Bean to Bar Chocolate

Frederic Blondeel is one of the few chocolatiers who makes chocolates from bean. Our products are truly original and authentic. The process is indeed quite complicated. The first step is the selection of beans from a network of trusted bean suppliers over the world. Cocoa is a demanding tree, its fruits must be harvested at full maturity, in which pods are opened by hand, inspected and sorted strictly. Fermentation is also done naturally, by drying the beans under the sun.

Next, beans are roasted - their brown color deepens and chocolate aroma intensifies. Each batch of cocoa bean is different, therefore, the roasting technique shall be adjusted accordingly too. The time and temperature of roasting, along with the degree of ventilation all determine the success of the chocolate (Make sure to also read our "Cocoa Roasting" blog post).

After roasting, cocoa beans are grounded to separate the casings from the nibs, also known as crane. The nibs are then pressed and milled to separate the liquid portion (cocoa butter) from the solid portion (cake). We then knead this paste with other ingredients such as milk, sugar, spcies...etc to obtain a fine, smooth and delicate paste - known as chocolate!