A large vat or container used in the chocolate-making process to refine and smooth chocolate by grinding and heating it.
From Spanish 'concha' meaning shell, named for the shell-shaped pan originally used. Adopted into English during the 19th century as chocolate manufacturing industrialized.
The conche machine was invented in the 1870s and revolutionized chocolate—by grinding cocoa beans for hours in these shell-shaped machines, manufacturers discovered they could make chocolate incredibly smooth and delicious, which is why modern chocolate tastes so different from early homemade versions.
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