Awesome! i'm happy this question is being revived too, thanks guys.
i'm gonna go dark with this one. 85% Valrhona. And since refrigeration is provided, I'm gonna milk the island's cow, produce cream andwith theuse of local spices create wild pirates of the carribean truffles
I was scanning old posts and came across this one, which even though it is a few months old is a great question. I'm sorry no one else took you up on it at the time, Clay. Maybe my response will revive the discussion....
I loved Mort Rosenblum's book, Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Light and Dark, where he searches for his own desert island chocolate, and as I read it I found myself asking, so what's mine? At the time, it was definitely Valrhona's Guanaja--its complexity keeps me very well entertained. Since then I was introduced to Chocolat Bonnat's bar from Cuba. It's dried fruit flavor of raisins somehow seems more nutritional, so it might fool my body into thinking it's being better nourished 
.
You're stranded on a desert island and for some reason, you have the ability to choose some of what you're stranded with, including chocolate.
Okay - it's a mythical desert island, of course, because you have unlimited amounts of the chocolate you want to eat, plus working refrigeration to keep it in good condition until you get around to eating it.
So ... what chocolate do you take?
:: Clay
PS. My Desert Island chocolate is the trio of Indonesian 65% dark milks from Bonnat - Surabaya, Asfarth, and Java. (I know it's more than one it's my question so I get to interpret the rules.) In addition to the fact that I like the taste, milk chocolate has been shown to be me more complete nutritionally (overall, even though lower in antioxidants) and a better choice for "survival" situations.
Unless you have a refiner, you can't add sugar to it without it being grainy. Sugar simply won't dissolve in chocolate.
There are many things you can do with this chocolate, two of them being:
1. You can use this chocolate for baking.
2. You can blend this chocolate with other chocolate to create different intensities. It would be helpful to you if you knew the actual fat % vs cocoa solids %. However, you could definitely take a very sweet milk chocolate and add this to it to intensify it and reduce the sweetness.
Hope this helps.
Brad.
Thanks for all the advice. I am totally new and just beginning. But with no much money so a solucion for a guitar will be more then great. I will buy tomorrow the cutting in tool and aplastic quilting ruler, but with what kind of knife must I cut the ganache ? Must it be warm, cold or how can I cut it the best way ?
Thank you,
I think the creativity that draws us to chocolatiering is helpful in working out ways to do things other that the "official", expensive way. I have not purchased any ganache frames yet, and I will in the future but for now, I found a bun pan extender at a restaurant supply store that works well for a frame (albeit a large one). I keep thinking when I am at home depot, that they must have something that could be used for caramel bars.
Target has some heart shaped silicone ice cube molds for valentines day, I pressed marzipan into those to make heart shaped marzipans. If you search online, you will find several homemade vibrating tables. And then, if you are really crafty, there is a thread somewhere on making a guitar- but you need to weld stuff together. (If you are interested I think it is on the egullet forums...).
In the ecole chocolat curriculum, there was a really interesting article about Jacques Torres and how he opened his chocolate shop. He himself did a lot of the work, building, painting, etc. I think being able to do things this way is what may help a lot of people stay in business during these tough economic times. I know that when I am ready for opening my own shop, my husband son and I will be doing a lot of the work- I am thinking going as far to even build my display cases.
If you keep reading the forums you will find so many creative ways that people have solved problems and made things work for them.
Sorry I missed this, we're about 6 hours apart or more as time-zones go. You've found the candy cutter I was referring to, the rolling adjustable cutter (top picture in your post above.) Hopefully though the home depot tool you've picked up will do the trick or at least help improve the situation.
It's frustrating, I know to have a problem, and to not know how to solve it without going the expensive route, but you'd be surprised how many professional (as in, they COULD totally afford a guitar,) kitchens I've been in that whip out a ruler and knife to do their cutting, or who have found other unique solutions (like silicone ice cube trays,) for shape/size of items produced. Sometimes not buying gear right away is what helps us to learn more about the various ways we can work with our confections. Not always a bad thing!
My advice is to not invest in equipment like a guitar until you have turned a profit on your product. There are a lot of other reasons why your stuff may not be selling, and shape is not the first place I'd look for the answers.
How are you pricing and marketing yourself, and to whom?
Have you gotten honest tasting results from those who have nothing to lose by being brutally honest with you about texture and taste?
