Thirty years after developing the world’s first bitter and blonde chocolates, Valrhona has paved the way for a new generation of aromatic profiles with its double fermentation process.
In conventional chocolate production, Valrhone explained, cocoa pods are harvested when ripe then split and opened by hand in order to extricate the beans inside, which are embedded in a sweet, white pulp called mucilage. The next stage is fermentation of this white pulp surrounding the beans. Fermentation is a natural process, specific to each type of cocoa beans, which instigates the development of aromas and flavours. The beans are placed into wood, rattan, or concrete boxes, then covered and stirred regularly throughout the four- to six-day fermentation period.
In conventional chocolate production, after this fermentation, cocoa beans are dried and bagged, ready for the final processes of roasting, winnowing, grinding and conching. However with Valrhona’s innovative double fermentation, when the first fermentation period is complete and the initial aromas unveiled, a new ingredient is introduced into the boxes of cocoa beans to initiate a second phase of fermentation before drying the beans.
Valrhona experts came up with the idea of adding fruit pulp, naturally high in sugar, which triggers a second fermentation phase that imparts new distinctive aromatic qualities to the chocolate created.
Valrhona has worked with two plantations yielding two distinctive double-fermented products: Itakuja 55%, a pure Brazilian couverture fermented with passion fruit; and Mananka 62%, a pure Madagascan couverture fermented with citrus.
Itakuja 55% is characterised by an explosion of fruity aromas at the start, which gradually give way to the roundness of this chocolate from Brazil. It is particularly suited to ganache production, molding and decoration.
Meanwhile, Mananka 62% is sweet and fresh, with a first impression of intense citrus notes and graceful acidity, substantiated by a perfectly roasted and chocolatey core. A pleasantly bitter finish tops off the chocolate’s complex character. The couverture can be used for all applications, bar coating.
The first production runs of both couvertures have been made available in very limited quantities.
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