I would like to have the water activity , or the AW, of my chocolate products tested. Do you know where I can find a lab that does this? I live in Wisconsin so anywhere in the Midwest would be good.
Thanks!
Daniel
Good point about asking people who don't buy from me. I must be doing something right because the large part of my clientele order again and again.
Piped ganache is my thing , indeed, and I am good at it and I love doing it, 'nuf said I guess! Passion sells.
I ask here because I know you are in the same business and I value opinion from professionals.
If I can offer my two bits...
For fun, and maybe something "exclusive" to offer your customers do what you're passionate about.
For business, don't bother asking people on this forum what you should do. They/we aren't your customers. ...And don't ask your customerseither. Theyalready like your product. Poll people in your area who don't buy from you what you should do. After all, they are the ones who should be paying your rent but aren't.
I would do what you are passionate about. If pipedganache is your thing and you are good at it go for it. People love to support someone who is passionate about their craft. Many chocolatiers in the usa do use color. There are a few who don't use color and are quite successful because their chocolate is excellent. I especially admire Lionel Clement of Nuubia Chocolate.
I recommend keeping them 10 days tops but I've tasted some after two weeks and they are fine... yeah I was looking at natural coloured cocoa butter... Thanks for the response, I'm going to have a look at what you are doing.
You can buy natural colored cocoa butter. I do both molded and enrobed pieces. With whipped ganache, don't you have a short shelf life?
I moved to the USA a year ago and started my business selling what I consider to be "european style" chocolates. I learned early in my career to pipe whipped ganache for dipping and I've kind of stuck to that technique and being in the USA discovered that it's a method not commonly used ( from what I've been able to find online at least) . From that perspective I assumed I would have something novel on offer. My experience here is showing me that the trend toward molded and colored products is what sells. I've considered changing my technique but not sure if that's wise seeing as I have a name for "no artificial colors" and purely molded bonbons are a little too old-school in my opinion. Is a divided assortment too sloppy? Some molded and some enrobed? Or do you think it should be one or the other? Curious what you all think...
Sorry but the description is pretty clear in the very first line: Brazil Dark Dipping Chocolate (in the chocolate industry also known as Melting Chocolate or Confectioner's Coating) 25 lbs.
I see nothing misleading there.
Hello Justin,
Thank you very much for these details.
However, I cannot see on your product presentation page at http://www.santabarbarachocolate.com/wholesale-bulk-chocolate-brazil-dark-dipping-chocolate-melting-chocolate-25lb-p-186.html?osCsid=3191015b776c997a1fedb96b0dda4df4
the word " compound" and nowhere does it say that this product contains something that is not chocolate like palm butter . Furthermore confusing to me, it says that it is like couverture but only does not require tempering - "Santa Barbara Chocolate's Dark Dipping Chocolate works just like a couverture chocolate but the only difference is that it doesn't require tempering."
You are right, Palm butter is not evil, Brazialin cacao may be of high quality and of course there is a market for this product, considering its non-tempering characteristics and its price/quality ratio.
If we agree on this, why not clearly describe every ingredients in your product. Most chocolate bars detail what they are made of, including that they've been made on machines that sometimes handle nuts. I am not the only one to beleive that the only way to build trust is through full disclosure.
Sincerely,
Alek
Hi Alek,
My name is Justin and I work at Santa Barbara Chocolate Company, and we clearly state that this is a compound coating in our write-up, also known as confectioner's coating. In no way have we omitted the truth or tried to be dishonest. There is a definite need for this type of product in manufacturing and we do our very best to satisfy our customers and we hope to gain you as a happy customer.
The Santa Barbara Chocolate product known as Brazilian Dipping Chocolate is not a cocoa butter based couverture chocolate. It is technically known as confectioner's coating. We make it using cocoa powder produced in Brazil from 100% top quality Manuas cacao. The cocoa butter has been replaced with palm butter. The palm butter is not hydrogenated and there are no artificial ingredients in our recipe. We made it to be as natural and as close as possible to our real chocolate cocoa butter couvertures (there are many pure chocolates to choose from on our site). We offer the Brazilian Dipping Chocolate as a convenient alternative for pastry chefs and confectioner's who are looking for a great tasting chocolate alternative that does not require tempering.
Sincerely,
Justin
Hi Alek,
My name is Justin and I work at Santa Barbara Chocolate Company, and we clearly state that this is a compound coating in our write-up, also known as confectioner's coating. In no way have we omitted the truth or tried to be dishonest. There is a definite need for this type of product in manufacturing and we do our very best to satisfy our customers and we hope to gain you as a happy customer.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Justin
http://www.santabarbarachocolate.com/wholesale-bulk-chocolate-brazil-dark-dipping-chocolate-melting-chocolate-25lb-p-186.html
Hi Alek,
My name is Justin and I work at Santa Barbara Chocolate. Pleasure to meet you.
