Thanks very much for the advice guys, I'll definitely take everything you've said on board and learn from it!!
As Scott said:
practice practice practice! save the money and time of "ecole chocolat" you better buy 1 professional book at time and learn!
If you can buy one of those melanger from cocoatown and a bag of beans, try to understand cocoa beans and chocolate.
This forum as well is very helpful!!
As chef you should be already aware of food costing and recipe calculation, that should be an advantage.
Keep working in a kitchen (to make money..) and start as hobby till you have a budget and feasiblebusiness plan.
Buy small tools first (few spatulas, bowls, policarbonate molds) and use a double boiler to melt your first batches of chocolate to temper.
Careful, cause specialized tools and tempering machine of any sort can cost a lot, but practically you can start with few $100...
plan your self 1 or maybe 2 years before you go solo...
h of corse i forgot.. you need a lot of passion! chocolate makes you first happy and maybe later rich... is a lot of small money, but it is worth it every time someone bites into one of your creation and they smile!
Best of luck and keep posted, there are a lot of "friends" here to help!!
If you are on a tight budget, start with making chocolates as a hobby. Develop your skills with chocolate and sample them out to friends and family. When you start to get several dozens of replies like "You should sell these" and getting several personal orders, then you could consider a small side business similar to your wife's preserve business. Should you quit your day job and become a full time chocolatier tomorrow with no developed skills? - the answer is definitely not. Just as you developed skill as a chef, the same effort is required for professional level chocolate work.
Peter Grewelings book is excellent, but there is no such thing as too many books. There are many specialty books on chocolate and confections available. Research and buy what interests you at the time. The key to books is you actually have to use them. Don't be a collector of chocolate books, be a user of chocolate books. Collecting is easy, using them takes a lot of work.
Be willing to "unlearn" what you've learned incorrectly. No one book has "ALL" the answers. Authors of books write with certain assumptions about what you may or may not already know. There are certain details about recipes that are assumed and would be too laborious in detail to specify. This is why having many books for reference is necessary. If you are having a problem with a certain recipe, you need to be able to cross reference with other books in order to find out what you are doing wrong.
Find someone who can be critical of your results. Hopefully your wife has good taste buds and can tell you if something is good or it needs more work. Having someone keep you in line and tell you whether or not something is good is critical. Self teachers tend to be a little too easy on themselves, when they need to be corrected.
If you are going to self teach yourself chocolates and confections (as with any major subject), it will be a long road, will take much effort, there will be significant struggle, but in the end it will all be worth it.
Good luck.
hey Jacob,
I recommend ecole chocolat's online course. Very useful in depth info and will for sure help you start up your business.
Hi guys,
My name's Jacob and I'm from a town called Pontypridd, in Wales UK. I'm a chef by trade but have always had a passion for chocolate and confectionery like hard candies and jellies. I've decided that, after helping my wife setup a business making chutneys and preserves, I want to set up my own venture making chocolates and confectionery. So I've bought a book called "Chocolates and Confections" By Peter Greweling to try and teach myself to make chocolates as I'm on a tight budget.
My question is am I going to get enough of a grounding in producing chocolates to start a small chocolate business just by learning what is being taught in that book or are there other books I need to learn from beforeI even consider starting a chocolate business?
Is it even possible to start a chocolate business being self taught?
PS I have looked at chocolate courses in the UK, but they are expensive residential courses.
Thanks in advance for reading!
Jacob
Thanks for including the Philippines in your 2011 best chocolate you have tasted. The confidence youve given us is PRICELESS!
See the attachment for a list of the 101 bars that I reviewed in 2011. I taste them all, so there were some that I didn't enjoy very much (to put it politely).
Hi Vera and everyone,
I agree with Geert that it's not really possible to talk about "best" so I prefer to only talk about "favorite" instead. Here are some of my favorites from 2011:
| Company | Name | Percent | Class Rating | Overall Rating |
| Fresco | 212 Dominican Republic | 72 | 9.7 | 9.7 |
| Fresco | 210 Jamaica | 70 | 9.5 | 9.5 |
| Mast Brothers | Brooklyn Blend 2010 | 74 | 9.4 | 9.4 |
| Rogue | Rio Caribe 2011 | 70 | 9.3 | 9.3 |
| Pralus | Vanuatu | 75 | 9.2 | 9.2 |
| Christophe Morel | Fortunato no.4 2011 | 68 | 10 | 9.1 |
| Duffy's | Corazon del Ecuador | 72 | 9.1 | 9 |
| Friis Holm | Johe 2011 | 70 | 9.1 | 9 |
| Mast Brothers | Chuao 81% | 81 | 10 | 8 |
| Vosges | Peppermint Candy Cane 2010 | 62 | 10 | 8 |
| Moonstruck | Fortunato no.4, 2010 | 68 | 9.2 | 8 |
| Askinosie | Tenende 2010 | 72 | 9 | 8 |
| Askinosie | Cortes 2010 | 70 | 8 | 8 |
| Duffy's | Honduras Indio Rojo | 72 | 8 | 8 |
| Fresco | 213 Dominican Republic | 72 | 8 | 8 |
| Mast Brothers | Chuao 76% | 76 | 8 | 8 |
| Madecasse | 80% | 80 | 9.5 | 7 |
If I had to choose my favorite companies of 2011 they would be Fresco and Rogue. I'd like to have more Christophe Morel and Duffy's, but they are hard for me to get. Askinosie is one of the most consistently enjoyable companies for me too. Mast Brothers also has 3 bars on this list.
