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Chocolate is one of the most desired indulgent delicacies of the world. The Mayan civilization first cultivated the capability of the cocoa bean in 600 AD. The cocoa bean is actually very bitter in taste, the ancient tribes used it as currency, but would occasionally use it to make drinks. In 1609, the first book about chocolate was written in Mexico, entitled Libro en el Cual se Trata del Chocolate. In 1657, the first chocolate shop opened in France, but chocolate was still extremely bitter, and in 1662, the pope even criticized how awful chocolate was. It was not until the 1700s, when in Switzerland, chefs devised a way to sweeten chocolate; the first factory was in Barcelona, Spain in 1780. In 1875, Swiss experimenters are the first to add milk to chocolate, and in 1879, Swiss chocolate company Lindt of Berne was the first to make the modern form of chocolate that melts on the tongue.
Lindt AG, or full name Chocoladefabriken Lindt und Sprüngli AG von die Schweiz, is located in Kilchberg, Switzerland. In 1845, David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his son Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann opened a confectionary shop at Marktplatz, in Zurich’s Old Town. They gained local fame and made a small factory in 1847 in Horgen, on the top end of Lake Zurich. The factory was placed there because electricity was not yet discovered, so they used waterpower to run the equipment. At that time, the factory had only ten workers. In 1854, Sprüngli made a new larger shop, on Zurich’s Paradeplatz, and in 1870, made a larger factory in Werdmühle. By 1892, Sprüngli’s chocolate had gained worldwide fame and reputation.
When Sprüngli retired, one of his sons, Johann Rudolf Sprüngli-Schifferli received the factory, and expanded it to be the most modern chocolate factory in the world. He wanted to expand even more, so he built a new factory in Kilchberg, still on the top end of Lake Zurich, in 1899, called Chocolat Sprüngli AG. Also in 1899, Rodolphe Lindt’s chocolate brand had become Europe’s most famous chocolate. Sprüngli and Lindt merged to make Aktiengesellshaft Vereinigte Berner und Zürcher Chocoladefabriken Lindt und Spüngli AG von die Schweiz.
In 1879, Lindt invented the conche, a machine in which chocolate is kept under constant agitation, achieving maximum flavor and melting quality; it is still used today and is the tradition of Lindt in making perfect chocolate.
By 1920, Lindt und Sprüngli AG grew tremendously, especially in exporting; three fours of their production were exported to twenty countries around the world. Between 1920 and 1945, though, global depressions from World War II caused Lindt und Sprüngli AG to lose all foreign markets, they had to regain finances in only Switzerland, and even when food rationing was instated in 1943, Lindt und Sprüngli AG still persisted in making only the best of chocolate. After 1945, the economy boomed, and the demand was so high that the company could not keep up with the demands. New factories were built in Italy in 1947, in Germany in 1950, and in France in 1954. In 1972, the LSCP process (Lindt und Sprüngli Chocolate Process) was incorporated. It required less energy than the large previous conches; the details of it are secret. In the 1970s and 1980s, Lindt expanded by buying competition and taking over their factories. Factories were made in the U.S. in 1986 in San Francisco, California and in Stratham, New Hampshire. Factories were bought in France, in Italy in 1997, and in Austria in 1994.
In 1994, the company grouped all its subsidiaries into one company, Chocoladefabriken Lindt und Sprüngli AG von die Schweiz, or Lindt AG for short. One hundred and fifty eight years later, Lindt started as a little chocolate shop in Zurich, and today is known as one of the world’s premiere chocolate makers. There are eight factories today, in Aachen, Germany; Oloron, France; Induno, Italy; Luserna, Italy; Gloggnitz, Austria; San Francisco, California; Stratham, New Hampshire; and the main factory and headquarters in Kilchberg, Switzerland.
There are two main varieties of cocoa beans, Criollo and Forastero cocoa. Criollo is primarily found in Ecuador and Venezuela, and claims ten percent of the world’s cocoa. The remaining ninety percent is Forastero, used by Lindt, is grown in West Africa and the Ivory Coast. The first step in chocolate production is fermentation, which is done on site at the farms. Five hundred pounds of cocoa beans are put into three foot diameter boxes to let the water drain out; the temperature of the beans are raised to 50°C. A specialty of Lindt, is to spread the beans out in the sun to naturally evaporate the water from the beans. This takes about a week. When the beans arrive at the factory, they are first cleaned. Power vacuums and brushes cleanse the beans, removing all the debris and dirt.
