3
The very first thing that Tony changed was how Vic was making the chocolate itself.
“Only the Criollo beans, buddy. Forastero is for wimps and Trinitario is only for wannabes and second raters.”
“But—”
“Deal with it. Sell your stock off to some other shop. I won’t be using it.”
They had always mixed and ground their own nibs. The process of separating the cocoa solids and the cocoa butter was slow but worth the quality control it provided. Then they remixed them in precise portions with sugar, milk for the milk chocolate, and sometimes other flavorings. Granddad had always taught them to conch the chocolate for a full twenty-four hours. Chocolate was tenaciously gritty until it was ground with metal beads to break it down. Tony jumped the twenty-four hours to three full days—for mou
