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Chocolate production

Production

Created by a team of connoisseurs

A jury made up of the finest and most seasoned “noses” judges each batch of cocoa beans on its various qualities. These connoisseurs of taste and aroma establish an aromatic profile based on around twenty criterias such as acidity, bitterness, notes of biscuit and caramel, hints of dried fruit and red fruit, and smoky or toasted taste, etc.

Roasting

Once the batches have been selected and sent to the factory, the beans are cleaned again to remove the last impurities. Roasting, a major step in building flavour, can now begin. The beans are heated at a high temperature of 120°-140° for about 30 minutes, variety by variety. Our experts use their sense of sight and smelling for the roasting operation.

Crushing

The bean husks become brittle, facilitating crushing, the next step in the process. The beans are propelled against a hard surface to break them down and obtain the desired nibs. The powdery remains and the husks are sieved and collected separately.

concassage villars - Chocolate production

Kneading

Nibs of different origin are refined to obtain single-source chocolate liquor. This chocolate liquor is then mixed with Swiss milk, Swiss sugar and the other ingredients in our chocolate recipes.

Grinding

All the ingredients are then ground in order to make the chocolate finer, giving a smooth, melt-in-the-mouth texture. But to be perfect, the magic needs one last step: conching.

Conching

Conching is a crucial step that involves reducing the natural acidity of the cocoa and creating the unique flavours of Villars chocolate.

This is carried out in conches, large vats heated to 50-70°C in which the chocolate is stirred and smoothed for up to 72 hours.

Moulding

This is when our chocolate is put into moulds to produce bars of different sizes.

The last stage of this slow artisanal process is the filling. The Maître Chocolatiers select the fillings – almonds, hazelnuts, coffee, orange, biscuit, speculoos cookie, crispy lace crêpe, coconut and liqueurs. The chocolate is now ready to be moulded into tablets.

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