Abstract: An improved chocolate manufacturing and/or refining process is provided. This process allows chocolate refining at a significantly increased throughput rate while maintaining the particle size distribution at the desired level. Thus, the production rates of existing or newly designed chocolate-making processes can be increased significantly. High shear is applied to the chocolate mass during the later stages of refining and before conching. Generally, this high shear is in the range of about 200,000 to about 1,000,000 sec−1. By significantly increasing the shear rate in the later stages of the refining process, the throughput of refining process, and thus the overall chocolate manufacturing process, can be significantly increased without significantly increasing the particle size of the chocolate mass entering the conching step.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method for reducing the viscosity of melted chocolate. In the method, a chocolate mixture is provided which includes a chocolate source, a fat source and a sweetener. The chocolate mixture is subjected to refining and conching or other processing. Thereafter, the liquified chocolate mixture, which is liquified during conching, is subjected to high shear mixing while the chocolate mixture is still in the molten state.