Johannesburg - Chocolate, it’s happiness in a wrapper.
Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter and even Christmas are days most people associate with this sticky, sweet and tasty delicacy.
Earlier this week, The Star visited the Geldhof Chocolate factory to watch the meticulous process of making everyone’s favourite candy – chocolate.
The founder of Geldhof Belgian Chocolates, Marc Geldhof, explained that there were three main ingredients – cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar – that, when mixed together carefully, create the type of chocolate we all love.
“The magic to making chocolate is cocoa butter, it releases the cocoa flavour,” Geldhof said.
All these are known as wet ingredients because they melt easily. The wet ingredients are put inside a specialised machine that mixes it all together with a number of fan-like blunt metal blades.
This creates a smooth and chocolaty texture.
As the machine churned, Geldhof brought out a bag of cocoa mass – cocoa that has been refined into chocolate disks with no added ingredients. It’s extremely bitter.
“We get our cocoa mass from Ghana, sticking to support the African continent,” he said. “It’s a tedious process. You have to continually temper the chocolate mixture to stop any crystallisation and make sure the chocolate mixture stays smooth. This process can take around 24 to 36 hours.” The mixture is then moved into 100kg holding tanks that keep it at a warm temperature.
When a batch of chocolate is needed, the chocolate mixture is brought to a tampering machine that looks similar to a gigantic chocolate fountain placed on its side.
A wheel keeps the chocolate turning at a temperature of 33°C, which stops the chocolate from hardening.
“It’s all about precision, not being clever or cheating. The chocolate will know and show,” he said, as he laughed.
The chocolate is then spread into moulds galore, ranging from soccer boots to golf balls.
“It takes about 30 to 45 minutes to set. The trick to knowing it’s ready, is looking if it has partially separated from the mould,” he said as he dislodged a freshly made batch of heart chocolates from their mould.
From here, some of the chocolates are filled with caramel, jelly, coffee, liqueur or whiskey, among others.
Ribbons, butterflies, wrapping paper, multicoloured foils fill the packing room, where the chocolates are wrapped, decorated and finally shipped to Geldhof chocolate shops.
Geldhof said load shedding was one of the business’s big-gest challenges.
“We don’t have a generator and it won’t be a big help if we instal one, so when there is no power we can’t work. This irritates customers and stalls chocolate production, which becomes problematic especially when we have orders.”
Despite this challenge, the native Belgian loves being a chocolatier. “It’s all about being passionate. I love coming up with new ideas and continuously improving It’s in me!”
The Star