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 wiss chocolate is the finest in the world, and it's the cocoa beans that make the difference. Made with the best beans from equatorial Africa, Neuchatel chocolate has an exceptionally high cocoa bean content. The dark chocolate is 80 percent cocoa beans nearly twice that in most ordinary chocolate.
Different types of roasted cocoa beans are crushed and blended according to special recipes for each type of chocolate. Then the beans are ground by special milling equipment then fed on to rollers where they are milled into a fine paste from which cocoa butter is extracted. When re-blended with the milled cocoa beans, an increased proportion of cocoa butter gives premium chocolate its fine structure, beautiful luster and delicate, attractive glaze.
Cocoa paste, cocoa butter, sugar and milk are the four basic ingredients for making chocolate. By blending them in accordance with specific recipes, three types of chocolate are obtained. Plain chocolate comprises cocoa paste, cocoa butter and sugar. Milk added to that mix produces milk chocolate. White chocolate is a blend of cocoa butter, sugar and milk.
Swiss regulations specify the limits within which the blending ratios are allowed to vary; the latitude is sufficiently wide, however, to enable the recipes of the various manufacturers to have their own character.
The superb texture of Swiss chocolate, which feels significantly more silken on the tongue than most domestic products, is a result of 75 hours of being smoothed by granite rollers in a process called conching.
Aeration of the liquid chocolate paste takes place in the conches: its bitter taste gradually disappears and the separate flavors of individual ingredients combine. At the same time, a soft film of cocoa butter forms around each of the particles to produce homogeneity and smooth texture.
In addition to fine ingredients and generations of expertise, dry Swiss air adds a special quality to chocolate. That quality can not be reproduced in the United States, where the climate is too humid.
Swiss chocolate arrives at the Swiss Chocolatier’s in Oxford in 16-pound blocks. White and milk chocolate are used immediately, but the fine dark chocolate must age at least six months to deepen its character before the Master Chocolatier deems it ready to use in his recipes.
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