Chipping Chocolate

Usually when I'm working with chocolate, I choose to start with callets. That's a fancy name for small disc-shaped chocolate pieces. They are relatively easy to work with, particularly if using the seeding method of tempering, and they are better suited to small production runs. In contrast, larger facilities with high-capacity melters and tempering machines are more likely to purchase chocolate in 5kg slabs. These slabs are like a giant chocolate bar, with "breakaway" blocks of about 500g each. In practice, of course, you'd need a pickaxe or a table saw to separate them. 

Last Christmas, I was surprised to find these blocks of Callebaut chocolate in the bakery section of a local grocery store. Individually wrapped, the 454g pieces were selling for somewhere in the vicinity of $23. As time and Christmas passed, they were slowly marked down. Having just ordered 2.5kg of milk and 2.5kg of dark chocolate from my supplier, I wasn't particularly interested in these bricks of chocolate, knowing they would be difficult to work with. When they finally hit about $8 each, though, I decided I would be foolish not to purchase something given the increasing cost of chocolate as a result of extreme weather conditions impacting cacao harvests. So, I picked up one of the white chocolate blocks. And then the following week, another. 

Fast forward to this week, when I was working on the second piece for my four-piece assortment. It required white chocolate. I pulled out the brick and assessed my options. I could attempt to grate the chocolate, but the heat from my hand may take it out of temper in the process. It would also be the messier of the options. Alternatively, I could use a serrated knife to shave the chocolate, but when I've tried that in the past the knife wasn't particularly easy to control. And so I found myself hiking downstairs and opening a box of chocolate implements to locate my weapon of choice: an ice pick. 

When I was enrolled in the professional chocolatier program, one of the items on our materials list was a chocolate chipping tool. I drove out to the local restaurant supply and asked if they had one. They didn't, but they had an ice pick and led me to it. I dutifully purchased it like any keener would when going back to school shopping, but as I recall I only used it once. On Wednesday evening, however, its moment to shine had arrived.

Slowly but surely, I chipped away at the white chocolate brick while roasting nuts. Since I had the oven timer on, I can confidently tell you that it took me about 8 minutes to fully chip one pound of chocolate. Satisfied with my work, I proceeded with tempering the chocolate and preparing 50 pieces of what I hope will be a delicious addition to this year's assortment.

The ice pick was certainly the right tool for the job. Efficient, easy to use, relatively neat. 

Of course, every time I looked at the pile of chocolate pieces in front of me, all I could think of was how delicious those chunks would be in a chocolate chip cookie. There's about 185g left, so perhaps next weekend, I'll test my theory.