Chocolate Maker or Chocolatier?

The journey from the tree to the truffle is a long one.  At the highest level of excellence it requires a specialist horticulturist; a seasoned farmer; skilled processors or co-operative groups opening pods, testing & turning fermented and drying beans; discerning graders; master roasters, grinders, and conchers who have invested enormously in only the best machinery which can deliver the precise temperatures and particle sizes evenly and consistently.  Expertise must not be overlooked of the processors of the sugars, milk and other non-cocoa ingredients; and the creative minds and culinary skills of the chocolatiers themselves, handling the result of the farmers, processors and chocolate makers.  Some chocolate makers will reach back in the process to include the work of a roaster or reach forward to the work of a chocolatier, but the experience and equipment investment brought to bear will be necessarily spread more thinly than a specialist.

A single farmer could cultivate, harvest, ferment, dry, grade, roast, grind, conche, temper, combine ingredients and sculpt into chocolate delicacies but the resulting attempt would be rudimentary, while heroic!  A lifetime would not be long enough to master all of them, as the skills and qualities needed for all these processes are diverse.  To reach excellence in one area a master craftsman or woman will hone their skills in one and two areas over decades. 

While cultivation of the original plant material may be carried out by special nurseries, growing and harvesting are carried on the farm, and fermentation and drying certainly in the same country but not necessarily by the same person.  After skilled grading, the dried beans are usually shipped to more industrialised countries for sorting and roasting – the distinct level of craftsmanship by the roaster alone is well understood by coffee enthusiasts.  The roaster may carry out any winnowing, but grinding, separating butter and mass, then recombining with sugar and milk is a different set of skills.  Not to be confused with rudimentary grinding, conching at the highest level is considered a dark art and the master concher is revered by users of pure couverture chocolate.  Enough is known about chefs to understand the expertise which can be developed in combining ingredients by a ”chef” chocolatier, although further specialisation is required to perfect tempering of the crystal structure and formation into the flavours and textures of gourmet delicacies.

So the master chocolatier can make truffles, as can the cocoa farmer, or “bean to bar” chocolate maker, but obviously the expertise will differ!