In Chandigarh, Italian chef Garbielle says sugar should not overpower the taste of cacao in any form of chocolate

Yathesht Pratiraj

Chocolates are great, but there is one issue with the modern form that we consume. According to Chef Gabrielle, an Italian chocolatier from Milan, who was in Chandigarh recently, “When you flip the cover of an industrialised chocolate, you see the ingredients’ list. The first thing listed there would always be sugar. I am not saying sugar is bad, but I believe that it should not overpower the taste of the cacao.” Chef Gabrielle is in India to train people at an upcoming handcrafted chocolate place, Mozimo.

Intricate art

Chef Gabrielle believes making a chocolate bar is an intricate art that takes a lot of time and patience. The machinery to create that art has been bought from Italy as well. Unlike a coffee bean, which takes about 15 minutes to roast, cacao beans take 45 minutes. Once the beans are roasted, they are cooled and then crushed into cacao nibs using the Bean Winnower machine. The nibs are then ground into a fine cacao paste called cocoa mass, also known as chocolate liquor. The cocoa mass can then simply be combined with cocoa butter and sweeteners to eventually make chocolates. After this, the ‘conching’ process begins, where the machine is used for rolling, kneading, heating, and aerating the liquid chocolate paste. “This is one of the most important parts of creating consistent, pure and delicious chocolate,” says the chef.