Today, there are so many different varieties of this once precious commodity, chocolate, that it is hard to keep an overview of them. However, generally speaking, chocolate tastes better, the better its ingredients and the more diligent its production. That is why not only the best ingredients are in every square of RITTER SPORT, but also lots of patience and experience.

Transport

Before actual production can begin, the most important ingredient is needed: cocoa beans. Cocoa beans are shipped in large jute bags. They start their journey in the country where they are farmed, then pass over the equator, and arrive at the chocolate manufacturer. On delivery to the factory, they are carefully checked. According to their quality, it is decided which varieties of beans will be used to produce chocolate.

Roasting

The cocoa beans are strictly separated according to quality. They are then carefully cleaned, sieved, and roasted with hot-air. Here the beans develop their typical cocoa aroma and dark-brown colour.

Breaking and rolling

After the roasted beans have been broken, the husks and seedlings are removed in winnowing machines. The cleaned cocoa kernels, also known as “nibs”, are ground even smaller in a pre and main fine-grinding process. The frictional heat caused by this process releases the cocoa butter contained in cocoa beans. This creates a liquid, dark-brown, aromatic cocoa mass, which smells of chocolate. Depending on recipe and quality, further raw ingredients are added. In milk chocolate, these are three basic ingredients: cocoa butter, milk powder, and sugar. The resulting mixture already tastes somewhat similar to the final chocolate product. However, it still feels grainy on the tongue.

The selection and quality of the raw ingredients, plus their carefully considered mix ratio, play very important roles. Another important aspect is the fineness of the ground chocolate mass. The pre-grinding and fine-grinding processes grind the chocolate mass particles with rotating rollers that move in opposite directions. This puts the chocolate mass under extreme pressure and reduces the average size of each particle to approximately 20 thousandths of a millimetre.

Conching

The result is a fine powder whose flavour has not yet been completely perfected. This powder is put into a special mixing machine known as a conching machine. The conching machine liquefies and refines its taste. It is then once again submitted to a strong kneading, mixing, and aeration process. Here cocoa butter, lecithin, and vanilla flavouring are added to the remaining mass. The resulting frictional heat and the warmth of the conching machine’s heating jacket melt the contained cocoa fat. The fine, crumbly mass first becomes a thick, and then later on, a thin liquid chocolate mass.

The refinement quality of the chocolate mass does not depend, as is often believed, on the length of the conching process. This was, however, true in the past, when the conching process was still new. Nowadays, due to modern technologies, the same and even better results are achieved in a much shorter time. If the mass is conched for too long, it can even damage the chocolate’s flavour. That is why we attach such great importance to not conching each chocolate mass too quickly or for too long. Instead, we use the optimal conching time for each variety of chocolate.

Moulding

After chocolate is conched, it is then tempered. Now it is ready to be poured into moulds. Depending upon the variety, it is also mixed with delicious ingredients. The mould is shaken to achieve an even distribution of chocolate throughout the mould. This also completely removes any possible air bubbles. For filled chocolates, liquid chocolate is poured into moulds, which are then immediately upturned. Some of the mass flows out again and only an outer, solidified layer remains along the walls of the mould. The filling is put in. Then the base of the chocolate bar is poured over it.

Packaging

In cooling tunnels, the chocolate mass slowly solidifies and contracts a little. This means that when the bar is turned over and given a gentle tap, it easily separates from the mould. It falls onto a conveyor belt, which carries the finished chocolate bar to a packaging machine. In the packaging machine, the bars are wrapped in flavour impermeable plastic and packed into boxes. They can now be sent on their way, via the shops, to you.

Test kitchen

Before we at RITTER SPORT bring a new variety onto the market, it goes through a product development process. Here, it is developed, tested, and improved with a great care and love for chocolate. New combinations are always being tried in our test kitchen. Approximately 400 of the best ingredients from all over the world are used in the authentic handicraft tradition of chocolate making to carefully perfect the blend of ingredients, fillings, and chocolate. Here, the most important and long-standing requirement of our company tradition always applies: Whatever is written on the packet has to be chock-full of it! The thickness of our bars allows us to plentifully ply them with fillings and delicious ingredients.

The customer always stands at the end of each development chain. Selected testers taste the new creations in consumer studies. Only varieties that fair the best in tests are produced. We also only produce products that can be manufactured according to RITTER SPORT’S quality standards. If this is the case, the secret is revealed and the new variety is presented to the public.