Why does one brand of chocolate bar feel so velvety smooth in your mouth but the next one feel so rough?

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, shall we? (pun intended!)  It all depends on particle size, or the fineness of grind. 

When cocoa beans are shelled and roasted, the nibs are ground up and heated to form fluid chocolate called chocolate liquor, cocoa mass, or unsweetened chocolate.  When chocolate liquor is then blended with other ingredients like sugar and milk powder, the resulting paste is ground up even further.  This process is called “refining.” 

Each chocolate company determines and controls how much the chocolate paste gets refined. 

So what could determine the particle size of any given chocolate?  Here are some examples:

1. What is the purpose of the chocolate?  If the chocolate is used in a crunchy cookie or granola, it does not have to be extremely smooth because it is eaten with other highly textured food. In fact, a smooth chocolate could go completely unnoticed and unappreciated in this type of application.  As a rule, chocolate chips are much grittier than chocolate bars.
    
2. What are the cost restrictions, if any, to make the chocolate?  The smaller the particle size, the more cocoa butter you need to make the chocolate flow properly.  The more cocoa butter added to the chocolate, the more it costs to make it.  Typically, more expensive chocolate is smoother than less expensive chocolate. 
    
3. What fineness can the type of equipment achieve?  Some older models of refining machinery will grind a particle to a certain size without being able to achieve smaller.  Updated and more specialized equipment can grind to a very small particle size.

It’s fun to compare chocolate side by side for many reasons, but especially for comparing smoothness.  Start with a chocolate bar priced under a US dollar (or if you don’t live in the US, pick one you would consider very low cost) and compare it to one that costs about 2-3 times as much ($1.99 USD or more).

It’s amazing what you’ll discover!

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Bryn Kirk

Course Facilitator at Chocolate University Online

Bryn worked for nearly 10 years in a research and product development for Ambrosia Chocolate Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Now she develops all of the CUO lessons and coaches the members of the Primal Chocolate Club.

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