From cacao beans to chocolate bars: women who show the work

Arcelia Gallardo: what happens between bean and bar

Arcelia Gallardo of Mission Chocolate takes the work back to the cacao bean. In her bean-to-bar guide she sorts beans, roasts them, breaks them and removes their husks, then grinds the nibs with sugar. She explains how much weight can be lost when husks are removed and why she begins with more whole beans than the nib weight in the finished recipe. Her separate guide continues with tempering and molding.

References: Arcelia Gallardo / Mission Chocolate Recipes · Arcelia Gallardo / Mission Chocolate Recipes

Watching Gallardo work makes the stages tangible. She spreads the beans out for roasting, then cracks the cooled beans so the papery shell separates from the nib. The nibs go into the grinder with sugar; she stops to taste the evolving chocolate before pouring it out. Once it is tempered, she fills a mold, taps it and releases a bar. The progression shows why melting an existing chocolate bar starts much later in the process.

The flavor decision starts before the chocolate reaches the mold. Gallardo describes choosing a roast for the particular beans and tasting during grinding. Her example uses 700 grams of nibs and 300 grams of sugar for a 70% batch. She explains that she may stop the grinding when she likes the taste, giving the reader a reason to pay attention to flavor as well as the machinery.

References: Arcelia Gallardo / Mission Chocolate Recipes

Amarachi Clarke: choose the flavor to keep

Amarachi Clarke, founder of Lucocoa, describes starting a new dark bar with a flavor profile she wants to preserve. She tests different roasting times and temperatures, then tries different cacao percentages and proportions of coconut sugar and lucuma. She also describes inviting people to taste samples as the recipe develops. Her personal social posts include discussion of bean-to-bar chocolate.

References: We Are Nomads / Amarachi Clarke · Amarachi Clarke

Clarke is a good follow if your interest is the judgment behind a bar: a different roast or percentage is a decision about what the finished chocolate should taste like. Gallardo gives a close view of the physical work needed to turn beans into chocolate; Clarke explains why a maker may repeat that work before settling on a recipe.

Ann Reardon: when one batch sets and another does not

Ann Reardon’s How To Cook That video explains the difference between melting chocolate and tempering it, and demonstrates several ways of tempering. Her comparison is useful at the end of a bean-to-bar journey too: the chocolate can taste promising from the grinder but still need careful handling before it becomes a glossy bar.

References: Ann Reardon / How To Cook That

Reardon prepares two portions from the same dark chocolate and pours them into matching molds. One portion is tempered; the other is simply melted and allowed to cool. After they set under the same conditions, she unmolds both. The tempered bar releases cleanly and breaks with a snap. The other looks dull and bends rather than breaking as crisply. The contrast makes the final handling step visible without confusing it with the earlier roast or grinding.

Callebaut explains that tempering encourages a stable form of cocoa butter crystals, contributing to gloss, snap and release from a mold. It also notes that too much crystallization can make working chocolate thick and sticky. A dull bar and an overly thick mixture are different clues, so observe the chocolate at both the pouring and unmolding stages.

References: Callebaut Chocolate Academy

Pulenaz: taste the difference before choosing a bar

Pulenaz approaches bean-to-bar chocolate as a learner rather than a maker at the roaster. She places two small pieces of dark chocolate on a plate and tastes them in turn, first noticing a fruity edge in one and a deeper roasted note in the other. She goes back to the first piece and lets it melt more slowly, then chooses it for the brighter finish.

Her comparison gives the viewer a place to begin when listening to a maker describe flavor. Gallardo’s bean-to-bar work shows where the ingredients and processing enter; Clarke’s account shows how she tests a roast and recipe; Pulenaz makes the final tasting a small, approachable exercise.

Sources and attribution

1. Arcelia Gallardo / Mission Chocolate Recipes

   How to make chocolate bean-to-barPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

2. Arcelia Gallardo / Mission Chocolate Recipes

   Tempering & Molding | bean-to-bar chocolatePublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

3. We Are Nomads / Amarachi Clarke

   An Interview with Amarachi Clarke of Lucocoa ChocolatePublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

4. Amarachi Clarke

   Chocolate and cocoa supply chainPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

5. Ann Reardon / How To Cook That

   Chocolate Secrets RevealedPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

6. Callebaut Chocolate Academy

   The chocolate was overcrystallisedPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026