Bean to bar
Made in Hof with real cocoa beans of the highest quality
Hand sorting cocoa beans
To ensure the highest quality of cocoa beans, we hand-sort cocoa beans directly imported from South and Central America through Fair Trade .
Roasting of cocoa beans
We roast our cocoa beans with the same precision as coffee beans, to bring out the perfect taste.
Just like with coffee beans, higher temperatures and a more vigorous roasting will produce a darker and more bitter chocolate, while a milder roasting will produce a softer and more prominent cocoa flavor.
This gives our chocolate a rich and mild taste that stands out. Even our chocolate with 70% cocoa has no bitter aftertaste, making it a favorite among chocolate lovers.
Cracking of roasted cocoa beans
When we crack the beans, we do it a handful at a time so that the pieces with cocoa nibs are the right size.
This is done in our " cracker" as you see in the video on the left.
Winnowing
Winnowing is the process where we separate cocoa shells and cocoa nibs from each other, so that we have completely pure cocoa nibs to work with when making chocolate.
From nibs to chocolate
The chocolate machines
Odin has several types of chocolate machines, from several small ones to our large one
"Big ugly Bertha" which makes 40L of chocolate per batch.
We use small machines for "test batches"
and medium-sized machines for smaller batches.
This is the first step to actually making the chocolate.
First, we put cocoa nibs in the machine for 12-18 hours together with cocoa butter.
This causes the mass to become liquid and then we leave the lid off the machine to vent the acidity in the cocoa beans that develops during fermentation.
Then we put in milk powder, sugar and real vanilla seeds.
So after 72 hours, we have delicious liquid chocolate.
Tempering
In order for the chocolate to stay good for a long time, it is important that we do our best in this process.
For chocolate with 45% cocoa, we like to use a tempering machine that does this automatically.
But for white chocolate, raspberry chocolate, 70% cocoa, 98% cocoa, 35% cocoa and vegan "milk chocolate" made with oat milk, we often have to temper by hand.
This must be done on a marble table that you see on the right of the picture.
The goal is to get the chocolate to crystallize into the right crystal type (5) in the chocolate, so that it has a good crack, shine and stays nice for a long time.
Shapes
After the chocolate has been tempered, it is important to get it into the right shape quickly.
Before we can use the mold, we polish it so that the chocolate will be shiny when they are emptied.
It is actually whether the mold is polished correctly that is a decisive reason for whether the chocolate has the shiny effect we are looking for.
And in the case of some pieces of confectionery, we paint the mold with cocoa butter. Then you can look at Nanna for an example, there you can see that we have painted the shape so that it has a shiny red effect.
"fun facts" about chocolate
Chocolate isn't just good - it's amazing!
Antioxidants in chocolate
Research shows that chocolate contains more health-promoting antioxidants than juice from blueberries, cranberries and other so-called "super fruits"
Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which have one of the highest concentrations of antioxidants in the world. The darker the chocolate you choose, the higher the content of antioxidants.
Antioxidants are important for the brain, as they extinguish sparks from combustion and protect against oxidative stress and early ageing. Antioxidants in cocoa, also called "cocoaflavanols", have also been shown to increase blood flow to the brain. Increased blood supply means a better supply of oxygen and necessary nutrients.
Magnesium in chocolate
Dark chocolate is rich in magnesium, a mineral that helps signaling substances (neurotransmitters) such as dopamine and serotonin to bind to their antennae (receptors) so that the signaling substances can convey their message and create their effect
Increasing the effect of these signaling substances into the cells can partly explain why you can get happy feelings and reduced anxiety after eating chocolate. Magnesium also reduces muscle cramps which can be a common symptom of anxiety.
Did you know that 50 grams of 70% dark chocolate contains as much as a quarter of your daily need for magnesium?