Question: What is the consistency of the chocolate before conching?
About the article "Chocolate", section "Conching".

Candidate passages:
The penultimate process is called "conching".
A conche is a container filled with metal beads, which act as grinders.
The refined and blended chocolate mass is kept in a liquid state by frictional heat.
Chocolate prior to conching has an uneven and gritty texture.
The conching process produces cocoa and sugar particles smaller than the tongue can detect, hence the smooth feel in the mouth.
The length of the conching process determines the final smoothness and quality of the chocolate.
High-quality chocolate is conched for about 72 hours, lesser grades about four to six hours.
After the process is complete, the chocolate mass is stored in tanks heated to approximately until final processing.
Lindt was born in Bern to pharmacist and politician Johann Rudolf Lindt and his wife Armalia Eugenia Salchli.
From 1873 to 1875 he had a training job in Lausanne with the "Amédée Kohler & fils" chocolate company.
In 1879 he founded his own chocolate factory in the Mattequartier on the Aare in Bern.
In December 1879 he succeeded in improving the then moderate quality of chocolate by the development of the conching machine, a lengthwise stirring device which gives a finer consistency and lets undesired aromas evaporate.
He was also the first to add cocoa butter to the chocolate mass.
These two innovations contributed greatly to the high quality of Swiss chocolate.
In 1899 Lindt sold his factory and the secret of conching to the "Chocolat Sprüngli AG", who have traded as "Lindt & Sprüngli AG" since.
Sprüngli paid 1.5 million Gold francs for the marketing rights and the recipe.
Lindt himself led the Bern branch of Lindt & Sprüngli until 1905, four years before his death. 
A conche is a surface scraping mixer and agitator that evenly distributes cocoa butter within chocolate, and may act as a 'polisher' of the particles.
It also promotes flavor development through frictional heat and release of volatiles and acids, and oxidation.
There are numerous designs of conches, and food scientists are still studying precisely what happens during conching and why.
The name arises from the shape of the vessels initially used, which resembled conch shells.
When ingredients are mixed in this way, sometimes for up to 78 hours, chocolate can be produced with a mild, rich taste.
Lower quality chocolate is conched for as little as six hours.
Since the process is so important to the final texture and flavor of chocolate, manufacturers keep the details of their conching process proprietary.
In 1879, Rodolphe Lindt invented the "conche" in Berne, Switzerland.
It produced chocolate with superior aroma and melting characteristics compared to other processes used at that time.
Legend has it that Lindt mistakenly left a mixer containing chocolate running overnight.
Though he was initially distraught at the waste of energy and machine wear and tear, he quickly realized he had made a major breakthrough.
Before conching was invented, solid chocolate was gritty and not very popular.
Lindt's invention rapidly changed chocolate from being mainly a drink, to bars and other confections.
Lindt's original conche consisted of a granite roller and granite trough; such a configuration is now called a "long conche" and can take a day or more to process a tonne of chocolate.
The ends of the trough were shaped to allow the chocolate to be thrown back over the roller at the end of each stroke, increasing the surface area exposed to air.
A modern rotary conche can process 3 to 10 tonnes of chocolate in less than 12 hours.
Modern conches have cooled jacketed vessels containing long mixer shafts with radial arms, that press the chocolate against vessel sides.
A single machine can carry out all the steps of grinding, mixing and conching required for small batches of chocolate. 
Rodolphe Lindt, actually Rudolf Lindt, (July 16, 1855–February 20, 1909) was a Swiss chocolate manufacturer and inventor.
He founded the Lindt chocolate factory and invented the conching machine and other processes to improve the quality of chocolate. 
Mindo Chocolate Makers use Ecuadorian Nacional variety cacao beans for the production of their chocolate.
The beans are grown by a small cooperative of cacao farmers near Mindo, Ecuador.
All of the plants are grown in small lots, hand harvested, and fermented.
The beans are dried, roasted, and winnowed in Ecuador then sent to the chocolate making studio in Dexter, Michigan.
The chocolate is hand-crafted in small batches throughout the conching, tempering, and moulding process.