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Post by jacobk on Feb 25, 2021 6:59:19 GMT -5
Hi all,
Does anyone use or know of any good equipment or methods that efficiently breaks larger blocks of chocolate into smaller pieces (such as small firm pieces, shredded chocolate, or powder-like chocolate)?
Thanks! Jacob
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Post by Chip on Feb 25, 2021 11:51:27 GMT -5
jacobk, I have run into this as well, and recently have come up with a method that makes your chocolate all chopped up. 1. I make the chocolate 2. I pour it into large cookie sheet pans, it gets to be about 3/4" thick 3. Put it in the fridge 4. Once cold, bring it out and smack the crap out of it with a clean (purchased just for this purpose and santized) ball-pean hammer. 5. That breaks it up into chunks. 6. Put the chunks in my Breville 12 quart food processor using the chopping blade 7. Chop for 10-15 seconds 8. Pour out into large plastic container that holds up to 10 pounds of chopped chocolate. Doing it this way you get a coarse, sand like chop. The cold also helps stop the chocolate from melting during the chopping since the chopping causes heat. I don't know if they make chocolate guillotines for the purpose you are asking. Also, all guillotines I've seen are quite pricey. Hope this helps. HTH!
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Post by Ben on Feb 25, 2021 13:10:32 GMT -5
Over the years, I've tried a ton of ways to break chocolate into smaller bits for use as drinking chocolate. So far, all are terrible in one way or another. The food processor process Chip mentions works well enough for smallish amounts. For larger amounts, having to have the chocolate in sheet pans becomes an issue unless you have a walk-in fridge. The best process I've tried for larger amounts is using a continuous food processor. Someone posted about it in the Well Tempered group on Facebook recently. I bought the continuous food processor linked below. It works well enough, but makes a mess due to static in the chocolate and you will have some melting if you grind enough chocolate. I recently ground 125 lbs in it and had to stop several times to clean out the melted chocolate. I just break up blocks of chocolate into chunks small enough to fit in the feeder. www.webstaurantstore.com/avantco-cfp5d-continuous-feed-food-processor-3-4-hp/177CFP5D.htmlPackInt sells a couple of machines that are the real answer this problem. The first one takes large blocks and breaks them up into smaller chunks. The second one breaks up the smaller chunks into granular chocolate. They're big and pricey, though.
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Post by Chip on Feb 25, 2021 14:32:35 GMT -5
Just for time reference, last night I did 20 pounds of chocolate (dark) in 1/2 hour.
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Post by mark on Feb 25, 2021 23:14:04 GMT -5
The Ritual folks have a beast of a machine that takes large blocks (seemed to be around 20kg) and shreds them into fine pieces for drinking chocolate. But as Ben says, it's Italian and it's quite pricey. We use a food processor that's designed for household use and I think it will die soon. Those restaurant-style processors do seem to be better suited to the task at a reasonable price point. I can confirm the mess due to static, argh.
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Post by jacobk on Feb 26, 2021 4:11:09 GMT -5
Thanks for all your input - I'll probably go for a solution similar to yours
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Post by Ben on Feb 26, 2021 9:08:55 GMT -5
I'm pretty impressed that you are able to do that much in 1/2 hour, Chip! I've never been able to achieve that much.
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Post by Chip on Feb 26, 2021 15:50:41 GMT -5
Ben, I have a system, very thin chunks, put in processor, and for my container I use a (new and sanitized) small gray garbage can I got from Home Depot with a bag in in. Grind, dump, refill, grind, dump, refill. I kind of go on automatic, and since the chocolate is cold it has really, really cut down on the melting problem you talked about. I used to experience that with room temp chocolate, but no more@. And, each "grind" is about 10-12 seconds. That Breville is really a monster and I haven't had anything really stop it since I've gone to the thin chunks. I had found that the melted chocolate caused the time delay: taking the thing apart, scraping the blades, scraping the plastic bowl part, reassembling, etc. I dedicate 1/2 hour to it and the other night, for the FIRST time, I actually completed it. I do have to say I average 45 minutes or so. But I was bragging. lol. Chip (the braggard).
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Post by jackamus on Oct 9, 2021 10:25:16 GMT -5
jacobk , I have run into this as well, and recently have come up with a method that makes your chocolate all chopped up. 1. I make the chocolate 2. I pour it into large cookie sheet pans, it gets to be about 3/4" thick 3. Put it in the fridge 4. Once cold, bring it out and smack the crap out of it with a clean (purchased just for this purpose and santized) ball-pean hammer. 5. That breaks it up into chunks. 6. Put the chunks in my Breville 12 quart food processor using the chopping blade 7. Chop for 10-15 seconds 8. Pour out into large plastic container that holds up to 10 pounds of chopped chocolate. Doing it this way you get a coarse, sand like chop. The cold also helps stop the chocolate from melting during the chopping since the chopping causes heat. I don't know if they make chocolate guillotines for the purpose you are asking. Also, all guillotines I've seen are quite pricey. Hope this helps. HTH! I do the same as you but I line the tray with grease-proof paper. I do not allow it cool completely. Once it is cooler but still soft I lift it out using the grease-proof paper and then slice it using a pizza roller knife to cut it into small pieces then I put it in the fridge. Once you take it of the fridge it breaks into the smaller pieces easily.
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