Chocolate Makers Starting Points #3
5Essential Pieces of equipment for making chocolate at home
Deep Dive
5 - Heavy Molds
Not only will good heavy molds make your chocolate look more professional and like "real chocolate" (looks around) they will make the important step of molding and unmolding much easier. You want good heavy molds. Trust us.
4 - A "Good" Thermometer
We prefer a good solid infrared thermometer but in the end what matters is it's calibrated right and gives you a reliable reading. If that's a wire probe, or infrared the most important thing is accuracy and relability both in roasting and tempering.
3 - A roaster
Unless you're buying roasted nibs a roaster is vital. You may know we don't really advocate for Raw Chocolate and as such you need to roast your beans both for health and safety but also for flavor. Roasting deeply affects the end taste of your bars.
2 - A Melanger
If you want to make modern smooth chocolate there is just no way around getting a melanger. It's the one bit of kit there is just no getting around.
1 - Your brain
True story! At first glance it can look overwhelming. There are a lot of steps and sometimes that can seem harder than it really is. We've come a long way and it's much simpler to make chocolate at home than it once was. So just take your time. Ask questions. Read and use that brain! We're always here if you need help.
