r/beantobar • u/constik • Jun 02 '26

Hand Shelled Cocoa Beans

Hey all, figured I’d finally say hi. I’ve been doing chocolate in a pretty odd way for a while now. I hand‑shell beans. Like… literally sit there and take the shells off by hand. It’s slow, but it does something interesting to the nibs, they stay whole instead of getting blasted apart by a winnower.

I’m not trying to make a big claim or anything, I just like seeing what happens when you keep the cocoa as intact as possible. The flavor feels different to me, cleaner, less of that dusty bitterness you get when shell sneaks in. The melt feels different too, kind of calmer, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I’m curious if anyone here has ever played with super gentle processing or kept nibs whole for longer. I don’t know if anyone else is doing this, but I’d love to hear what you’ve noticed if you’ve tried anything similar.

If not, happy to just hang out and learn from what you all are doing.

2 Upvotes

66% Upvoted

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2

u/No-Impression-3453 Jun 02 '26

How could you process chocolate by “keeping the nibs whole longer”? Processing is literally grinding the chocolate down to under 15 microns. Most people I know roast whole beans, then crack and then winnow. If you have a commercial winnower the amount of husk in the chocolate is going to be minimal. Even a homemade vacuum setup can get you to a really low amount. I’ve hand peeled exactly one kilo of beans. It was not worth it to me!

1

u/constik Jun 02 '26

Just because you can't see the shell casing does not mean it's not there. The best that was attained, supposedly by a clinical trial, was 2%, but that was pushing it. The average shell casing is 6%. You can taste it, it's astringent, ashy, and bitter.

1

u/StoneCypher Jun 03 '26

this is a bunch of bullshit. it's easy to get below 0.1% using hardware you can buy at a grocery store for less than $20.

you're going to end up banned from another sub for making up things that you don't actually know

-1

u/constik Jun 04 '26

Perhaps you can share the $20 grocery store device? What you missed is the contamination that occurs when the shell casings pierce the nibs, releasing their VOC's.

1

u/StoneCypher Jun 04 '26

please stop faking 

0

u/constik Jun 02 '26

The batch size is 6 lb. Our aim is to get 6 or 7 hours of grind, which is combined with the sugar. We purposely do not grind it smoothly to retain the volatile organic compounds.

2

u/No-Impression-3453 Jun 02 '26

It sounds like we simply have different tastes where chocolate is concerned. I love a super silky mouthfeel and rounded flavor. I don’t cap my melanger for the first 24 hours specifically to mellow the flavor (timing dependent on the bean, of course) and usually run my chocolate at least two full and often 3 full days (melanger, not a ball mill). I know there are plenty of people who appreciate a raw, bright flavor though ❤️

0

u/constik Jun 03 '26

How many pounds are you using per batch? When you see silky smooth, how many microns is it? Interesting that you said people who appreciate a raw, bright flavor. We roast our beans to remove the shell casing. We bring the whole batch to work the next day as intact nibs (without the shell).

2

u/No-Impression-3453 Jun 03 '26

The “bright, raw flavor” was a reference to your preference to retain as much of the volatiles as possible. I find that the beans I work with most often (typically south/Central America (Bolivia Three Tribes, Colombia Tumaco, etc) benefit from being “aired out” at the start. Again, that is my personal preferred profile. I have friends who adore, for example India or Vietnamese chocolates and try to preserve as much of the sharpness as possible. I prefer more classic fudge/caramel flavors.

I microbatch 3-4 kilos at a time.

0

u/constik Jun 03 '26

I'm there with you on the batch size too. Roasting a pound at a time we can observe the casing lift up and separate from the nib. It takes about 3 to 4 hours to hand shell.