Chopping chocolate--advice sought

Got a lot--multiple pounds' worth--of chocolate in a couple very large chunks. Need to chop it coarsely. I've always done this by hand in the past but I balk. Yes, I could grate it on the large holes of a grater, that's one option. I'm afraid to put a bunch of chunks in the food processor for fear the chocolate will (a) melt or (b) be too unevenly chopped, ranging from fine to very large hunks or (c) both. Mandoline? Doesn't seem right. So...I appeal to all the wise and ingenious minds out there: suggestions?

What are you doing with it after it's chopped--that might help narrow the suggestions...

If your food processor has a grater attachment, I would think that that would work. If it doesn't melt cheese, I don't know why it would melt chocolate.

It's going into cookie dough, so roughly equivalent results are desirable. Our processor ain't got no stinkin' grater attachment. Or does it? Now I need to go check.... It's just that I'm concerned that with the speed and all, friction is likely to result in heat.

If you're trying to make chips, it probably wouldn't be ideal anyway. Maybe get it into pieces that will fit into a heavy ziploc with a dishtowel over it and pound it a few times with the pronged side of a meat tenderizer?

No...you were right the first time. Who knew? Guess I should pay more attention to them doodads they pack with those fancy gadgets that clutter up the kitchen. Thing is, I was partly right. The chunk has to be, uh, chunky enough because once it decreases to a certain size, it gets stuck and the longer you persist in trying to "grate" it, the faster it decides to stymie you. So, in the end, we got most of our chocolate grated--rather more finely than I think we expected but grated nonetheless. And got a decreasing amount melted into the blade itself. We learned as we went along and sticking the blade in the freezer (and the chocolate as well) helped a bit. And so now we know for next time. Thank you ma'am!

Ah...phooey. The grater worked like a charm. BUT: in the end, it grated too fine. Even on with our coarsest grating disk. So, for the future, it's back to almost square one. Short of a different grating disk (which I don't think exists in our case), any suggestions?

there is a thing called a chocolate fork, which looks like a wooden handled rake, but small. it exists for breaking up thick slabs of chocolate. you could order one online. or you could put the chocolate on a cutting board and carefully break it up with a large, heavy knife. you start by going after a corner, you want the narrowest part under your knife. you'll see it start to separate into large flakes, and pieces. it'll depend on the size of the chocolate, the heft of your knife, and your own skill. you use the palm of your non-knife holding hand to slowly, slowly, push the knife down into the chocolate. never wack it, or go knife tip first. keep the knife perpendicular to the table and push. just do it slowly so you dont cut yourself. you can see- saw it a bit if the knife is longer than the piece of chocolate. if you dont have a huge slab it should be easy enough. keep moving the chocolate around, so you always have a pointed piece under the knife. this makes it easier to separate it into pieces. hope this helps. justjoan

Thanks for the suggestions. I know the fork of which you speak and my hope was to avoid the knife technique of which you speak. We just had many pounds of chocolate and I didn't want to resort to that method which, at best (at least for me), takes a long time. I hadn't thought of the fork--might just work.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Ah...phooey. The grater worked like a charm. BUT: in the end, it grated too fine. Even on with our coarsest grating disk. So, for the future, it's back to almost square one. Short of a different grating disk (which I don't think exists in our case), any suggestions?

Not sure how many pounds of chocolate or how precise (homogeneous) you want it have but here are a couple of suggestions - use a bread knife (or knife with serrations) as justjoan notes for the fork, starting with the corner of the bar. Once you get the hang of it, it's fairly quick (say 3 kgs in 15-20 mins). Alternately, freeze the bar for about 10-15 mins and then pulse in the food processor (you may want to break up the chocolate a bit first, could also freeze the blade). With the latter method you will lose some (<5%) where it melts on the blade.
I've only used the grater blades of the food processor for chocolate destined for hot cocoa mix.

I've always understood that chopping chocolate will dull a knife so we use an old Chicago Cutlery chef knife or a serrated knife, depending on how fine and uniform we need the pieces.

I had a really hard time chopping up a really thick piece of bittersweet Callebaut for chocolate fondue. Any tips on how to make this process less painful?

If I want to avoid dulling the blade of my knives, should I just break the chocolate up with a chocolate fork and then use the food processor? (I saw that the fork may also cause problems for chopping boards).

The bittersweet chocolate is pretty hard. I am guessing that I would also have the same kind of problem with dark chocolate. I know that it is easier to work with milk chocolate, but we like dark chocolate in our house.

I am not sure if I should try to microwave the chocolate for a short period of time to make it easier to chop up.

shorty, if you're melting the chocolate for fondue why chop it small? you'll still have to cut up/break off some large chunkcs, but then just melt them in a double boiler. you didnt say how big your chocolate bar is, but no need to process it. and i wouldn't worry overmuch about dulling your blade. you don't do this, i assume, very often. and knives need sharpening regularly anyway. the knife doesn't become unusable after chopping chocolate occasionally. did you see my earlier post above about chopping chocolate? in future, you might look into buying callebaut pistoles, which are discs intended for melting- not like chocolate chips with additives to make them hold their shape. other high quality brands also make pistoles. there are several sources online. justjoan

The Callabaut bar does not come in small squares like other types of bars. I just bought a Pound Plus bar of chocolate from Trader Joe. I'll try breaking it into squares and putting it into the double boiler. I was trying to buy chocolate in bulk format since it is less expensive.

shorty, sorry, i misspoke: callebaut calls their discs 'callets', not pistoles. you may not want to mail order, or pay about $10/lb. for them but they do exist. here's one link if you're interested. justjoan






http://www.chocosphere.com/Html/Products/callebaut.html

justjoan wrote:callebaut calls their discs 'callets', not pistoles. you may not want to mail order, or pay about $10/lb. for them but they do exist.

One of the things I learned last month at the talk at the Callebaut Chocolate Academy is Callebaut Couverture Callets have recently been introduced to the retail market. Both dark (56% cacao) and milk chocolate (35%) are available in 8.5 ounce resealable packets. I've seen them at Treasure Island but don't recall the price.

justjoan wrote:shorty, if you're melting the chocolate for fondue why chop it small? you'll still have to cut up/break off some large chunkcs, but then just melt them in a double boiler. you didnt say how big your chocolate bar is, but no need to process it. and i wouldn't worry overmuch about dulling your blade. you don't do this, i assume, very often. and knives need sharpening regularly anyway. the knife doesn't become unusable after chopping chocolate occasionally. did you see my earlier post above about chopping chocolate? in future, you might look into buying callebaut pistoles, which are discs intended for melting- not like chocolate chips with additives to make them hold their shape. other high quality brands also make pistoles. there are several sources online. justjoan

I found out that my large Chinese meat cleaver works really well for chopping up the chocolate into chunks. I was really happy to find a use for this thing which I have not used in over 10 years.