Artisanal Chocolate Machines by Brooklyn Cacao

We here at Cacao Prieto are so devoted to hand crafting the finest chocolate in the world that we ended up inventing a group of chocolate machines to make that transformation from cacao bean to finished bar all the more delicious. We produce and sell these machines out of our sister company Brooklyn Cacao, LLC.

Our Chocolate Machines

Vortex Winnower

Brooklyn Cacao's patent pending vortex winnower in our red hook chocolate factory

Our first chocolate machine that we invented was the Vortex Winnower which separates the cacao nibs from its  husk following the roasting process. We wanted our chocolate to be absolutely pure and found that other industrial Winnowers (nib/husk seperators) allowed far too much husk material into the chocolate.  We needed something that was more efficient and, in keeping with our overall ethos, celebrated the beauty and purity of cacao.

The Vortex Winnower works as follows: Roasted cacao beans pass through a two stage cracking mill and are then pneumatically conveyed into the Vortex tubes. The nib and husk particles are suspended and accelerated in a swirling gas stream. As the mass of the nibs and husk particles are different, so is their kinetic energy. The Vortex winnower uses centrifugal forces to differentiate between the high and low kinetic energy particles suspended in the swirling gas stream which allows a separation of Nibs into the first 5 gallon reservoir and husks into the second. In addition to the husks all dust particles larger than 5 microns (millions of an inch) are trapped in the second reservoir during the operation.

With this invention, the Vortex Winnower allowed us to create a chocolate much purer that what we were getting with industrial winnowers.

Vortex Roaster

Rendering of Roaster with a see-through cover

As an artisanal chocolate maker working out of our factory in Red Hook, we also found that we needed more flexibility in roasting our beans — conventional drum roasters work at low temperatures; yet, the roast of a bean is what determines the aromatics of chocolate and higher temperature roasting creates more varied and interesting aromatic profiles.  So, employing our knowledge in both aerodynamics and vortex technology, we developed the Vortex Roaster.  Beans in this roaster levitate on a swirling bed of heated air.  This allows the beans to be heated rapidly and equally on all sides convectively. This allows new roast profiles of short duration, high temperature roasting.

Melangeur

Melangeur front view

One of the most important machines in a chocolate factory is a mélange.  With its giant grinding stones, it is responsible for the alchemy of refining our 100% organic cacao into the luxurious chocolate bars and bon bons that we produce.  We are the proud owners of an 1895 Lehman mélange. We came into possession of this machine when we purchased the California Sharffenberger factory machines from Hersheys. We love this machine so much that we decided to reproduce it.

Longitudinal & Universal Conche

New design of our 20 Liter Universal Conche

A Conche is a machine that further refines chocolate after it has passed through the mélange.  Essentially the Conche aerates and exposes chocolate to high pressure friction.  Each of these processes helps our chocolate develop its unique flavor profiles.