Chocolate liquor is chocolate in a liquid form after it’s been separated from the cacao bean. Despite its name, there is no alcohol in chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor is an essential part of any chocolate making process. Cacao beans are first winnowed to become coarsely ground into cacao nibs. Chocolate liquor is about 50% cocoa butter (the fat naturally found in chocolate) and 50% actual chocolate, known has cacao (or cocoa) solids.
To create the liquor, at least at Captain’s Chocolate, the winnowed cacao nibs are added to a machine known as a melanger. A melanger mechanically separates the fats from the cacao nibs by applying heat and pressure via a rotating stone over the cacao nibs until a liquid has been formed. Watch the video below to see how it's done.
This is why our chocolate is so smooth and creamy. We start with high quality cacao beans that are already free of many impurities found in commercial grade chocolate, and then we grind our cacao nibs with a melanger until optimal creaminess is achieved after about 72 hours.
Once the fats have been separated and the cacao has been broken down into micrograms, the liquor is then heated and chilled in a process known as tempering which further stabilizes the crystals within the chocolate to create an even balance of flavor and texture. Tempering is one of the most important aspects of chocolate making as without it, the chocolate will be ashy and have an unevenly bitter flavor. Tempering allows for all the chocolate crystals to be identical which creates consistency in every bite.