Thanks, Carol....

You probably don't need to provide nutrition info if you meet the small business exemption criteria (although, most consumers and stores prefer that all products provide it). See here:

http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/FoodLabelingGuidanceRegulatoryInformation/SmallBusinessNutritionLabelingExemption/default.htm

"One exemption, for low-volume products, applies if the person claiming the exemption employs fewer than an average of 100 full-time equivalent employees and fewer than 100,000 units of that product are sold in the United States in a 12-month period. To qualify for this exemption the person must file a notice annually with FDA. Note that low volume products that bear nutrition claims do not qualify for an exemption of this type. "

You can file for the exemption online.

Also, if you ever plan to package the individual chocolates not mixed, then it is good to have the nutrition info done for each separate variety (which you would need to do if you package them mixed anyway... to get the composite value you'll need the individual values).

Many thanks... just wanted to be sure I was interpreting it correctly.

Happy Thanksgiving, Jeff!

Gobble Gobble...

Your are permitted to have a label that reflects a composite value of the products inside for a mixed box. You can check out the guidelines here

http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/FoodLabelingNutrition/FoodLabelingGuide/default.htm

Remember, these are not law but regulations, but it's best to try and follow as closely as possible.

Here's the key paragraph

Products with Separately Packaged Ingredients/Assortments of Foods/Gift Packages ( 21 CFR 101.9(h) )

P1. Can the Nutrition Facts label on a box containing dry noodles and a seasoning packet list the nutrients in the noodles separately from the seasoning packet? If so, must a column be included that gives the total nutrients for the noodles and the seasoning packet?

Answer: Section 101.9(h)(1) provides the option of listing nutrition information per serving for each component or as a composite value. The decision is up to the manufacturer. A column of total values is not required.

P2. What are the labeling options for products packed in an assortment that are intended to be eaten at the same time? Can the nutrient analysis for a product containing a mixture of nuts or different types of dried fruit be based on a composite of the mixture blended together?

Answer: Section 101.9(h)(1) allows the nutrition information for assortments of the same type of food (e.g., mixed nuts or mixed fruits) that are intended to be consumed at the same time to be specified for each component or as a composite value. Therefore, if it is reasonable to assume that a consumer would eat an assortment of the nuts or fruits offered, a single composite analysis may be used to determine the nutrient composition.

Anybody have any ideas as to how to create a label for assorted chocolates or truffles?

Makes sense to me - that way they'll all have the same tension. Do it do it - no.

I know, I must have too much time on my hands, but I was wondering if anyone "tunes" their guitar. It makes sense that the wires are the same size, and the same length. Shouldn't they play the same note? I figure that it must let you know that the tension is the same, correct? I haven't tightened the wires on my most used frame for a long time, so I tightened it up today. I tried to get about the same note. Am I crazy?

hi,

we need to grind something between 20 and 80kg at time.

Is Hammer mill a manufacturer?

Thanks a lot!!!

Nino

what amount of sugar are you looking to grind? hammer mills are fast and grind sugar well.

Hi Everyone,

we buy organic sugar for our bean to bar chocolate.

I would like to reduce the time of grinding by pre-grinding the sugar before it goes into our conching machine.

anyone has any idea? is there a mid size machine out there i could look into it or anything i could build by my self? (meaning locally...i am not mac gyver!)

Thank a lot!

Nino

I've had (and made) ganache both with tempered and untempered chocolate. Personally, I prefer untempered chocolate in myganache plus since I temper by hand it saves me a good bit of time when making ganache. Have you considered not tempering your chocolate for your ganaches?

Personally I find the easiest way to temper ganache is to let your cream cool down to approximately 30-35C and pour it all at once onto the molten tempered chocolate. Then thoroughly mix it until you have a smooth emulsion. Since the temperature never gets high enough to take the cacao butter crystals out of temper you will end with tempered ganache.

Having read numerous books and threads on the topic it seems that the consensus when making a ganache is to temper it on a marble slab as a final stage before moulding/dipping. In an effort to speed up the process (and because the slab I use is just too small to be useful) I thought I'd just add 1% Mycryo cocoa butter to the ganache as you might do when tempering just chocolate. It firmed up nice enough but I don't know if it has the same effect as slabbing the ganache in terms of improving texture and shelf life. Has anyone else tried this? Does it do the same job?

Thanks.

Nick.

Hey Edward,

You can avoid "Bleeding" by thickening the chocolate you are brushing especially over the edges and at the borders between two different colours. (it happens with small moulds as well) I would also thicken the layer of white chocolate just to make sure santa's beard is fully white.

Cool stache by the way Movembering are we?

Good Job!

In getting ready for christmas, I've got plenty of smaller figures "in storage" for the time being, but now I need a few "super Santas" for display. Here's the mold, a two piecer, from Belgium. The marks on the rule are in inches, 20 inches is around 42 cm.

First, all of the white coloured features are done--beard, fur trim, pupils. Using an artist's brush for this is ridiculous, waaay too much real estate to cover, I use a cornet.

Next come the dark coloured features--toy sack, eyes, and boots. This means of course that the body will be milk chocolate.

The one and only coloured feature, red mittens. This is almost a must in the city I live in, Vancouver. Red mittens were the trademark of the 2010 winter olympics held here.... This was brushed on in several layers. I always buy my colours--primary colours only--in the powder form and mix my own with cocoa butter. Far cheaper this way....

