60% Dark Chocolate Couverture Drops 1 kg

Dark couverture chocolate with 60% cocoa, in drops, in a 1 kg bag. Sixty per cent is the point where chocolate already has a full cocoa character but none of the astringency typical of very dark chocolate, so it works both in grown-up desserts and in bakes for children. The high cocoa butter content means it melts into a fluid, glossy mass, ready for coating, tempering and serving hot.

Why drops and not a bar

Couverture drops melt evenly because every piece is the same size, so they all melt at the same rate. A chopped bar always leaves larger chunks that need longer heating, and that is exactly when chocolate burns or starts to thicken.

Then there is the practical side of everyday work: you weigh out exactly what you need and close the bag on the rest. No dirty board or knife, and no product lost as crumbs.

How couverture differs from supermarket dark chocolate

Couverture has a higher cocoa butter content than ordinary eating chocolate. Cocoa butter is what makes it fluid when melted, glossy once set and gives the characteristic snap when you break a properly tempered praline. Supermarket chocolate made with vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter is thick and dull when melted, and a coating made from it does not set the same way.

The difference shows most where chocolate needs to be smooth and shiny: in coatings, dipping, pralines and chocolate fountains.

Uses

• Ganache and creams: melted with cream it gives a thick, glossy mass for covering and filling cakes.
• Glazes and drip cakes: it sets evenly and forms clean drips over the edge of a cake.
• Pralines and bars: it tempers well and sets with a shine and a snap.
• Brownies and muffins: a handful of drops stirred into the batter melts in the oven and leaves pockets of molten chocolate.
• Hot chocolate: melted in milk it makes a thick drink in the style of Italian cioccolata calda, in a different league from cocoa powder.

How much chocolate per serving, and how many servings per kilo

For a 200 ml cup of hot chocolate you typically use 30 to 50 g of couverture, depending on how thick you want the drink. A kilo therefore gives roughly 20 to 30 servings. This is a guide from café practice, not a manufacturer’s figure, because thickness depends on your menu and what your guests expect.

If you serve chocolate from a dispenser with a stirrer, couverture works better than instant powder because it gives thickness without thickeners. A 5 litre tank takes roughly 250 to 400 g of drops per batch, with milk making up the rest of the volume.

How to melt it without ruining the chocolate

Chocolate cannot stand two things: high heat and water.

The safest method is a bain-marie: a bowl set over a pan of steaming water, with the bottom of the bowl not touching the water. In a microwave, melt it in short bursts of 15 to 20 seconds, stirring each time, because the temperature inside the mass rises faster than the surface suggests.

Even a drop of water falling into melted chocolate makes it seize. The bowl and spatula must be completely dry, and with a bain-marie watch out for steam condensing on the lid.

Ingredients and storage

Ingredients: cocoa, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier (E322 sunflower lecithin), natural vanilla flavouring. Cocoa solids minimum 60%. Gluten-free.

Store in a dry place at room temperature, away from strongly scented products, because cocoa butter easily picks up other aromas. Do not keep it in the fridge: moisture causes sugar bloom, a white film on the surface of the drops.

Specification

Type	dark couverture
Cocoa content	minimum 60%
Form	drops
Weight	1000 g
Origin	Italy
Gluten	gluten-free