Are you able to present yourself and your work with the confidence necessary? (even here in a relatively anonymous space you express doubts about your own work.)
Are the types of candy you are making suitable to your target market?
What I know, is that a guitar is a pricey investment when you don't have signs of profit. If you honestly feel it's shape that's holding you back, well, ok - but I'd go for a candy cutter before going 'all in' for a guitar.
What types of candy are you making, that shape should be such a crucial problem in marketing them profitably?
Hello Everybody, I'm doing an internship at a manufacturing factory(retail) (long story short, that's the only option available for me in this part of the planet, south-east Asia).This place is not for artisans, but I had to take it in order to be as close as I could with chocolates. I'm soon travelling for a better offer.
Today was my first day andI've been given an assignment to come up with a recipe for "ganache filled chocolates with a long shelf life". Something that could be sold for retail and with a shelf life of atleast 6 months.It can be nut based, fruit based, flavor, cream, just anything.
I have tasted some very basic ganache filled chocolates that are sold retail by places like "harry&david" and retail giants like "ferrero" and "ghirardelli" but I have not given a thought on what makes them stay longer on the shelf. Any hints?
PLUS
- do coconut oil or any oil based ganache stay longer?
- do water based ganaches have a longshelf-life?
- does adding invert sugar alone help?
- will adding lecithin in a cream based ganache improve shelf-life?
- do sodium bicarb or ammonium carb play a role?
- any other hints?
I'm feeling a little disappointed for the kind of first assignment I've got but I'm interested in knowing anything about the behavior of chocolate and that's keeping me going. And I would really appreciate any help I could get.
Lowe:
It's simple ... you have to become a "Dove At Home" chocolatier, buy their equipment and chocolate and start a small chocolate business (a bit like Pampered Chef) so you can join THEchocosphere.com, contribute to the community and get points for contributing.
I wonder if that would work on TheChocolateLife. 1 point for uploading a photo, 1 point for a comment, 2 points for starting a discussion or blog ...
I don't think it would make TheChocolateLife any better (and it might diminish the value as people would post to rack up points, not because they had anything useful to contribute).
:: Clay
Casey,
As always, thanks for the laugh with your inimitable style! I didn't even catch the humor or your title until I clicked on the link. Unfortunately, I don't think that poor Ashley knew what might happen if you become inimical to her though.
Gotta love Dove. I liked this:
GREAT INCOME OPPORTUNITY:... Sponsor and mentor a team and the possibilities are endless.
Plus there are "Success stories". Nice MLM!
I wish I was cool enough to be invited. sniffle, sniffle.
And you could get rich too! I found this on the User agreement
Participants will receive one (1) five dollar ($5.00) Amazon.com E-mail gift card for every two hundred (200) points earned.I get letters, and some of them just have to be passed along to my fellow chocolate
passionistas.
Hi Casey,
I am a huge fan of your blog and I wanted to reach out to you to tell you about this
really cool new chocolate community. This community works within a leading
chocolate company, currently developing some really innovative new concepts around
chocolate. The aim is to open a dialogue with chocolate enthusiasts, and then let
those enthusiasts (like YOU!) help shape and influence new product development,
provide feedback and interact with other chocolate lovers. I think you would be an
awesome contributor to The ChocoSphere-- I love your chocolate reviews! Your ideas
and voice would help influence new product development for a top chocolate brand.
You can share your thoughts and feedback, and have an impact on this brand's
future!
I'd love to send you a personalized link to join the community-please email me
confirming your interest and I'll send one over. Or, if you have any questions, please
let me know.
Sincerely,
Ashley
The ChocoSphere
www.thechocosphere.com
/~A private community for chocolate passionistas~///
So I received this email from one of my super fans, who shall remain last
nameless, i t seems. Out of curiosity I wanted to inquire as to what business it
was that would ask of my chocolate consultancy free of charge, and just
generally whose chocolate I would imbibe. After all, my mom always taught me
never to accept candy from strangers. Ashley was so friendly, and she sure
knows how to flatter a person, flattered the pants right off.
So my pants on the ground, and my curiosity thus piqued, and knowing that
Ashley did say she would be happy to answer any questions I might have, I sent
her just one simple question before I was ready to sign my life away.
But her reply was also a rebuff, and quickly revealed that poor Ashley was
suffering from amnesia all about our new BFF status, and about who, in fact,
I even was.