The Santa Barbara Chocolate product known as Brazilian Dipping Chocolate is not a cocoa butter based couverture chocolate. It is technically known as confectioner's coating. We make it using cocoa powder produced in Brazil from 100% top quality Manuas cacao. The cocoa butter has been replaced with palm butter. The palm butter is not hydrogenated and there are no artificial ingredients in our recipe. We made it to be as natural and as close as possible to our real chocolate cocoa butter couvertures (there are many pure chocolates to choose from on our site). We offer the Brazilian Dipping Chocolate as a convenient alternative for pastry chefs and confectioner's who are looking for a great tasting chocolate alternative that does not require tempering.
Sincerely,
Justin
Thank you very much Sebastian and Larry. I understand very well.
So, this is closer to lying that advertising since they do not mention "compound" or the fact that this is not a 100% cacao product. At $139 for 25 Pounds I should have guested something was wrong compared to Valrhona or Tcho's prices. I did not know Santa Barbara chocolates at all before I stumbled on this ad. I will not buy from a company that "omits" to describe the truth about their product.
Thanks again for the explaination
The difference between "Chocolate" and "Compound Coating" is the fat used. Chocolate is made with Cocoa Butter which is why it must be tempered. - to get the proper crystal form of the cocoa butter.
Some other fats i.e. coconut oil are easier to work with in that tempering is not needed, but you give up some flavor and satisfaction.
from countrykitchenusa.com
The main difference between chocolate candy coating and real chocolate is the oil based used. Candy coating has palm kernel oil or other fats while real chocolate has a cocoa butter base. Real chocolate is a bit more expensive and more difficult to work with than candy coating, but nothing beats the flavor. Good quality candy coating is easy to use, delicious in taste and is an excellent alternative to real chocolate. Beginners will enjoy the ease of working with candy coating while advanced candy makers may want to tray working with real chocolate. Real chocolate must be tempered when dipping or molding. That means it needs to be a certain temperature (generally 86-89 degrees) when working with it, or your chocolates will not come out as desired. Candy coating is available in milk, dark or white flavored chocolate as well as a variety of colors. It is easy to use. Candy coating does not have to be tempered. Simply melt and it is ready to use.
Candy coating is sometimes called almond bark, summer coating, Candy Kote wafers or Candy Melts. Chocolate-flavored candy coating is much easier than real chocolate to use, and the results are more likely to be successful for the novice. Candy coating is available in milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white, peanut butter, butterscotch, mint, and a variety of colors. Candy coating is also available in tubes called candy writers. Candy writers are ideal for detailing on finished candy pieces or painting details in candy molds. You may also add an oil-based food color to achieve colors not commercially available. High quality candy coating is delicious; high quality real chocolate is superb. Real chocolate is available in milk, dark or white. All real chocolate contains cocoa butter.
Information and image taken with permission from Autumn Carpenter's Book, All About Candy Making. All rights reserved.
It's a compound coating, it's not chocolate.
Hello,
Santa Barbara Chocolate sells Brazilian and other origin chocolates and claims it does not need to be tempered. What process or ingredient can acheive that?
What are the draw back?
Although I occassionally fail the tempering process, I do find it that complex.
Thank you.
http://www.santabarbarachocolate.com/wholesale-bulk-chocolate-brazil-dark-dipping-chocolate-melting-chocolate-25lb-p-186.html?osCsid=3191015b776c997a1fedb96b0dda4df4
Thanks Brad. Very helpful! i live in Pennsylvania where wine is sold in State Stores and the staff is not very knowledgeable. Delaware (neighboring state) does have Wine stores with very knowledgeable staff. I'll take a ride to Wilmington and talk to them about the pairings. Thanks again for the help. John
John, that was a tough one for me because I don't drink.
What I did was poll a series of local wine merchants who were willing to work with my company, and then sit down for a couple of hours with their sommeliers, various beverages, and my various chocolate bars and figure out what works and what doesn't.
The wine merchant who seemed most amenable to working with me got my business, and their referral information on our "official" Choklat wine pairing list that I posted on my website.
I hope that helps.
As always, thanks for the great advice, Brad. I always find your posts most useful. Knowing a fair amount about chocolate but very little about wine, how did you initially determine the pairings? Do you know of any short video clips that could be shown during the party that help explain the relationship between the wine / chocolate? Also, are there any regulatory concerns about serving wine to paying participants (I'm in the US)? Thanks again, John
I started the events about 6 months after I opened my doors. I used an existing email list of clients for the first few, and also dedicated one event per month to a local charity whereby I would give the charity tickets to a single event. They would sell the tickets, keep the proceeds from the ticket sales, and I would host the event. Usually those events proved very fruitful, as the attendees were appreciative of my company's donation, and they would make signifiant purchases at the end of the evening.
The events are a huge win/win. The organization gets funds. The donor has an entertaining and unique evening, and Choklat gets new customers and great good will in the community.
