Callebaut C823 is a Belgian milk chocolate couverture with 31.7% cocoa, here as a solid 11 pound block for shops that chop and melt by the batch. It is the low fluidity cousin of the 823 recipe, made for ganache, molding, and flavoring work where a thicker melt is an advantage.

The taste is round and balanced: roasted cocoa, a creamy milk sweetness, and a classic caramel note that rounds off the finish, all in the same deep, warm color as its sibling. Melted, it moves slowly and sits heavy on the spatula, which is exactly what you want when filling a mold for a medium to large hollow figure, since the thicker coat builds a sturdier shell in fewer passes. That same body gives ganache a dense, fudgy set and lets piped decorations hold a crisp edge. It also folds cleanly into mousses, ice cream bases, and batters as a flavoring chocolate, and the block shaves into curls and shards for finishing.

Callebaut 823 Milk Chocolate Block (33.6%) is the same flavor in a more fluid melt that enrobes thinner and sets faster.