Hi Casey,
Unfortunately I can't tell you the name of the company, but it is a leading
chocolate brand and we'd love to invite you into the community! Please confirm your
occupation and I can send you over a link to join the community.
Sincerely, Ashley
The ChocoSphere
www.thechocosphere.com
~A private community for chocolate passionistas~
Now we do know something about Ashley, even though we may not know
her last name, or the name of her company. But other than that she is a great
flatterer and very passionate, we may only know this: She will vary the amount
of tildes and slashes bordering the chocolate passionista slogan, depending on
her mood and/or degree of amnesia.
Now the only other place I've really seen the phrase "chocolate passionistas"
about the web was here , in this "community for chocolate passionistas,"
brought to you by Dove Chocolate. Won't some kind soul direct Ashley there, so
that she can recover some of her memory?
I have no reason to believe it's the best in the world either, I certainly make no claims to such extent, and I'm the one making the chocolate! Taste is subjective, and no single individual should have the right to pass judgement on anyone's creations but their own.
All I can do is proudly pass on what one of the most respected chocolatiers in the world has told me (and put in writing). His tastes are subjective too. However, as Barry Callebaut's Technical Director,at the very least he's one person who is certainly qualified to provide an opinion, and lend credibility to what I do - credibility which has been questioned many times on this forum.
Brad.
If Brad's chocolate were the best in the world, I wouldn't mind making a trip to Calgary (en route to stunning Banff National Park) to stock up on bars. But, not having tasted it, until I hear credible voices proclaiming it such, I have no reason to believe it's the best in the world. I'll have to remain agnostic until circumstances take me (or a willing chocolate mule) to Calgary or until Brad teams up with a US importer/distributor.
Clay,
Thanks for your response. If you posted this from the East Coast then it was about 2:30a.m. when you posted. That speaks to me of your concern about this issue.
As I see it, you both make some valid points. The bottom line is that respect is paramount and you've shown respect and restraint in your posts. I appreciate the humility of your apology.
I think that, along with every member here, you and Brad both benefit from this community, and you both add value to it (unless there is contention and a lack of respect). To add this value with your contributions takes your time, energy, and often research. Clay, you of course contribute more to this community than anyone, but you also probably directly benefit more from it than anyone. I think that you both need to think of the rewards you get from this community (both direct and indirect).
Brad should certainly gain more customers from his OP.
After the claims that Brad made about the quality of his chocolate it's a shame that it isn't more widely available, but I can understand the rationale that he explained why he's not set up to ship. I'm glad that I never emailed him to inquire about getting some of his chocolate, though.
Now I think I'll just contemplate and imagine eating a Chuao or Porcelana bar...
Peace,
Lowe
To all participants in this conversation and members of TheChocolateLife:
Rarely do I get as much private mail about a discussion as I have about this one. It's pretty evenly split, but there are several members who believe that I have overstepped my bounds in responding as I have to Brad. So, to all of you who feel that way now or who may come to feel this way after reading what I have to say - and to Brad - I apologize. Brad has been a long-time contributor to the community and his comments are appreciated by many. Including me: though there are times I wish he would choose to express himself differently.
I would like to add, not by way of excuse (there is none), but of explication, an analogy I believe I have offered to Brad privately: If I walked into Brad's store in Calgary and started talking in a loud voice using language he thought was disrespectful of other customers it would be within his right to walk over to me and ask me to quiet down and to refrain from using the language he found disrespectful. My "shop" (TheChocolateLife.com) is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, who is willing to spend a few moments signing up to join - free of any charge or obligation. Most of the people who visit my shop do so quietly, anonymously, reading, learning, but not contributing (or buying anything). There is no compulsion on my part to contribute in any way.Those who wish to contribute do so.What I ask, however, is that when visitors to my shop do contribute they do so in a reasonable tone of voice using respectful language.
If I was being disrespectful to Brad (and by extension to every member of TheChocolateLife), again I apologize to those who took offense and contacted me. I have invested a lot of time, effort, and love in creating and nurturing TheChocolateLife community over the past three years to the point where it now counts nearly 4000 members in over 100 countries. One of the things that has contributed to this growth, I think, is the work I have done publicly (leading by example) and privately (when I felt necessary) to maintain a certain level of civil discourse.