It does look kind of ugly right now, doesn't it? I've brushed on a layer of milk chocolate over most of the mold. For this I use a silicone brush, found with the BBQ gadgets in the kitchen stores. Best brush for this purpose-- I never loose any hair/bristles and it is easy to clean--just let the chocolate harden and pull it off!

Here we are ready for filling. The mold never came with any clips, and the mold has a heavy rim/frame around it so clips wouldn't work anyway. Last year I used woodworker's "C" clamps (or cramps if you're British...) to hold the mold closed. It was awkward and I was always afraid I'd crack the mold if I applied too much pressure on the clamp.

What I found works best is packing tape. You can get some decent tension on it and really clamp the mold tight.

Now I have to work quick, chocolate shrinks as it dries. What happens with large molds is that I get "bleeding" with two colours. Say for example the the toy sack which is dark, if I'm not careful I'll get milk chocolate creeping in between the mold surface and the dark chocolate feature when I ladle the milk in.

Ladleing in. I usually do two coats, with the final weight around 3.5 kgs. This is sufficient enough for a figure to withstand heavy shaking and transport, and light enough to make the figure affordable.

Here's the final Santa. If you look at the boots, you'll see what I mean about the two colours "bleeding" under the mold.

This figure has a very large stomach and toy-sack, but with small feet, making it very top-heavy and tippy. After casting and cooling, I usually sit the mold on a thick puddle of couverture to give it a heavy "sole" for it's boots and to add a little weight to the bottom. In any case the figure will be packed in a sturdy box and cellophaned up. It can't tip over in the box.

Thanks for looking, and don't work too hard this christmas

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http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3VPHY3V

Thank you guys!

To Beth and Omar,

I've finally solved this problem simply by not using tempered chocolate for capping the molds.

Isn't it great when a solution is SIMPLE?

my pleasure. let me know how it goes

Thank you for your suggestions, Omar! I will try tinkering with the proportions a bit. I don't think the shell thickness is the issue because I don't have the leakage problem with other kinds of ganache. Possibly my cream here in Thailand has more water and less butterfat than the cream used in other countries, which would account for the difference in ganache behavior.

Thank you for your suggestions, Beth! I always allow my ganache-filled molds to crystallize overnight, so perhaps changing the proportion of cream/lime juice to the other ingredients will do the trick

I would either reduce the percentage of cream or increase chocolate in my ganache. Sounds like you need a firmer filling. Also I would make a thiker chocolate shell to prevent the cream from escaping.

I have two ganache formulas that consistently leak out of the caps when I use them for shell molded pralines. One contains amaretto and the other is a lime/honey/ginger ganache. Both are delicious and I'd like to use them in my products, but no matter what I do, they leak. Since I don't have this problem with other shell molded pralines, I'm assuming that this is a problem with the ganache itself and not with my molding technique. Any suggestions?

It is well known that all chocolatiers factories needs roasted nuts. Some of them using their own traditionals roasters which roast with salt and somt of them buy from suppliers. Some how they buy roasted nuts, more roasted or less roasted beucase it seems it not matter for chocolatiers. As Sevval nuts Roasting and Drying system we supplied many miniroaster which gives you constant same level of roasting. Mini roaster has PLC screen and when you set parameters like speed of belt and temp. for each nuts. Also you can save your receipt for each target final nuts. Because being belt roaster there will be no strach or broken while you are roasting.

It is great soluiton for , Labaratories of the factories, Choc olatiers, Brands for promotional activities and SHOPS & Supermarkets

Mini Easyroast Concept in Use

www.sevvalmakine.com

Here is a link to the article

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/travel/a-chocolate-tour-of-the-caribbean.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

That looks awesome. The hotel has a menu where every dish includes chocolate.

In Friday's New York Times travel section there was an interesting article about chocolate tours in Trinidad, Tobago, Saint Lucia and Martinique. It is worth the read.

I had a sample from Cacao Atlanta .... no vanilla but very grainy .

Brad,

Quick question: Any special reason you needed a separate refiner for white chocolate?

Do you find that once you use a refiner for white/milk chocolate it leaves notable traces when doing dark batches?

Felipe

The Askinosie Davao white chocolate bar has no vanilla. But I don't know if it's available in professional weights such as multi-kilo bars. Then again they're not a huge outfit, so if you need enough they would probably hook you up.

O really shoot. Thanks for the correction.

Thanks Lana !

I made it a lot in the past and with Callebaut HW2 and it was good but reminded me of rhubarb and custard ... i don't use Cream , just fruit puree and i want unadulterated Tartness. I've recently acquired abottle of rhubarb bitters which i'm eager to try out

Yea! Hope its useful. Let me know how the rhubarb ganache goes. It sounds tasty.

Thanks for this Duncan! Much appreciated

sounds Great! yeah I was looking at making my own too but that's a lot of expense.

Mine's a Rhubarb Ganache BTW

Good luck with that. Other than getting someone on here to make it for you (such as good 'ol Cheebs), you won't find it. Several of my recipes need a white chocolate with no vanilla, and I couldn't find any, so I ended up breaking down an buying a refiner specifically to make my own.

Now that I can make my own white chocolate with or without vanilla, that REALLY sets our confections apart from our peers. No local chocolatier can do a Pomegranate white chocolate center like we can!

Cheers.

Brad

I can make you a 7-lb batch if you want. Send me a private message if you're interested.