Chocolate Unwrapped: Behind the Scenes of a Chocolate Factory
There are very few people in this world who don’t love or at least like chocolate. It’s just one of those foods that will usually put a smile on your face at the first sight of that truffle or chocolate bar. So let’s go behind the scenes of a small chocolate factory in Beverly Hills and learn a little more about what has been referred to as the “Food of the Gods” by the Aztecs. First, let’s talk a little history. Edelweiss Chocolates, the scene for all this chocolate goodness, has been a Beverly Hills landmark for over 60 years and is currently owned by Madlen Zahir and her family.
The original owner, seen in a black and white picture on the shop wall, came up with the idea of selling chocolate covered marshmallows in her shop. Even today, these marshmallows are top sellers. Interesting fact about this Chocolatier is that she would actually make the marshmallows herself after hours, just to ensure the secrecy of the recipes. After her retirement, the business was sold to a Swiss chocolatier, whose chocolate recipes comprises the majority of the chocolates sold in the shop today. Eventually, ownership changed hands and for 5 years, Shirley Jones owned Edelweiss Chocolates which she eventually sold to the Zahir family. Now let’s learn a little more about how chocolate is processed before it even gets to the actual chocolate factory.
It all starts with the cacao beans, which grow inside pods on the cacao tree. Once the beans are harvested, the pods are opened which expose the beans. The beans are allowed to ferment for about a week than dried. After a period of time, the beans are roasted. Roasting not only brings out their flavor, but it also makes it easier to remove the husks. With the husks removed, the beans are cracked to make cacao nibs, which contain 53% cocoa butter and 47% cacao solids. These nibs are now ground into a paste called “chocolate liquor.” Some of this “chocolate liquor” is pressed to remove the cocoa butter, which is used to make white chocolate. Further processing turns this “chocolate liquor” into 100% cacao solids and when finely ground, they are sold as cocoa powder.
It’s the unpressed “chocolate liquor” that is actually used to make chocolate. To make chocolate, the manufacturer blends unpressed chocolate with condensed milk, sugar and extra cocoa butter. If they want dark chocolate, the “chocolate liquor”, sugar and other ingredients like vanilla are blended together. For milk chocolate, milk and sugar are mixed first and then blended with the “chocolate liquor.” This raw mixture becomes a coarse, brown dough called “crumb.” The “crumb” needs to be refined to make the chocolate silkier, so it’s churned together and then refined for a creamier batter of chocolate. After the refining process, the chocolate is conched. Conching is the process by which heavy rollers further grind and blend the chocolate, incorporate some air to help some of the more bitter compounds evaporate and breaking down the chocolate to a silky smoothness. Conching can take up to six days.
The mixture is then tempered, or passed through a heating, cooling and reheating process. Tempering allows you to solidify chocolate in a way that keeps it glossy, causes it to break with a distinctive snap and allows it to melt smoothly in your mouth. The mixture is then poured into moulds and cooled in a cooling chamber. Once cooled, the chocolate is demoulded, packaged for distribution and sent off.
Edelweiss Chocolates has a retail space in the front, but it’s the chocolate factory in the back where all the chocolate making magic takes place, using equipment that’s over 50 years old. The chocolate molds mentioned above are purchased by Edelweiss from another company and are in turn re-melted to make their products. For smaller batches of chocolate or for partially dipped products like their dried and fresh fruit, they are hand-dipped in a small tempering machine that is at a constant temperature and mixed so as not to harden.
Other blocks of chocolate are melted in larger mixer bowls and poured into conveyor belt machines. These machines will “enrobe” anything from truffles to marshmallows and more with a chocolate coating. From being coated to a finished product that is “cooled” down, it takes 7 minutes.
Edelweiss Chocolate also does a lot of molded chocolates, so some of the melted chocolate is poured into molds that form everything from baskets to snails to a comb and hair dryer.
Although Edelweiss Chocolates does not make their own chocolate base, they do make their own marshmallow and caramel.
When it comes to the types of chocolates that you can get at Edelweiss, as mentioned earlier, one of their top sellers are their marshmallows like their Dark Chocolate Caramallow, with an inside layer of marshmallow and caramel, and their Milk Chocolate Toffeemallow with the marshmallow mixed with toffee pieces. One particular chocolate called Geraldine has an interesting history. Apparently, caramel was added to the ground apricot filling by mistake, but it was such a delicious accident that they kept it and named it after the employee who made the error, Geraldine. They also have a variety of dipped chocolate items from fruits to oreos. Edelweiss has also been a favorite of classic movie stars. Katherine Hepburn mentioned Edelweiss’ Dark Chocolate Turtles in her book and the Milk Chocolate Maple Cream was a Frank Sinatra fave and to this day, his family will send boxes of these chocolates to friends and family. One interesting tidbit of Hollywood history that I also want to mention is that Lucille Ball, a faithful Edelweiss Chocolates customer actually used the chocolate conveyor belt that’s part of the Edelweiss’ factory as the inspiration for an “I Love Lucy” episode and I’m sure you know which one.
So the next time you enjoy that bon bon from your favorite chocolate shop, be sure to appreciate it that much more. There’s a lot it has to go through from the cacao tree all the way to you. Please note that not all chocolate shops make their chocolate at their actual retail space. Some make them at outside factories and others even ship chocolates from other countries. Regardless, hopefully, the process of making chocolates is a little less mysterious. I’m sure many of you know where to get good chocolate, but if you want some suggestions, look below.
Edelweiss Chocolates
444 N Canon Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 275-6003
Jacques Torres Chocolate
66 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 875-9772
Teuscher Chocolates of Switzerland
230 Newbury St Bsmt
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 536-1922
Vosges Haut-Chocolat
520 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 644-9450
XOX Truffles
754 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 421-4814
