Invented by Rodolphe Lindt in Switzerland in 1879, conching gives finished chocolate its melt-in-the-mouth smoothness. Lindt called his invention a ‘conche’ from the Spanish word for shell, concha.
Prior to Lindt’s invention, chocolate was much grittier and coarser. Rodolphe Lindt son of pharmacist, he had trained as a confectioner apprentice and bought two fire-damaged factory buildings and some roasting machinery from a bankrupt mill to manufacture chocolate.
He began experimenting with the amount of cocoa butter in his confections. He found that with the right combination he could produce a rich chocolate that melted in the tongue.
Rodolphe Lindt developed the conche, a shell-shaped bin permitting fine milling of chocolate by roiling it to and fro and aerating it. He found that the more he mixed the chocolate the smoother it became.
The Lindt process also made it possible to pour chocolate into molds instead of pressing it as had been necessary theretofore.
Chocolate conching
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