Amillo Chocolate

During COVID-19 in 2020, boredom hit hard with only a few hours of online schooling each day. To keep myself busy, I took up various projects. Since grocery store trips were limited, I started recreating foods at home. From MAMA noodles to McDonald's burgers, I was constantly cooking and experimenting.

One day, I stumbled upon a YouTube video about making chocolate. I thought, "How hard could it be to make chocolate myself?" So, I decided to give it a try. I ordered Bali cocoa beans online, roasted them, and blended them into a thick chocolate bar. But it turned out really bitter and super hard. Back to square one.

This time, I used organic cocoa butter, milk powder, and sugar. I mixed them in a dosa grinder for a couple of hours, which created a silky smooth chocolate paste with no clumps and a really good taste. However, there was still one problem: the chocolate melted quickly and never hardened properly.

To fix this, I learned how to temper chocolate. After trying many methods, I settled on using a double boiler method with a metal pot. I then poured the tempered chocolate into a chocolate bar mold. Finally, the chocolate was done!

The last step was packaging. I taught myself how to use Adobe Illustrator to design my chocolate wrapper. After experimenting with different prototypes, I finally created a design I liked which my mom then helped to get it printed and cut to size.

In the end, I was thrilled to have successfully created a chocolate bar from scratch till the packaging stage. This project not only kept me occupied during the lockdown but also gave me a delicious and satisfying result.