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Archive | packaging

Le Grande Experiment: Part 3

October 8, 2015 by Greg

This is the third in a series of posts about Le Grande Experiment (which translates into no language except the one we’ve made up), a somewhat recent adventure wherein we sent teams to Denver and Italy on a vital mission: to hunt down and test the best equipment for scaling up our process. Our current setup works well for our factory space on Valencia Street, but as we grow into our new factory space on Alabama Street, we believe there are better options out there for improving the quality of our chocolate and expanding our capacity to experiment. While we could do the work on the phone, we find the best results come from hitting the road and getting our hands dirty.

The exciting conclusion to our experiment is here!  If you haven’t read about Le Grande Experiment, it is worth reading up on Part 1 and Part 2 before reading on as I’ll be making reference to some of groundwork laid in those posts. We now rejoin our intrepid research team in San Francisco.

Now that we had lots of data and tests and samples and, well, chocolate, we needed to figure out what we liked!  There were two main considerations (in order of importance to us):

  1. Flavor
  2. Texture (and the closely related viscosity)

Why we care about flavor and texture should be relatively obvious. As we only make two-ingredient chocolate, viscosity is a constant challenge. Without added lecithin or fat (cocoa butter), we can’t control the viscosity to make the chocolate more workable the way many other makers can, so we need to set ourselves up for success! Our overall goal is to make more chocolate with less labor, and to make chocolate which tastes better, has a better mouthfeel, and is easier for us to handle. How hard could it be?

Flavor

Because flavor is our major driver, the first order of business was to understand the impact of the equipment on flavor. Typically, we use blind taste tests to determine these things, but doing a blind taste test of our standard chocolate against chocolate we made with alternate equipment made me nervous. Even though the beans were all roasted the same way, there were a number of variables that were difficult to control and I worried we wouldn’t be able to make a fair comparison. It turns out I sometimes (*cough* often) overthink things, and luckily fate stepped in. It was January, and we had made it back to San Francisco in time for the semi-annual FCIA meeting (which always takes place in San Francisco in January), which gave us a phenomenal but transient opportunity to talk to a number of other chocolate makers about our results as well as get some chocolate folks tasting chocolate! So, we threw caution to the wind and did a blind tasting of the three methods.

The test compared our own standard chocolate against two others: the chocolate we’d made with a ball mill and rotary conche (the “Packint Method”), and another we’d made with a roll mill and longitudinal conche (the “Steve Method”). We had our standard internal set of people taste the chocolate as well as a number of guests and visitors. This was anything but a scientifically sound study: everyone was trained differently, various chocolate makers look for different things in chocolate, and many people tried the sample late at night after much merriment had been had. That being said, what we wanted to understand is what people actually liked, or more to the point, what did they love? Our customer base is wide and varied (our chocolate is often eaten after much merriment) so while I don’t feel this tasting had the level of rigor we usually attempt to achieve, I think it gave us interesting information. In the results below you can see what we look for when trying to understand preference in samples. The samples are scored on a scale of +2 to -2, +2 being the best thing you’ve ever tried and -2 being something that might make you a little angry at the person who gave it to you. We look for samples that have large number of scores above 1 and minimal scores below 0. Our goal is to make chocolate people love, not chocolate that is inoffensive. It near impossible to make an intensely flavored chocolate that everyone will love, as some people just won’t like that particular flavor, so a few negative scores isn’t a bad thing. These are the results from all of the tasting:

Standard Dandelion Steve Method Packint Method
Number of scores greater than 1 4 4 5
Average of positive scores 0.98 0.93 0.81
Number of scores less than 0 7 5 4
Overall average 0.27 0.43 0.45
Median 0.625 0.875 0.75
Standard Deviation 1.11 1.09 0.90
Favorite Count 4 6 7

The first thing you’re likely to see is that there was no clear winner. Standard Dandelion had the highest number of negative scores but also the highest average of positive scores. The Packint Method had the most fans but the Steve Method had the highest median score. On the qualitative side, people felt like the result from the Packint method was more chocolatey and the Steve method retained more fruity and acid flavors. The conclusion we could draw is that in a blind taste test, the method we have spent years perfecting was neither significantly better nor significantly worse than two other methods that we were just trying out for the first time. Both of these methods can be done at a larger scale with less labor, and that was very promising because it meant with time and practice it seems likely we will be able to “make more chocolate that tastes better, with less labor.”

