Chocolate's Final Stages: Conching

• One of the last steps in chocolate production is called conching. By the time chocolate reaches this stage, all necessary ingredients have been added. Named after the machine used in this process--which resembles the a conch shell in shape--conching is a process of kneading liquid chocolate to refine its taste and texture.
  
  

• By encouraging evaporation, conching removes excess water, bitter flavors and harsher acids left over from the cocoa beans. It also continuously mixes and churns the same batch of molten chocolate, thereby smoothing out the texture of the chocolate and ensuring that no solid particles remain in the chocolate. The length of the process ranges from a few days to more than week, depending on the quality of the bean, the type of machinery and the chocolatier's intended results.
  
  

• After the conching process is complete, the chocolate is drained from the machine. It then enters the tempering stage, where it is converted into solid form. Finally, the chocolate will be wrapped, distributed and sold to consumers.