Prediction of the Hardness of Chocolate and Compound Coatings

Talbot G., Smith K.W., Prediction of the Hardness of Chocolate and Compound Coatings, Kennedy’s Confection 2004, (July), 22-24

The audible snap of a chocolate bar and the hardness of the chocolate as it’s first bitten into are both important parameters and indicators of quality to the consumer.  The snap and hardness and, to a large extent, the contraction of chocolate are all properties that are closely linked.  They are also properties that are closely related to the fat phase of the chocolate. This would then imply that a knowledge of certain properties of the fat phase should help us to define and predict the hardness of the chocolate.