Texture

The next question was one of texture and viscosity. These two attributes are closely related and typically depend on:

  • Fat content
  • Fat type(s)
  • Moisture content
  • Particle shape
  • Particle size distribution

Since we used the same beans for each test, we felt confident that the fat content and type(s) was pretty similar between the samples. This meant that any differences in texture and viscosity are likely due to moisture, particle shape, or particle size distribution. Before diving in further, it’s probably worth outlining why these factors can influence what I’ll call “texturosity.”  As Cynthia noted in her post on Le Grande Experiment 2, chocolate is technically a solid in liquid colloid (a.k.a. a “sol”). In our case, the liquid is the fat released from the beans during the refining process, and the solids are what’s left of the cocoa once the fat is released (including the sugar we add).

The ratio of particles to fat will influence both the texture of the chocolate as well as the viscosity.  In terms of moisture content, adding moisture—a dissimilar liquid—to a combination of fat and particles will break the homogenous mixture and the sol will start to thicken. This makes it harder for us to work with, and so we try to keep moisture to a minimum.

As for how particle shape influences viscosity, imagine a vat full of identical balls, all of which can move over each other easily. Then imagine a vat full of irregular spiked balls. Irregular particle sizes make the chocolate more viscous because, like the spiked balls, they cannot move amongst and around each other easily. Less viscous chocolate is much easier to work with, so we want to optimize for machines that will make the most particles the same, rounded shaped.

The last factor we’re considering is something called “particle size distribution,” by which we mean the quantity of each sized particle in a given sample. To illustrate this, imagine a vat full of identical balls; they move easily! Then imagine a vat of balls of various sizes, wherein the smaller ones can fit in the spaces between the larger ones, creating a relatively static, solid vat. To reduce viscosity, our goal is to have all of the particles as similarly sized as possible.

While the machines we use can’t really impact fat content or type in the beans, they can impact moisture content, particle shape, and size distribution. Once we had samples from our current process as well as samples from a ball mill, from a ball mill / rotary conche, from a roll mill, and from a roll mill / longitudinal conche, we looked at each of them under a microscope and found the results are below.

Cocoatown

Cocoatown Particle Distribution

Cocoatown – notice the relatively wide particle distribution

Cocoatown Particle View

Cocoatown – The particles tend to be a bit rough around the edges

Ball Mill (without conching)

Ball Mill Particle Distribution

Ball Mill – notice the 2 distinct sets of particle sizes

Ball Mill Particle View

Ball Mill Particle View – very consistently sized particles but quite rough

Ball Mill / Rotary Conche 

Ball Mill / Rotary Conche Particle Distribution

Ball Mill / Rotary Conche – notice the narrower distribution once the particles have been conched

Ball Mill / Rotary Conche Particle View

Ball Mill / Rotary Conche Particle View – wider distribution but rounder particles

Roll Mill (without conching)

Roll Mill Particle Distribution

Roll Mill: narrower distribution of particles but two distinct sets, one smaller, one larger.

Roll Mill Particle View

Roll Mill Particle View – bigger and rougher particles

Roll Mill / Longitudinal Conche

Roll Mill / Longitudinal Conche Particle Distribution

Roll Mill / Longitudinal Conche – after conching, the particle distribution is significantly narrower!

Roll Mill / Longitudinal Conche Particle View

Roll Mill / Longitudinal Conche Particle View – smaller and rounder particles (as well as a bit of cross contamination)

The main thing you’ll notice is that there are two clusters of particle size in the post-refining but pre-conching phase. As it turns out, conching the chocolate resulted in a tighter particle distribution. The conche also reduced particle size overall through the shearing and rounding action of the conche. The sample from the Cocoatown (that we use in the factory now) didn’t have the double cluster and had a wider particle size distribution.

Decisions

Overall we learned a lot through these experiments.  Our results are admittedly a bit fuzzy, and we could put more rigor into the experiments, but our goal was to understand which equipment we should use and we feel like we accomplished this goal. The decisions we made are as follows:

  • Pre-refining
    • We LOVED the Packint 2 roll pre-refiner.  It produced a shelf stable pre-refined material without adding much heat. This means we can control flavor more effectively.
  • Refining
    • Use a Packint Ball Mill for refining the more chocolatey beans
    • Use a five roll mill for refining all the other beans. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to purchase a small five roll mill, so we bought a used Carle & Montanari 980MM mill from Base Coop.
  • Conching
    • Use a Packint Rotary Conche for chocolatey products
    • Use a longitudinal conche for other products. Sadly longitudinal conches are not easy to come by but it was Steve DeVries to the rescue.  We purchased a used longitudinal conche from Steve, and our Magic Man of Machines, Snooky, is working on reconditioning it now.

Okay! We now have beans, we have equipment to roast, crack, winnow, refine, and conch.  Next stop…  TEMPERING!

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Maya Monster

November 28, 2012 by Cam

We’ve had a few nice mentions in the press recently which generated a bunch of orders. Fortunately, Maya, our fulfillment lead, is a monster at packing up orders:

We’re still a bit backlogged but with Maya on our side, that shouldn’t last too long!

