Making Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to S'more

From broadly commended San Francisco chocolate producer, Dandelion Chocolate, comes the primary actually complete manual for making chocolate without any preparation. From the most straightforward strategies and innovation—like hair dryers to moving pins—to the science and mechanics of making chocolate from bean to bar, Making Chocolate holds everything the originators and creators behind San Francisco's darling chocolate production line have learned since the day they initially aired out a cocoa bean.

Most popular for their single root chocolate made with just two fixings—cocoa beans and pure sweetener—Dandelion Chocolate shares every one of their tips and deceives to working with cocoa beans from various locales around the globe. There are kitchen hacks for making chocolate at home, a profound investigate the nuts, fasteners, and morals of sourcing beans and building associations with makers along the gracefully chain, and for eager creators, tips for scaling up. Complete with 30 plans from the chocolate processing plant's abundantly adored cake kitchen, Making Chocolate is an asset for specialists and more aggressive creators the same, just as anybody searching for perhaps the absolute best chocolate chip treat formula on the planet.

About the Author

TODD MASONIS is the co-founder and CEO of Dandelion Chocolate. After leaving a career in Silicon Valley in 2009, when he and his friend Cameron Ring sold their start-up, Plaxo, he took a traveling sabbatical to study everything from the old chocolate making traditions in France to the best way to smash cocoa beans in his kitchen. In 2010, he and Cameron founded Dandelion Chocolate, a small batch, bean-to-bar chocolate factory in San Francisco's Mission District. In 2017, the company had grown into two factories in San Francisco, and one in Tokyo.

GREG D'ALESANDRE is Dandelion Chocolate's vice president of research and development and chocolate sourcerer. He travels year round to build strong, trusting relationships with the cacao producers who partner with Dandelion Chocolate. He's been a product manager for Google, and designed laser tracking and torpedo guidance systems, but he knew he'd end up in chocolate since the day he "borrowed" liquid nitrogen from the physics lab in college to make frozen truffles. He feels strongly about direct sourcing cacao and building strong relationships with the network of cacao producers and chocolate makers around the world.

LISA VEGA is the executive pastry chef of Dandelion Chocolate. After years in Michelin starred kitchens that include Gary Danko and Providence she now spends her time improvising unique strategies for working with single origin, two-ingredient chocolate. She was named a StarChefs Rising Star for San Francisco in 2016.

MOLLY GORE is a food writer, former restaurant critic, and the Dandelion Chocolate communications manager. Her writing has appeared in Edible San Francisco, Texas Monthly, The East Bay Express, and other local outlets. Most recently, she co-authored a book about Western-style Japanese knives called Sharp (Chronicle Books 2018).

The book Making Chocolate is a magnificent work of artistry and beautifully written. The photography is stunning and the text is easily readable. Anyone who loves chocolate truly will enjoy this exquisite book. The authors of this book have crafted and compiled the gold standard for making sumptuous chocolate similar to producing a rare vintage wine. Basically, the book describes the brief history of American Craft Chocolate i.e., how the new craft of chocolate making now, should have complexity, nuance, tone,and flavor.Second- THE PROCESS -the steps by which the cocoa bean is transferred from bean to delicious chocolate bar. Third-INGREDIENTS -Sourcing Cocoa -How to find quality cocoa beans for three things: good flavor, good people, good consistency . Four SCALING UP- Meaning launching a growing business to become a viable chocolate business that produces fine quality chocolate and helps to enrich and sustains farmers economically in poor countries. Finally, THE RECIPES - there are 30 different recipes to make chocolate treats at home or anywhere. The book is a visual delight for the senses and will make a wonderful gift for the holidays. --Carol M.

I have been making small batches of chocolate from my own beans I grow on the Big Island of Hawaii. I bought this book to improve my chocolate making. This book is more than I ever bargained for. First off the pictures are to die for. Who ever their photographer was should be paid very well -it makes the book a total package. What surprised me most was the intricate details of how to build devices to improve each and every process. I am in the midst of drying some beans now and can’t wait to try some of these recipes. --L. Caroll

This is the best book available right now to show anyone who is interested in making chocolate at home how to do it. It also has a great section about where the cacao beans come from and an even better section that includes incredible recipes that you can make with your homemade chocolate. I love how open the owners of Dandelion Chocolate are about sharing their insight into making chocolate. I learned a lot from this book about how to experiment with roasting profiles. --Steve Peterson