Hi Geert and Tom, Thank you so much for sharing. I love both your stories. Chocolove, Vera
Hi Vera,
best chocolate bars, this is quite difficult because the time, meaning and mood are important to taste. This is likelisten to music: in the morning I like Baroque & The Classical period music (such as Bach, Mozart...), in the afternoon I like more the Classical era/Romantic transition (such asSchubert, Beethoven...) and the evening Classical Romantics may do good to me (such as Schumann, List, Chopin...).
So as you see Vera this on mood and time and of course there is taste, if I taste dark, milk or even white chocolate thise is a different sensation and approach of each and may lead us far form your demand of what is the best chocolate you tasted this year?
I can you just say my Bach, Mozart was Felchlins Centenario Crudo 70%, Pacari Raw 70%.
My Schubert, Beethoven was: Grenada Chocolate Company 71%, Original Beans Cru Virunga.
My Schumann, List, Chopin was: Tobago Estate 70%, Esmeralda milk-Fleur de Sel 42% OB, Akesson's Wild Pepper and more of this...
A chocolate THAT good and you think there are still leftovers to sample?? HA!
8-)
Hi Sebastian, sounds great! I dont mind getting a sample
Made a test batch from some beans out of papua that aren't commercially available, that was amazing. Best I'd ever tasted.
This year I tasted a lot of good chocolate. But which one is the most gorgeous?
Idilio, Maranon Fortunato No 4, Rio Napo, Beschle 88%, Original Beans new and organic certified bars (yes, all those are made by Felchlin!), Danta, Amano Morobe, El Ceibo Heritage Limited Edition, La Maison du Chocolat's Grenada, Jean Paul Hvin's Piaroa, Potomac Upala 70%, Oialla by Bojesen, Harvest 2011 of Valrhona's Ampamakia and many more (my photos page 1 till Blanxart on page 5).
If I had to choose...based on taste only...this would be my top 3:
1. Idilio No 2, 4 and 12
2. Danta Las Acacias 70% and Chuao 70%
3. Amano Morobe
But my preferences change all the time...and new bars are on their way! I already ordered Dandelion and Fresco.
I'm curious about your favourites and what you suggest I have to taste in 2012.
Thanks for letting me know and a happy new choco year!
Chocolove Vera
Thank you Tom and Maria! I roast a small batch today, and it came out wonderful, the smell is so nice, and right now I smell like chocolate, the best perfume smell ever!
Maria is your method for roasting your Dominican Republic Beans is it:
170C for 5 minutes
150C for 10 min
130C for 10 minute?
Do you soak your beans in the water or steam them before roasting?
Tom thank you for your advice, I tried roasting my beans today, and one of the bean smell so good, will have to make all of the beans smell like that. 
As Tom said, try to find another roasting. If your beans are acid, you have to roast them at higher temperature. I had the same problem with my Domenican Republic beans, I changed the temperature and the result was completely different, no acidity, and very good aromas.
Good luck !
Thank you Tom for your advice,
And I wonder how does a good, well fermented cocoa beans supposed to smell like?
I'll pose update on my next batch, thank you!!!
Hi! Im Nod, and Im from Thailand!
Making Chocolate has always been my dream since I was in 3rd Grade, and when the teacher asked me what I would like to do in the future, I answered making chocolate, now I want to make my childhood dream come true. I start learning how to make the chocolate Beans to Bar seriously about 6 months ago reading thick books, and browsing through this website, I have tired making the beans to bar 5 times now, and it keeps on failing. I follow the tips such as leaving the chocolate for a week or two before tempering, to get rid of those unpleasant sour tastes. Dont over heat it for it will make the chocolate bitter. Using milk powder to reduce the bitterness, but the taste is still unpleasant.
May I know what I did wrong?
My Cocoa Beans I ordered them from a farm in the southern Thailand, I think its Forastero, Im not sure the farm didnt tell me, and when I smell it for the first time, it smells very weird, I dont know how to describe it, it smells sour, not chocolate at all.
I soak them in the water to wash off the dirt and I put it in a steamer, for the book I read says that it would enhance the flavor, and then I put it in the oven for about 50C for 5 minutes, and then raise the temperature to 105C and then to 135C for 30 minutes, and then I take it out and let it cool, but the cracking is very difficult, so for all of my other trial I put the beans in the pan with low flame and roast them for about 15 minutes, until it crack.
