What is Ruby Hot Chocolate?
We all know there are three types of chocolate, right? Milk, dark and white… well you’d be wrong.
In 2017 a Belgian-Swiss confectionary company Barry Callebaut introduced the world to what is described as the fourth variety of chocolate… Ruby Chocolate.
Apparently Callebaut discovered a new variety of cocoa bean, which took them around 13 years to work out how to process and bring it to market. Ruby hot chocolate, also known as pink hot chocolate or even unicorn hot chocolate.
Ruby hot chocolate is currently trending with a prominent high street coffee chain adding it to their menu. With natural Instagrammable charm, this pink chocolate its best enjoyed with whipped cream and plenty of pink toppings and marshmallows!
WHAT IS RUBY HOT CHOCOLATE?
Pink chocolate, as it is also known, has been quietly shaking up the global confectionary market. It launched to a select few attending a trade show in Shanghai, whilst the chocolate loving public in Europe had to wait until 2018 to get their mitts on it, and those in the USA had an even longer wait, with it only being unveiled there in 2019.
There’s some debate as to whether it’s a separate variety of chocolate but let’s put that aside and take a little look at what it is.
We know that like all other chocolate. It’s made from cocoa beans. Indeed ruby cocoa beans are grown in Ecuador, Brazil and the Ivory Coast but other than that we know zip.
Industry speculation is that ruby chocolate is made with unfermented cocoa beans, which can have a natural red-pinkish colour.
(Image by @timebottlestudio_lennonlee on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/jF3zJ1EFuNM)
HOW IS CHOCOLATE MADE?
Chocolate is made with a process Mesoamericans would be familiar with, despite the fact it has become pretty industrialised, despite that the principle is pretty much the same.
Modern chocolate creation starts when cocoa pods are harvested between October and December, when cocoa beans have formed. The beans are placed between layers of banana leaves for up to a week to let any liquid from drain away before being left to dry in the sun, before being sent for processing.
Once processing starts the beans are heated inside a continuous roaster depending on the time required for the specific flavour profile needed.
Once roasted, the cocoa beans are broken down into smaller pieces and their shells are removed, leaving behind the fleshy part of the beans (known as nibs), which contain the cocoa solids and cocoa butter needed to make chocolate. The nibs are then ground in a mill to produce a thick liquid known as cocoa liquor, which is then mixed with sugar and milk depending on the quantities required for the type of chocolate being created.
This liquid is then dried to produce a chocolate crumb which is then run through rollers to improve the texture, before being smoothed in a process called conching, which is basically a kneading process carried out at 46°C, the longer chocolate is conched the better it becomes. After this process the final stage is tempering, which involves continuously cooling and heating the liquor before it is then poured into moulds, cooled and wrapped.
HOW TO MAKE RUBY HOT CHOCOLATE
Ruby chocolate is made in the milk chocolate style, using cocoa butter, milk powder, sugar, and cocoa mass, but other than that we know very little about the process, mainly due to the fact that the process is a closely guarded trade secret.
We do know what it tastes like it has a natural berry flavour with sweet and sour notes. It’s definitely worth trying even if it’s just an add to your Instagram story; especially if you’re in need of a lift.
INTRODUCING NEW… RUBY HOT CHOCOLATE
Farrer’s Ruby Hot Chocolate fits the bill perfectly, just add 2 dessert spoons to 12oz hot milk and top with whipped cream and mini-marshmallows.