We’ve been looking for the perfect salt to pair with our Guatemalan Asochivite bar and we’re in the process of making test batches.  Right now we’re working with sea salt from the Pacific coast of Guatemala.  Finding exactly the right salt to complement the flavors of the Asochivite bean takes a lot of time and research but we have some very good contenders.

To find the right balance of salt we do numerous test batches, adding different amounts of salt, sugar and cocoa butter to find exactly the right combination.  In this picture we’re just about to begin hand-tempering this test batch so that we can be sure the finished bar will have the right consistency and flavor.  Hand tempering is basically just pushing the chocolate around on a marble slab until the correct type of fat crystals form in the cocoa butter… a process which sounds simpler than it actually is.  It’s always tricky, but we’re happy to report this batch tempered just fine!