Many of us LOVE chocolate enough to want to make homemade gourmet chocolates every day, but how do you know if you should become a chocolatier? There are a few steps involved in becoming a chocolate master besides loving all kinds of chocolate!
What Is A Chocolatier?
The process of making chocolate from cacao tree to your dessert plate includes different types of chocolate experts, from harvesters to chocolate makers and chocolatiers! What could be the difference between a chocolate maker and a chocolatier?
A chocolate maker creates chocolate using a combination cacao beans and other ingredients. A chocolatier makes chocolate confectionery like truffles, bark, and fondue out of chocolate. Chocolatiers use skills like tempering chocolate to make all sorts of delicious chocolaty treats.
Chocolatier Training
If your chocolate expertise is currently limited to experiments in your kitchen or visits to the local chocolate candy shop, consider getting some official training to become a chocolatier! Dorinda Vance became a chocolate expert after learning about chocolate from Ecole Chocolat and Barry Callebaut in Chicago!
At chocolate school (which sounds like the most fun type of school, don’t you think?), you learn all about the different types of chocolate, skills like tempering chocolate, and the science of chocolate. There are very specific formulas involving ganache, fondant, and different sugars. You will also come to understand how chocolate can have different textures depending on its source and how it is prepared!
Work With A Pro
Once you complete a professional training program to become a chocolatier, the next step many aspiring chocolatiers take is the step of working as an apprentice underneath the tutelage of a real professional chocolatier.
When you spend your time working for a seasoned professional, you will get a better sense for what may be your chocolatier specialty. Do one thing incredibly well while you learn how to make all of your other chocolaty treats as delicious!
You will make a bad batch or two as you learn -- do not panic or give up! Experimenting and some chocolaty failures will help you learn and grow to understand what combinations do work. It took many great minds and thousands of years to hone the craft of a chocolatier so far, so have some patience as you learn about the textures and combinations of chocolates through trial and error.
Taste The Difference
We must warn you that spending all of this time around chocolate may cause you to crave the really good stuff like gourmet handmade chocolates even more than an occasional candy bar. When you have that chocoholic craving and are not in the mood to make chocolate for yourself, stop by Dorinda’s Chocolates, with locations in Reno and Squaw Valley!
Taste the skill of the tempering and confectionery chemistry with our Caramelia Melt Away or the Toasty Blonde! For the serious chocoholics, join our Chocolate of the Month Club so you can have some chocolate treats stashed away when your next craving hits.
Stop by and try some gourmet chocolate at Dorinda’s Handcrafted Chocolates today!