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Pirates, Poems, Sea Salt & Chocolate

November 20, 2012 by Chiann

Back in June, Alice and I led a workshop called “Chock-full O’ Chocolate” at our friendly neighborhood pirate supply store, also known as 826 Valencia. Founded ten years ago in San Francisco, 826 Valencia offers a variety of free programs for primary and secondary school students to support their writing skills, foster creativity and inspire confidence through writing and the literary arts.

We met a group of really great, talented students (all between the ages 12-15) who came to learn about chocolate, the chocolate-making process, and to further hone their creative writing skills. By the end of the four-week session, each student had produced numerous short stories, poems, and drawings inspired by chocolate. They personally selected their best pieces, which were published in a chapbook entitled If I Were A Wizard Chocolatier.

We’re thrilled to announce that this chapbook can now be found at our chocolate factory as well as 826 Valencia! To commemorate this super-special collaboration with our neighbors, If I Were A Wizard Chocolatier comes with its own limited-edition chocolate bar, developed especially for 826. It’s called the High Seas bar, complete with sea salt and an intriguing back-story. In honor of the partnership, we’ve made a total of 826 bars.

You can pick up both as a bundle at our space; alternatively, you can purchase the chapbook at 826 Valencia’s Pirate Supply Store, where you’ll also receive a golden ticket that can be redeemed for the accompanying High Seas bar at our location one block away.

 

 

María and Lauren, two of the fantastic designers at 826, are responsible for creating the look of the chapbook, as well as the packaging for the High Seas bar. They did an absolutely amazing job, and we can’t wait for you to dive right in and enjoy both!

A portion of the proceeds from If I Were A Wizard Chocolatier and the High Seas bar will go to 826 Valencia, so they can continue to fund free student programming for elementary-, middle- and high-schoolers. We had a great time working with everyone at 826, and especially with our workshop participants: Nathan, Miriam, Cecily, Janelle, Bryan, Troy, Anja, Zora, Anthony, Alexis and Myles.

Now that our factory and retail space on Valencia is open to the public, please feel free to stop by and thumb through the chapbook: maybe it’ll inspire you to pen a paean to chocolate as well!

Please click on the links to learn more about 826 Valencia and 826 National, which coordinates its sister chapters located around the country.

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Wrap Video

July 31, 2012 by Cam

As promised, here’s our wrapping machine in action:

If you’d like to learn more about chocolate making, take a look at Chocolate 101 in our online store.

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Wraptacular Machine

July 30, 2012 by Cam

As Todd mentioned earlier, we recently got a wrapping machine. We’ve been really happy with the paper and foil we use and we weren’t willing to compromise on them just to make wrapping easier. Finding a machine that would work in theory was challenging enough; actually getting it to work has been just as challenging. Fortunately, we were introduced to Jim Greenberg of Union Confectionery Machinery and I spent a bunch of time out there with Pablo and Osvaldo to get the machine set up for us. A week or two ago, the machine arrived and I couldn’t have been more excited:

Even after scrambling to find a forklift and forklift operator (Thanks, Juan!) and breaking the crate down, we were left with this:

It’s tough to tell from the picture, but the hallway to our space in the Dogpatch is huge but that doesn’t stop the machine from taking up almost the entire thing. Now that we could see the machine in all its glory, we realized that we had a small problem… the machine is 67 inches wide at its smallest point (with the safety covers off) and our door is only 47 inches wide. After a little bit of scrambling and enlisting the help our friend Snooky and his pal, we realized that we could make the machine small enough by removing one shaft from the machine. Luckily for us, the piece we needed to remove was easy to mark so we didn’t ruin any of the calibration:

Once the machine had the left piece removed and the “super pallet” had been cut to size, it was the moment of truth:

Fortunately, our measurements weren’t off and it just squeaked through the door. Everyone was pretty happy, including Snooky:

After moving a few tables, the machine was maneuvered into its new home:

The machine looks great in pictures but it’s even more fun to see it actually work so I’ll post a video soon.

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A pattern panoply

May 14, 2012 by Alice

Not too long ago, we dove into the project of designing paper to wrap our bars. We all pulled together our favorite inspiration images, and then Elaine and I set off to work designing patterns with the help of two incredibly talented graphic designers. I trekked to Austin to meet with one of our graphic designers and spent a number of days sketching repeated organic shapes at my desk. Elaine also excitedly poured hours into the project. About a month later, we have more fantastic patterns than we know what to do with.

Todd, Cam, Elaine, and I held the “pattern games” and let the patterns go head-to-head. We chose our favorites and are ready to place an order, hopefully before monsoon season strikes our printer in India. All told, I think we’re well on our way to having our own Dandelion-designed paper!

