melanger
{{Short description|Stone-grinder used to make chocolate}}
File:Chocolate melanger - Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop - San Francisco, CA - DSC02043.jpg
A melanger (or melangeur, from French: mélangeur, lit. "blender") is a stone-grinder that is used in chocolate-making. It typically consists of two granite wheels, which rotate inside a metal drum on top of a granite base. Given enough time the wheels can reduce the particles to sizes measured in microns, therefore making a smooth chocolate paste from cocoa beans.
Stone grinding tools have been widely used in history to make food. In Mesoamerica, cocoa was ground using a metate. Industrialization in the late 18th century favored the use of larger and water powered machines. The first melanger prototype was invented in 1811 by a French engineer named Poincelet. It was soon adopted all over Europe.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYnyAAAAMAAJ | title=Histoire du chocolat | author=Vallenilla, Nikita Harwich | year=1992 | pages=129 | publisher=Desjonquères | isbn=978-2-904227-68-4 | quote=En 1811, sous l'impulsion de la Société pour l'Encouragement de l'Industrie Nationale, l'ingénieur Poincelet met au point un prototype de « mélangeur », dont le principe est bientôt adopté dans toute l'Europe. | trans-quote=In 1811, under the impetus of the Société pour l'Encouragement de l'Industrie Nationale, the engineer Poincelet developed a prototype of a "mélangeur", the principle of which was soon adopted throughout Europe.}} In 1819, François Pelletier powered a grinder and a melanger with a steam engine. This allowed him to produce 76 kilos of chocolate in twelve hours, a quantity which typically required 7 workers at the time.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJxwAwAAQBAJ | title=Tout sur le chocolat | publisher=Odile Jacob | author=Khodorowsky, Katherine | year=2009 | pages=46 | isbn=978-2-7381-9390-2 | quote=Elle permet une production de soixante-seize kilos de chocolat en douze heures, soit autant que le travail de sept ouvriers. | trans-quote=It allows the production of seventy-six kilos of chocolate in twelve hours, which is as much as the work of seven workers.}} In 1826, the melanger was also adopted (and perhaps further developed) by Philippe Suchard in his chocolate factory in Neuchâtel.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2k9DEAAAQBAJ | title=Du cacao au chocolat: L'épopée d'une gourmandise | publisher=Éditions Quæ | author=Barel, Michel | year=2021 | pages=102 | isbn=9782759233793 |quote=En 1826, Philippe Suchard ouvre une chocolaterie à Serrière, près de Neuchâtel, en Suisse. Il met au point une machine à meules pour mélanger le sucre et le cacao. C'est un immense progrès.|trans-quote=In 1826, Philippe Suchard opened a chocolate factory in Serrière, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He develops a millstone machine to mix sugar and cocoa. This is a huge progress.}}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDFrEAAAQBAJ | title=Chocolate: A Cultural Encyclopedia | publisher=ABC-CLIO | author=Collins, Ross F. | year=2022 | pages=114 | isbn=978-1-4408-7608-0 |quote=Philippe Suchard, who in 1826 established an industrial chocolate operation in Switzerland, invented a machine using granite rollers revolving over a slab to break the particles into an ever-finer size until they reached the goal of less than 30 microns.}}
Nowadays melangers tend to be used by small chocolate manufacturers only.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hw8cDgAAQBAJ | title=Making Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to S'more: A Cookbook | publisher=Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | year=2017 | pages=84 | isbn=9780451495365 |quote=Melangers typically have a smaller capacity than other industrial mills, so most large makers don't use them; Hershey did, but abandoned them in the 1950s for larger-capacity ball mills. This was about the same time that the electric motor reached India, where melangers were co-opted for making dosas...}} Melangers can be both used as refiners and conches.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kYV4CgAAQBAJ | title=A Handbook for Sensory and Consumer-Driven New Product Development: Innovative Technologies for the Food and Beverage Industry | publisher=Woodhead Publishing | author=O'Sullivan, Maurice | year=2016 | pages=310 | isbn=978-0-08-100357-2 |quote='Conching' is a very important mixing step in chocolate flavour development. Small-scale conching uses a melangeur or refiner conche...}}
Tabletop wet grinders are smaller versions of the melanger.
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| File:Chocolate grinder at the Barcelona chocolate museum (5061436783).jpg |
