Tasting chocolate is something you do with all your senses. We explain in our 'your own chocolate tasting at home' out how to make the most of your chocolate at home. But much rather we will explain it to you ourselves during one of our workshops.

Good question! It is quite a complicated process and a bit too long to explain here. That's why we have the blog 'This is how chocolate is made' written.

Chocolate is a fragile product. Store it in a dry, cool place at a temperature between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius. So choose a dark place to store your chocolate, such as a pantry or kitchen cupboard. Preferably avoid the fridge.
Want to know exactly why this is so important and how to keep your precious chocolate in top condition for as long as possible? Read it in our blog 'What is the best way to store chocolate?'

Witte chocolade bestaat in principe uit: cacaoboter, melkpoeder en suiker. Een cacaoboon bestaat voor afhankelijk van het type boon uit 52 – 58% uit cacaoboter. Daarom is in onze ogen witte chocolade echte chocolade. Volgens de warenwetbesluit cacao en chocolade moet witte chocolade minimaal 20% cacaoboter bevatten.

Wil je meer weten? Lees onze blog voor een uitgebreidere uitleg. In onze webshop kun je bovendien filteren op witte chocolade en zelf ontdekken welke varianten we aanbieden!

It is a conscious decision by us not to make our own chocolate. Instead, the Chocolate Girls are committed to introducing people to bean-to-bar chocolate. We do this by offering craft chocolate in our webshop and giving various chocolate tastings.

The scientific name of cacao trees is Theobroma cacao. Cocoa trees are native to the Amazon region. Cocoa can actually grow anywhere around the equator (23 degrees north and 23 degrees south of it) and up to a maximum altitude of 1,000 metres.
Read in our blog "this is how cocoa trees grow" much more about this special tree.

Bean-to-bar chocolate literally means 'from bean to bar' chocolate. This means that the chocolate maker keeps the entire process, from selecting the cocoa beans to packaging the chocolate, in-house. Bean-to-bar chocolate is more sustainable than the usual chocolate from the supermarket. We explain exactly how this works in detail in this blog.

Chocolate is often chosen based on its cocoa percentage, but what exactly is it? Chocolate usually consists of cocoa mass, cocoa butter and possibly added sugar (in the case of milk chocolate, milk solids are also added).
The cocoa percentage is the sum of the percentage of cocoa mass and cocoa butter. However, the manufacturer is not required to state the ratios between the two.

For example:
Bar A: with 70% cocoa -> cocoa mass: 62% + cocoa butter: 8%
Bar B: with 70% cocoa -> cocoa mass 50% + cocoa butter 20%

But which one should I buy? Our advice is simple: taste it! Try different bars with the same cocoa percentage, for example two bars of 70% and discover the difference in taste.

The difference between dark chocolate and milk chocolate is in the ingredients.

These are the minimum ingredients needed to make the chocolate.

Cocoa mass
Cocoa mass is created by grinding cocoa beans and is an important raw material for chocolate.

Cocoa butter
Cocoa butter is extracted from cocoa beans. The cocoa beans are ground and cocoa butter is pressed from this mass.
Some chocolate makers choose to add extra cocoa butter to the cocoa mass. How is no rule for it has everything to do with personal preference and the style of the chocolate maker. Too little cocoa butter can create a dry mouthfeel, while too much cocoa butter can make the chocolate oily, slimy and lacking in flavour.

Sugar
Pure bleached cane sugar is the most common choice because it has no flavour. Natural or organic cane sugar is often preferred, but has the disadvantage that its own flavour mixes with the flavours of the chocolate. Alternative sugars such as coconut blossom sugar are becoming increasingly popular, but these all have their own distinctive flavour that changes the overall flavour profile of the chocolate.

Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate must contain a minimum total of 35% of cocoa mass and cocoa butter.

Milk chocolate
Milk chocolate must contain a minimum total of 25% of cocoa mass and cocoa butter.