Then I put it in a blender, and blend it until it turns to liquid, took me an hour to do that, and then I put it in a food processor for the whole afternoon and let it work through night, and when I taste it again the next morning, it taste horrible, very unpleasant, it have all of the elements of the word nasty, the sugar didnt melt, its sour and bitter, and the particle size so large, and it melt too fast. So I let those chocolate rest for 3 weeks and then I conch again for the whole night, the only thing better was the sour taste is gone. I didnt measure the temperature during the conch; I believe its about 35-45C.
I have a feeling that my beans are extremely acidic, how do I get the chocolate texture for the texture Im getting is very harsh, and it melt too fast. How can I fix it? Should I order a stone grinder like Santha Grinder from India?
Thank you so much!
Within the area of Costa Rica where most cacao is grown (the province of Limon) the driest month of the year, statistically, is September. There are two "dry" seasons which are centered on September and March and the wetter seasons are in December and July. This better distribution of rainfall favors cacao growing, as opposed to the areas that get so much rainfall during the September/October months but have a six month dry season that is a bit dry for cacao production. While there are different peaks of harvest the principal harvest is in October/November and this also corresponds to the harvest season for a plethora of fruits in the zone of Limon. Cacao has been grown traditionally in Limon since pre-colombian times and was first planted by europeans in Matina, Limon around 1650. We proudly continue to grow the heirloom Matina cacao.
Hi Steven,
Actually there is much to harvest and dry September through early December: cacao, durian, mangosteen, rambutan, pulusan, columbian sapote, duku, langsat, santol, various garcinias, cupuasu and pataste among others! Oh yes, and that's when the vanilla is ready too. Where it's wet during these months is the Pacific coast and the Central Valley; neither of which are major cacao areas (too high in the Central Valley). September through early December is dry on the Caribbean coast and in the Northern Zone: where the bulk of the cacao is grown. I'm not sure where you are in Costa Rica, but perhaps you should pay us a visit in October and dry out
Hi all,
I am new to the forum, so hi! I am wondering what sort of chocolate you use when making small chocolates so they don't melt? I make chocs with peanut butter and I guess the oil in the peanut butter makes it melt quickly unless it's in the fridge. I don't like the taste of compound chocolate so was wondering if anyone has any suggestions?
Thanks
Hah, this brings back memories. First you can grab some small wine fridges online for about $150 and work pretty well as long as the heat differential isn't >50'.
We tried styrofoam, we tried lacquering actual truffles, none of this worked well. What did end up working well is getting clay from an art store and making the same size as our current line, then dipping, decorating, and then spraying some acrylic on that. They last for about 3 months before you need to peel the skin off and remake them. We used these during the summertime farmers markets when we needed to be able to show product w/o compromising the integrity of the coolers.
The only other option we thought of was to make custom wax molds but the cost for such small orders was really out there. You'd get the look and temperature holding 100% but unless you're getting 1000 made it just doesn't make sense.
Depending on how warm it gets without air conditioning, you might be able to do what I have done. I have a farmer's market table and my faux chocolates survived pretty well this summer, as long as they were not getting any direct sunlight. Imelt compound chocolate (I used the Wilton dark chocolate candy melts (they also have a lighter "milk chocolate" color) with soy wax, and pour the melted combination into my molds. I use magnetic molds, so it's pretty easy to get the chocolate out, even though it doesn't crystallize and shrink like real chocolate. The compound chocolate has a higher melting point than regular and the wax is even higher, so together they hold up pretty well and I can display the transfer sheet design in a way I couldn't do with styrofoam, clay, etc.If you do enrobed chocolates, you could use some other substance (e.g. modeling clay) for the shape and dip it in the same mixture to get the real couverture appearance. Just be sure the display is out of reach of direct sunlight from windows and doors.
A local shop is interested is selling my chocolates! However, they do not have airconditioning and do not have a refrigerator case in which to display the chocolates. They asked if I could make some faux chocolates for display. I was thinking of using styrofoam, paint, real sprinkles and then perhaps a spray of clear acrylic...If anyone has any suggestions and ideas as to how to make faux ones I would really appreciate it.
I'm one step up from a beginner.
I make truffles on the most basic, not very polished level (no tempering, for example).
I also use chocolate in biscotti and in some cakes.
I'd like three or four books that will help take me up a notch or two.
I like good illustrated directions.
I have very little interest in the whole history of chocolate.
I have no plans to make a wide variety of candies, just better truffles, more baking choices, and more alternative chocolate deserts (such as mousse)
I also have very little interest in sculptured designs, etc.
More info on choosing chocolates and some basic chocolate making tools would also be helpful.
So please take a shot with some of your favorites, going right up ands through 2011.
Thanks.
Mark