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New Labels

October 20, 2011 by Todd

Look what showed up just in time for the Northwest Chocolate Festival. We’re very excited to have some new labels for our bars!

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Cranking out bars on a Friday

September 16, 2011 by Cam

With all of the events and orders we have coming our way, we’ve started making Friday a dedicated production day. I love seeing all of our hard work wrapped up in little bundles waiting for a new home. The next set of bars looks like it’s just about cooled so time to get back to work!

 

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State of the Union

August 13, 2011 by Alice

We’re out on Bartlett every Thursday night at the Mission Community Market. It’s been a fantastic way to meet customers in the factory’s neighborhood. We’re really looking forward to the day when we have our doors open in the Mission! Every Thursday night we get a few of the same questions. I thought I’d take a minute to give you all an update.

The most common question, and the one we’re most eager to answer ourselves: when will the factory be open? You may remember, we put our 312 notice up in the window of 740 Valencia Street a few months ago. Thankfully, that process is complete, and we’re working on the next series of permits we need to open our space. We found out a week or so ago that we’ve received the Change of Use permit for the building. Now our landlord’s waiting on some building permits before he can start the initial construction. A short time after that, we should be able to start our construction. Fingers crossed!

We also have exciting news about our packaging. A few months ago, we hired two incredibly talented graphic designers, and we’re working toward a new iteration of our packaging. We get a lot of compliments on our current version, but we think we can take it up a notch. There are things we love about what we have now, especially the overall aesthetic and the color scheme. But, the first designs we’ve seen from our graphic designers have blown us away. As soon as we have things ready, we’ll give you a peek.

Things are also busy on the wholesale front and we’re keeping extremely busy making chocolate. We always say that it’s a great problem to have, but we can’t seem to make bars fast enough these days. You can pick up or try a bar at Chocolate Covered, Fog City News, Mission Cheese, The Chocolate Garage, and Serendipity. We’ve heard that our Madagascar bars seem to be the most popular in lots of these shops.

Also, we’re making great headway on sourcing our next set of beans. As I write, I’m sitting in front of a roaster testing out some new Ecuadorian beans. It smells a little like chocolate poptarts in the room as the beans roast, and I’m excited to taste our first batch from this sample! In the next few months, we should have a few new bars to add to our lineup.

Finally, like most summers, we’ve all been busy traveling. Cam just got back from the muggy east coast. In a few days, Todd and Cam are both taking heading off to Vermont and then Hawaii for friends’ weddings, and I’ll be in Texas later this month. While Todd and Cam are in Hawaii they’re hoping to meet Seneca of Koka Chocolate. Seneca is one of the founders of Bittersweet Cafe in San Francisco and Oakland. Now he’s growing cacao and making chocolate on Oahu. While they’re gone, I get to take care of Cam’s very snuggly dog, Tatsu.

 

That’s all for now, back to making chocolate!

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Paperworld

March 15, 2011 by Alice

Earlier this winter, I went on a whirlwind trip to Germany to investigate the packaging options for our bars. I attended the Paperworld conference in Frankfurt and saw so many beautiful handmade papers form India and Nepal. We currently wrap our bars in handmade cotton paper from India. You can see an example in this picture. We love our packaging and hope to create something similar for the factory. Still, we needed to do a little more research, so I took off to Europe for a weekend of learning about paper.

The more I learned, the more I realized what we have to consider. I think we’ll continue to use paper from India because we love the texture and the imperfections that come from screen printing. The vendors I met gave me a much better picture of the paper making process. The paper is made from recycled cotton rags instead of wood pulp, which makes it eco-friendly. Since the work is done by hand, there are many variables in the production. For example, paper made during monsoon season can’t be easily dried outside. It takes much longer to create and will have subtle differences in color and texture. I actually love these slight variations- they reflect the energy put into each piece of paper. But, monsoon season is coming up quickly and it’s the busiest time of year for these factories. We need to place our first orders soon to avoid this rush. When we have everything together and see our first papers, it will be one of the first steps that makes Dandelion Chocolate feel like it’s coming to life!

At the end of the weekend, I came back with a heavy bag of paper samples and a lot of information that will help us create our packaging. We’re still choosing colors and developing patterns, but I met a few sources for really beautiful paper. It was a short trip, fighting jet lag the whole time, but well worth it.

And, as a fun anecdote, Paperworld runs alongside Creativeworld, Hair & Beautyworld, and Christmasworld in the largest conference center I’ve ever seen. There was a motley, and fairly hilarious, group of crafters from all over the world. The space itself overloaded all of my senses- take a look!

 

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