go-tools of the chocolate maker's trade

a bunch of things in my chocolate kitchen that I can't do without

silpat mats under melangers! they help keep counters clean and refiners in place.

Note: this is a long post due to lots of photos, and it may get clipped in your email; just click through and you’ll find the whole thing.

It’s chocolate go-time in the Map chocolate kitchen, which means I’ve cleaned the kitchen to be ready for the chocolate-slinging fest that is coming, re-stocked supplies, and hemmed and hawed over packaging decisions. I’ve also given my go-tools a once-over; by go-tools I mean the ones I depend on as much as I depend on my melangers and moulds.

Here’s the list. There’s no particular order or hierarchy: each tool here is as important to my process (efficiency, productivity, and sanity!) as the others. Some aren’t technically “tools,” but they are so useful I couldn’t leave them out of this post.

Sandwich spreaders are the best tool for scraping down the inside of melanger bowls, hands down. A regular (read: thick, bendy) spatulas are not rigid enough! These are super stiff and slim. I use them for tempering, to stir in the cocoa butter seed. If you wrap a rubber band around the end (see photos) the spreader will rest against a bowl of chocolate without falling in.

Leatherman tool Had mine since my Grand Canyon days. It’s a multi-purpose tool useful for melanger repairs (yes, those happen lol), because all the screwdriver types (plus the pliers etc) are all in one easy-to-grab place. Bonus that it’s stainless steel and easy to wash.

Bench scraper for cleaning drip lines of chocolate off chocolate moulds, cleaning countertops. I have a very large one I reserve for scraping chocolate off the floor.

Scoops, in a range of sizes for scooping beans into the Behmor roaster basket, for adding nibs into the melanger as the batch gets underway, for scooping sugar, oat flour, etc etc.

Spare melanger parts are not exactly a tool, but it sucks to need a part and be told it’s out of stock, especially during the busy season. Most-often replaced parts (in my experience): the pins to hold the stones, the stones, the hubs (inserts) in the stones.

Parchment paper handy for pouring slabs of chocolate/leftover chocolate for storing etc, useful as a clean surface for de-moulding bars and covering bars on trays, useful for lining sheet pans while taking apart melengers after emptying.

Thermometer and thermocouple for use with a Behmor (plus spare batteries for the thermometer) are the only way to track our roast profile in order to know what happened in the roast and at what time. Requires a simple hack so the probe slides through the Behmor wall and into the roaster drum.

Induction burner to melt cocoa butter or small batches of chocolate. Since you’re wondering, those chips are a past version of the deodorized cocoa butter Meridian Cacao used to stock.

A melter (mines a DIY) for (wait for it) melting chocolate, for holding chocolate batches straight out of the melanger, and for infusing cocoa butter. The sous vide (left tube-thingee) is in water. The deep hotel pan is also in that water. When I want to infuse cocoa butter I use a clean hotel pan, I out cocoa butter into it then add whatever spice/etc I’m using, and hold as long as needed.

Here’s a bread proofer that also works great as a melter; it can hold a large hotel pan. I heard about this from Julia at J Street Chocolate. Nice, because no water, no DIY-ing, low cost, and it folds for storage.

Skewers are good for unclogging a Champion juicer (used as the cracker part of an Aether winnower), when not running! of course. Also useful for poking a cloth or paper towel through melanger stone hubs for cleaning/drying. Also useful for swirling/creating marble patterns on a swirl bar.

Knives, assorted sizes, for chopping and slicing, particularly inclusions.

Baking racks for drying candied peels etc (these are candied chiles for a bar).

A small or medium food mill which is handy for pre-grinding inclusions, such as nuts, or even powdering freeze-dried whole fruit.

Aprons, and yes they should be washed daily.

Sieves and strainers in a range of sizes are used to strain batches and strain cocoa butter after infusing.

Graduated ladles for filling bar moulds; use the exact weight size for your bars.S

Sheet pans for unmoulded bars, organizng tools, etc

Cambros (plastic tubs with lids) are a user-friendly way to decant ingredients from large bags. They can be stored on shelves, and since they aren’t likely to sit on the floor (like bigger buckets) there’s no risk they’ll be lifted from dirty floor to clean (ostensibly) countertop.

Notebooks for batch logs and roast logs

Stainless hotel pans for pouring finished chocolate into for setting, before wrapping/storing. Pouring warm/hot chocolate out of a melanger into plastic is not a good idea, as plastic (all plastic) outgasses odors, and chocolate is prone to absorbing odors. Odors = aromatic volatiles, which = what we experience as flavor.

Metro shelves can be used for storage and since they’re on wheels, can be used instead for holding filled bar moulds after tempering Bus tubs work well for mould storage and plastic bins w/ lock-on lids are good for unroasted beans (keep away from light and heat).

Canning jars with screw-on plastic lids are what I prefer to use for making cocoa butter seed in my sous vide seed set-up.

Cutting boards for chopping whatever

Non-contact digital thermometer for tempering.

Chocolate chopper for breaking up big blocks of chocolate or cocoa butter.

Scale for weighing batch ingredients, and boxes if you ship products.

A daily reminder of why we do all this work that won’t show chocolate smudges, or tears :)

Happy chocolate crafting! and if you have questions or comments, use the speech bubble and drop them in.

Mackenzie