Engineers hope their chocolate conching system can simplify the process and encourage gourmet chocolatiers to engage in automated processing.
Brazil's Flavio Abaurre, owner of Meller SA, developed a distinctive conch and integrated it with a ball mill from the German firm Netzsch Fein Mahltechnik GmbH to create a compact, enclosed system that accelerates the process of making couverture and chocolate bars and provides a means for specialty confectioners to automatically create gourmet chocolates. In the last two years, Abaurre has worked closely with the Netzsch Fine Particle Technology division in Exton, PA, to refine the system and improve batch repeatability. Fabrication of systems that can output 53,000 lbs. of commodities such as milk chocolate is proposed, a commercial scale that would compete with high-shear mixers and other equipment designed to accelerate mass production. But compact units to produce high-end couverture and bars can turn artisans into small-scale chocolate manufacturers.