Krista;
I have a fabulous marketing plan in place whereby people pay $50 per person to attend a tour and wine pairing at my shop. They are a captive audience for at least two hours, and the events themselves have become so popular, that my staff now host them 4 evenings a week, and they are sold out until the end of April. Each event hosts 10 people.
With this program in place I have had to spend ZERO on marketing in the past 5 years, and now have 2 corporate stores doing great, as well as a new dealership (like a franchise)in another city.
One word of advice: DO NOT SPEND A SINGLE DIME ON ANY TYPE OF ADVERTISING/MARKETING WHERE THE RESULTS CANNOT BE QUANTIFIABLY MEASURED!!!
Cheers
Brad
I would get the Delta or the x3210 and if I can get it at the price that Paul John Kearins did.
If they are priced evenly, then which one to pic?
I think someone on one of the forums made their own holey baffle for one of the smaller machines by just drilling some holes in one of the regular baffles.
I got mine a couple years ago for about $1800 including extra bowl and the holey baffle. Clay here at the Chocolate Life offers some discounts on some of the Chocovision machines.
No, a larger bowl would not fit into the machine. One can purchase extra bowls (which I have done) from Chocovision, but they are just for convenience, not for quantity. The "holey" baffle gives the larger machine more effective capacity, but although I read that Chocovision was developing such a baffle for the Rev 2, that never came to be. So to get more capacity, the user can either (1) heat more chocolate separately and pour a little of it into the tempered batch--but I found it a nuisance to try to estimate how much was not too much to add or (2) heat more chocolate separately to the start point for tempering (113 F. for the dark I use), use what is tempered in the machine until the level is low, then turn the machine off and back on to start the melt cycle again, and add the extra melted chocolate to fill the bowl-it sounds ridiculous, but since the extra chocolate is quite warm, the Chocovision goes into the temper cycle right away. Obviously a larger machine would be great, but I just don't do batches large enough to make good use of it.
Is there a larger bowl that can be purchased separately for the smaller $500 range temperers like one can do for the larger ones?
Priceless advice, thank you! . . . although I look on their site just now and the price is $2099:(
How long ago did you get yours?
Having experience with the smaller Chocovision Rev 2, I can say that having the chocolate stirred and kept at a certain temp automatically is a great convenience. Of course, it is necessary to adjust the temp as time goes on; otherwise the chocolate just keeps getting thicker. The reason I have been considering the purchase of a melter, however, is the big disadvantage of any machine with a round bowl: it is almost impossible to empty the contents of a mold back into the tempering machine without making a serious mess. I am forced to empty molds onto parchment--which also causes a mess and takes counter space. I saw a video of someone dumping molds into a Delta or an X3210, and the machine was just about covered in chocolate. If only someone could invent a reasonably priced melter with an agitator of some sort....
What Ben said... I have a Revolation X3210 which is almost indistinguishable from the more expensive Delta... I got mine, brand new, from Sarah's Sweet Fountains for a very reasonable $1,585 . It works great .
Yep, with just melter, you're going to have to keep stirring it manually. One of the Chocovisions would do that for you, as well as temper the chocolate, too.
The Delta was my first pic, but then I thought about just having a melter that would keep it at specific temperature, the issue would be that I still would have to agitate the chocolate with the melter I am guessing? It would defeat the purpose if that is the case. Currently I can get the chocolate to 88f and keep it in temp. then do what I need to do fine, but I am tired of the stirring and the time it takes, with pouring into molds I can keep stirring while doing it, but with truffles and enrobing it gets too messy.
At that size, you probably want to take a look at a Chocovision X3210 or Delta with a holey baffle. With the holey baffle, you can do up to 17 lbs.
Hello,
I am curious about opinions when it comes to temperers/melters.
My need is melting/agitating to a specific temperature and then keep it there until/during molding/enrobing.
A melter not agitating the chocolate will make it set unwillingly no? I am trying to get something that will relieve me from stirring my tempered chocolate while I am molding/enrobing. the size for each batch would be under 12lb.
Thank you.
Hi Ben, thank you so much for the information. I will read 'em all 
Hi Miguel. There's several discussions here on the Chocolate Life that may be of help to you. Here are a couple of them:
http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/selling-at-farmers-markets-in
http://www.thechocolatelife.com/group/startupcentral/forum/topics/chocolate-in-the-summertime
http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/outdoor-market
Try searching for 'summer market' or 'outdoor market' or similar.
Hope this helps!
-Ben
Hello, at the beggining of January I stated my interest in creating chocolate at home, I was given a lot of information and advice from some great members in this website. I've been able to make some improvements to the point that I can make acceptable chocolate and people likes it.
I will be participating in a small fair for Valentine's day, however I'm really concerned about the chocolate temperature and preventing it melts, because the fair is outdoors.
Do you guys know of any cheap, effective way to keep chocolate cool without causing too much humidity?
