Oliver Bennett writes about chocolate, cocoa and the steps that turn a cocoa bean into a bar. His articles cover what a cocoa percentage on a label tells you, how an ingredient changes the texture of a bar, and how one production method differs from another.
He writes for readers who want the detail without the jargon. A term from a spec sheet gets explained the first time it appears, and a number gets its unit and its source.
Facts and technical figures in his articles link to where they came from: a paper, a regulation, an official statistic or a maker’s data sheet. When sources disagree, the article says which ones and how. When a sentence is his own view, it reads as a view. How the site handles sources, ads and corrections is on the About page.
Articles by Oliver Bennett
Chocolate 101
- Guide
How Chocolate Is Made: From Cocoa Bean to Bar
How chocolate is made, step by step: growing, fermenting and drying cocoa on the farm, then roasting, grinding, refining, conching and tempering.
- Chocolate 101
How Long Does Chocolate Last? Shelf Life and Storage
How long dark, milk and white chocolate last, whether old or bloomed chocolate is safe, and how makers set and label a best-before date.
- Chocolate 101
Is Dark Chocolate Healthy? What the Research Says
What trials and regulators say about dark chocolate and health: cocoa flavanols, blood pressure, heart trials, sugar, and cadmium and lead.
- Chocolate 101
Real Chocolate vs Compound Chocolate: What's the Difference?
Real chocolate is made with cocoa butter; compound uses other vegetable fats. What EU, US and Codex rules say, and how to read the label.
- Chocolate 101
Dark, Milk, White, Ruby: The Types of Chocolate Explained
What dark, milk, white and ruby chocolate are made of, what the percentage on the wrapper means, and what EU and US rules say about each.
- Chocolate 101
What Is Chocolate Tempering and Why Does It Matter?
Tempering makes cocoa butter set in one stable crystal form. Learn what that means, why it gives gloss and snap, and when you can skip it.
Taste and culture
- Guide
How to Taste Chocolate Like a Professional
How to taste chocolate step by step: setup, look, snap, smell, melt, flavor and finish, plus words for your notes and how to host a tasting.
- Taste and culture
Chocolate in Turkey: History, Industry and What People Eat
How chocolate reached the Ottoman world, what Turkish food law calls bitter and gianduja, and what the trade data say about cocoa, exports and hazelnuts.
- Taste and culture
Cocoa Origins Compared: Ghana, Ecuador and Madagascar
How Ghana, Ecuador and Madagascar cocoa differ: varieties, trade, ICCO fine flavor status, flavor claims and how to read an origin label.
- Taste and culture
The Panda Score: How We Rate Chocolate
How the Panda Score rates chocolate: five criteria and their weights, rounding, the off-flavor cap, a worked example and the blind tasting protocol.
Make it at home
- Guide
How to Make Chocolate at Home: Where to Start
How to make chocolate at home: the three jobs the phrase can mean, what each needs, a first-project ladder from bark to bonbons, and common fixes.
- Make it at home
Why Did My Chocolate Turn White? Fat Bloom vs Sugar Bloom
Why chocolate turns white or gray, whether bloomed chocolate is safe to eat, and how to tell fat bloom from sugar bloom and prevent both.
- Make it at home
How to Choose Chocolate Molds for Home Use
Polycarbonate, silicone, thin plastic, copolyester or metal: how chocolate molds compare on gloss, release and care, and what the pack has to tell you.
- Make it at home
How to Make Chocolate Bonbons: A Beginner's Guide
How to make molded chocolate bonbons at home: equipment, a two-day plan, shells, ganache filling, capping, release, storage and gifting.
- Make it at home
How to Temper Chocolate at Home: 3 Methods
Temper chocolate at home by seeding, tabling or in the microwave. Steps for each method, how to test temper and how to fix a batch that fails.
Chocolate making, professionally
- Guide
Bean-to-Bar Process: Every Step a Chocolate Maker Controls
A maker's guide to the bean-to-bar process: what to measure and decide at each step, from incoming beans to tempering, shelf life and food safety.
- Chocolate making, professionally
Chocolate Molding: Solid, Shell, One-Shot
How chocolate molding works: solid, shell, cold stamping and one-shot compared, plus mold temperature, release, defects and the BPA rules for molds.
- Chocolate making, professionally
Chocolate Refining: Melangers, Roller Refiners, Ball Mills
How refining sets the particle size and mouthfeel of chocolate, and how melangers, roller refiners and ball mills compare on scale, time and flow.
- Chocolate making, professionally
Cocoa Bean Quality Checks: Moisture, Cut Test, Bean Count
How to check cocoa beans on arrival: moisture limits, the ISO cut test, bean count and size, and why trade grades are not a quality bar for chocolate.
- Chocolate making, professionally
Conching: What It Does to Flavor and Texture
What conching does to chocolate: the dry, plastic and liquid phases, flow, aroma and acids, times and temperatures, and whether you can over-conch.
- Chocolate making, professionally
How Chocolate Drops and Chips Are Made Industrially
How chocolate drops and chips are made: recipe, tempering, piston or rotary forming, belt cooling, and what keeps bake-stable chips in shape.
Chocolate business
- Guide
How to Start a Chocolate Factory: Equipment, Costs and Steps
Planning a chocolate factory: business models, equipment by scale, registration in the EU, US and Turkey, what you pay for, and the cocoa price risk.
- Chocolate business
7 Chocolate Brands That Started in a Kitchen or Garage
Seven chocolate brands that began in a home kitchen, garage or living room: where they started, how they first sold, and the step that let them grow.
- Chocolate business
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Chocolate Business?
What it costs to start a chocolate business: cottage food permits, a couverture shop, a bean-to-bar workshop and a small factory, with dated sources.
- Chocolate business
Chocolate Equipment RFQ Checklist: 17 Questions to Ask
17 questions to put in a request for quotation for chocolate machines: capacity, utilities, dry cleaning, CE and food contact documents, FAT and SAT.
- Chocolate business
Chocolate Factory Regulations: EU, US and Turkey
How a chocolate factory registers in the EU, US and Turkey: FDA rules and the FSMA small-business threshold, HACCP, labeling and CE marking for machines.
- Chocolate business
Chocolate Food Safety for Small Makers: HACCP and Hazards
How small chocolate makers apply HACCP, control Salmonella at the roast and meet EU limits for cadmium and ochratoxin A, with the data behind each.
- Chocolate business
Chocolate Labeling Rules: US, EU and the Gulf
What a chocolate label must say in the EU, US and the Gulf: legal names, cocoa solids, allergens, Arabic text, two dates and packaging material rules.
- Chocolate business
Chocolate Production Capacity: How to Size Your Line in kg/h
Turn a sales target into the kg/h your slowest machine must be rated at, after cleaning, changeovers, warm-up, losses and OEE. With a calculator.
- Chocolate business
Chocolate Production Line: Machines You Need, in Order
The machines in a chocolate production line in process order: what each one does, how the line changes by product, and what to ask vendors in an RFQ.
- Chocolate business
Why Cocoa Prices Rose, and What Makers Do
Why cocoa prices quadrupled by 2025 and fell in 2026, how the swing reached couverture and shelf prices, and how small chocolate makers can budget for it.
- Chocolate business
From Kitchen to Factory: Scaling Up Chocolate Making
When home chocolate making has to move: cottage food limits, registering a home business, and what a shared kitchen, co-packer or own workshop changes.
- Chocolate business
Tempering Machines: Batch vs Continuous, How to Choose
How bowl, wheel, screw-tank and column tempering machines make crystals, what tank kg and kg per hour mean, how temper is measured, and what to ask.