Roasting is the first real process in chocolate manufacturing. The beans are heated to 130°C, producing an aroma, and loosening the shells to be removed. Depending on the size of the batch, this takes anywhere from fifteen to seventy minutes. After the shells are removed, nibs are the result, the center of the bean, also called cotyledons. The nibs are then blended with other types of cocoa to make different recipes; these mixture ratios are a secret of the company. The nibs are then grinded and passed through rollers. The heat from the pressure of the rollers melts the cocoa butter (fat) in the nib, and drains out. The cocoa butter is then refined. It is important in making different recipes and to the luster of the chocolate. Cocoa powder is what’s left over from the grinding process. Pure cocoa powder is used to make hot chocolate and milk chocolate. Cocoa paste if also made from the grinding process, it is dark brown and aromatic. The four basic ingredients in chocolate are cocoa paste, cocoa butter, sugar, and milk. The three basic chocolate varieties are made as follows:
Dark Chocolate: Cocoa Paste + Cocoa Butter + Sugar
Milk Chocolate: Cocoa Paste + Cocoa Butter + Sugar + Milk
White Chocolate: Cocoa Butter + Sugar + Milk
The mixing of these ingredients is called kneading. Next, the chocolate is rolled through vertically mounted steel rollers. The particles are crushed to a diameter of thirty microns (3.0 X 10-5 m); the smaller the particle, the smoother and finer the chocolate, and the better the melting properties (viscosity).
Conching is the next step, and perhaps the most important. Giant troughs, containing 100 kg to 1000 kg of chocolate paste are heated to 80°C. Being stirred in are small amounts of cocoa butter and the very valuable lecithin, which reduces fat, reduces viscosity, and emulsifies sugar and fat to prevent “blooming” on the chocolate surface. After the conching process, there is no bitterness left in the chocolate, the flavors are fully developed, and the chocolate can dissolve meltingly on the tongue.
Tempering is when the conched chocolate is heated to 50°C, then is carefully cooled to about 30°C. This is to crystallize the cocoa butter to prevent it from “blooming”. Fat bloom and sugar bloom are caused by inadequate tempering. A white film appears on the surface of the chocolate, making it look dull. In sugar bloom, cold chocolate is heated too fast, and the sugar re-crystallizes on the surface. In fat bloom, the interior is affected too, making it dull and crumbly.
After tempering, the chocolate is poured into molds, carefully cooled to solidify, and is wrapped and shipped out to be sold and deliciously eaten.
There are many chemicals in chocolate, especially being organic. The chemical responsible for making chocolate brown is anthocyanin. Anthocyanin is a polyphenol molecule, meaning that it is an acidic crystalline compound with multiple hydroxyl groups. It appears purple in aqueous solution if it is neutral, but turns green with a strong alkali. This variation in color from pH differences accounts for the color change in cocoa beans during fermentation when the bean is being dehydrated. The beans consist of about 4% anthocyanin.
Another important chemical, for taste, is theobromine. Theobromine is the chemical accountable for making cocoa bitter. It occurs in unfermented cocoa in variation of 1% to 2%. It is a white powder than can sublimate at 290°C without melting. It is removed from cocoa during the fermentation and conching processes.
As mentioned before, during the conching process, lecithin is added to the mixture. Lecithin has many purposes. It alters the fat crystal size and structure, reduces the viscosity of chocolate and compound coatings, improves texture, chewiness, and mouth feel of fat-containing centers, improves mechanical characteristics like cutting the chocolate, and forming it into molds, and it is good release agent so the chocolate won’t stick to machine surfaces. Lecithin has been proven safe; it is a natural nutrient present in every living cell. The lecithin used in chocolate is extracted from soybean oil. According to the FDA, Lindt chocolate is perfectly healthy; there has been only one complaint. On January 7, 1999, Lindt had to recall 400,000 pounds of chocolate because the machine that prints the labels didn’t print the statement “May contain traces of peanuts/nuts”. Studies have shown that chocolate, in many ways, is actually healthy. Antioxidants and flavinoids in chocolate help prevent heart disease and cancer. A lawsuit in California in May 2002 was about if chocolate makers should put warning labels on chocolate products advising that there is lead and cadmium in chocolate. There is lead and cadmium in chocolate, but the amounts are so miniscule that the FDA, Center for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and Center for Toxics and Ethics, all said the lawsuit was superfluous.
Personally, I use this product as often as I have the opportunity. Lindt’s products are of the highest quality of the mass-produced chocolate industry. The only better chocolate would be at a privately owned chocolate shop in Europe, like in the movie Chocolat. Being in the U.S., we do not have the everyday choice of visiting the local chocolaterie. Chocoladefabriken Lindt und Sprüngli AG of Switzerland shows the world what real chocolate is, through tradition, perseverance, and passion, they deliver the ardor of chocolaty self-indulgence.
it would be funnier eating and reading same time