advantages of roasting beans vs nibs

[hcbitt]

Currently we roast beans in a Toastmaster convection oven then crush in the Crankenstein then winnow with a lab size 'catador' and make cocoa liquor with the Champion.

What are the pros and cons of roasting bean vs roasting nibs , assuming I use the same equipment?

WE've assembled a cacao pod to chocolate bar system in my lab to evaluate different trees and environments throughout Hawaii. Pods are sent to us, we ferment and dry in an attempt to control the variation so we taste only the genetics and environmental effects.

[Alan]

hcbitt said:

Currently we roast beans in a Toastmaster convection oven then crush in the Crankenstein then winnow with a lab size 'catador' and make cocoa liquor with the Champion.

What are the pros and cons of roasting bean vs roasting nibs , assuming I use the same equipment?

WE've assembled a cacao pod to chocolate bar system in my lab to evaluate different trees and environments throughout Hawaii. Pods are sent to us, we ferment and dry in an attempt to control the variation so we taste only the genetics and environmental effects.

Well, to preserve some of the bright, interesting notes of fine cacao, you'll want to roast the whole bean. By removing the shell first, a larger proportion of the aroma that one would normally preserve is lost during the roast.

I have experimented with single layer nib roasting, and while there is less thermal mass than with single layers of whole beans, and therefore you reach the target temperature of the roast more quickly, I don't find the slightly faster roast is worth the drawback of a less flavorful and aromatic chocolate. Of course if you have a thickness of nibs that approximates the thickness of whole beans, then you won't get a faster roast, and there will be less air circulation too, so it would probably slow things down a bit. I guess that you can tell what I think about nib roasting.

Also, don't forget that winnowing post-roast is easier than pre-roast.

Regarding fermenting and drying cacao yourself, what type of setup are you using to make sure that the internal temperature of the fermenting mass reaches the proper temperature? I know that some have experimented with small insulated boxes for fermenting considerably smaller amounts of cacao than usual, and I've read that the results are good, but I've not seen it done personally.

[hcbitt]

Aloha Choco-luvah,
Our fermentation system is designed for small amounts of cacao so I use an old bacteria incubator. Seed is packed into clear plastic containers, inverted so the mucilage can drain, temperature is set at 35C, after 3 d temperature is raised to 45C. We stop after 6 d; dry at 40C in a forced air dryer. Send me an email and I'll send you some jpgs.
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[seneca]

Personally, I would not try to winnow before roasting, even if just for the labor saved.

Also, for what it's worth, if you are interested in environmental effects it might make sense to consider doing the ferment onsite rather than remotely. Because of the differences in climate and microbiology, you're going to get radically different profiles from, say, Kona to Hilo to NS Oahu before you ever get to the roast, even with identical genetics.

Just a thought, having no idea what your experimental goals are :-)

[segmed]

As far as I know large companies roast nibs just coz of economical purposes (save more cacao butter.
About flavor it's always best to roast whole beans - that what most of artisan chocolate makers do.

[Brad]

I don't necessarily agree with anything that segmed just wrote....

[Sebastian]

Agree. I'd started a response, then got distracted (Squirrel!) and never came back to it. There's no cocoa butter savings to be had. And there's phemenonal flavor control regardless of your roasting type if you know how to control it. What many people don't realize is that your particle size reduction process can modulate flavor quite a bit as well, resulting in them disproportionately focusing on roasting.