Form V crystals matter and how to test your temper.
Bean to Bar
Grinding Chocolate in a Melanger: Complete Guide
Master the melanger refining process for bean-to-bar chocolate. Covers loading, refining times, particle size targets, conching, and common problems.