3

I was doing a home-made, raw chocolate, made of:

  • raw cocoa powder
  • raw cocoa butter
  • xylitol, substituting sugar

The problem was that xylitol was not dissolving well in the butter. One could feel tiny grains of it in the chocolate and also during the process it slowly settled at the bottom of the melted chocolate. I'd say the same problem would exist with sugar, as they are water-soluble, not fat-soluble.

Is there a way/trick how to dissolve xylitol in chocolate properly?

1
  • To what temperature were you heating the mixture? Wikipedia suggests 92 to 96 °C as a melting point for xylitol.
    – jhfrontz
    Aug 14, 2019 at 23:02

1 Answer 1

4

I believe that sugars are usually suspended in chocolate by emulsion - emulsifiers, like soy lecithin, are sometimes commercially used and may improve sugar staying suspended in the chocolate - which may answer part of your problem, if you can find some to try it.

But I think the real answer to how sugar usually stays suspended in chocolate lies in mechanical emulsion, where sugar is mixed into chocolate and stays suspended in fine particles. Commercial chocolate does so in the 'conching' stage of chocolate production - where the chocolate is mechanically ground very fine for hours or days, giving a minute particle size to both the cocoa solids and the sugar granules.

Homemade chocolate using cocoa powder and cocoa butter don't usually need conching, since the solids are already ground to a fine powder - but your xylitol may be slightly coarser and so is apparent in the mixed chocolate as a gritty texture. Perhaps home chocolate making uses powdered sugar, or the sugar dissolves more easily into the chocolate butter, or in the mouth when tasting, I'm not sure. I don't think you can add something to make your xylitol dissolve or distribute better, though, as it will probably make the chocolate seize.

You might try grinding your xylitol (with a mortar and pestle, or a spice grinder or what have you) till it becomes a fine powder - if there isn't already a finer grind available, which would be less work. This should also help with settling since the smaller particles will be lighter, although you might need to keep stirring until it's thick enough, or plan to cool quickly enough after it is poured, so that it doesn't have time to settle.

4
  • Thanks, mortar sounds like a good idea. For my amount it'd be quite doable.
    – Petr
    Sep 2, 2016 at 10:41
  • @PetrPudlák - I'm glad you found it helpful! Mortar and pestle can get tricky for large amounts, but I find it pretty useful for pulverizing little amounts of stuff.
    – Megha
    Sep 2, 2016 at 10:55
  • I tried it and it's much better.
    – Petr
    Sep 8, 2016 at 18:14
  • @PetrPudlák - I'm glad to hear it - thanks for letting me know!
    – Megha
    Sep 8, 2016 at 18:30

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.