Obtaining refined cocoa paste by stone milling technology

Abstract

The use of stone mills for the processing of cocoa beans is an alternative for the small-scale production of chocolate. With this project, the refining time of the particles was determined to obtain cocoa paste for different purposes. The cocoa paste production line was on a laboratory scale and artisanal. During the refining process, the average diameter of the particles was measured every 15 min for 5 h. This process was carried out in triplicate and the granulometry of 75, 50 and 30 µm was obtained after 150, 225 and 285 min of refining, respectively. In general, with the obtained values, a mathematical model was adjusted, that explains the reduction in the size of the particles for this type of stone mill.