We may not all like white chocolate, but we all like chocolate ... and that provides a common ground for gathering together to share what we know. Collectively, we know a great deal more than individually. That is the reason I started TheChocolateLife in the first place; to create a place where people (including me) could come to get their questions answered. Though we may disagree at times, we are all united by our fascination and passion for this thing called chocolate.
Thanks for your support, consideration, and patience:
:: Clay
Creator/Moderator
Clay;
Thanks for the reply. I'm not interested in debating anything with you either.
You're right about my comment referring to the "dufus". Sorry about that. I called him a dufus, because he sent me a scathing email when I politely said I wouldn't.
My posts here are strictly charitable and based upon my experience in the industry and in business in general. I gain nothing from my contributions, other than the satisfaction of giving back to the business/chocolate community and helping others out there who are having the same challenges with chocolate that I did when I first started.
Given that fact, and the fact that people HAVE benefitted from my posts, and you as the owner of this site have benefitted from my membership and posts (I help to enrich the content of YOUR site on my dime), why would you even fathom the idea that I would pay anything - whether it be money OR chocolate to enrich your business without getting anything tangible in return???
Wow....
You certainly do have a set of balls Clay! I'll give you that.
Brad
Brad:
I don't want to get into an argument with you about the way you choose to run your business. You're free to do whatever you want - it's your business. And I completely respect your growth/cashflow argument.
What I do want to mention is that the person who was interested in buying a bar of chocolate from the UK is NOT a "dufus" as you referred to him. This is a person who had heard about your chocolate and was interested in trying it so inquired if there was a way to get any. The fact that his inquiry did not fit your business model does not make him stupid and there is absolutely no need to denigrate him - nor anyone - by using such dismissive language.
I know you have very strong opinions on many things, including sampling, PR, and more. I would love to be able to drive business your way ... lots of people do visit Calgary, some of them have to like chocolate, and some of them may read TheChocolateLife, subscribe to one of my Twitter feeds, find me on Facebook ... or learn about your business from me in one way or another.
I can only conclude that you don't care whether I taste it or not, what I think. You have more than enough market in the Calgary area to keep you busy. Good for you. However, take a look at it from my perspective for a second ... there is a community here that I have nurtured for three years. You have been an active (and mostly welcomed) member of the community for more than eighteen months, and I have received comments from members supporting you in response to my post. I don't charge you a penny for being a member and I have to assume that you get some value and satisfaction from being a member here.
Isn't that worth a bar (or three) of chocolate? Without requiring me to spend a couple of thousand bucks?
:: Clay
Interesting reply Clay.
You spend a lot of time wondering why I don't ship or deliver. The answer is VERY simple. I DON'T NEED TO. There's a million people in this city, another 600,000 in the immediate surrounding area.The business is growing exponentially with the customer base I have direct access to. It makes absolutely NO business sense whatsoever, to incur the cost of researching packaging options, researching shipping options, applying for the shipping accounts, purchasing packaging and labeling, and then setting up infrastructure in our shop to handle shipping, just to send a chocolate bar to the UK (and YES, some dufus wanted me to ship ONE chocolate bar to him in the UK! WTF????).
Why Derrick and Mark chose to fly to Calgary, and chose to spend an evening with me only they can answer. The fact is they DID. You seem to be buddy buddy with everyone in the chocolate industry. Why don't you call them up and ask them yourself, instead of hypothesizing their motives publicly via the rational that they flew here to buy a chocolate bar.
Your reply is a great example of why small businesses STAY small. They spread themselves too thin trying to cashflow unneccessary growth. Only when a business has completely tapped their existing market, or if they have excess resources to explore others, should they burden themselves with consumers outside of their immediate market reach.
As an FYI, in the next couple of days I WILL be offering delivery service, but only to the Calgary area. It's a convenience our existing customers have been asking for, and I've developed a relationship with a local courier company that will allow our software to interact with theirs, without any human intervention.
Hope this answers your question.
Cheers.
Brad
Brad's approach to marketing his product has always been interesting to me ... he requires people to physically go to his shop in Calgary to get product: he does not ship anything to anyone (including me, as I have mentioned). This makes it incredibly difficult for those of us in the chocolate community who care about such things to get our hands on his products to taste them for ourselves and form our own opinions - and communicate those opinions to the rest of the world.
Intrigued by the opinions of two BC reps who visited, I had to ask myself, even if what Brad makes is some of the best chocolate in the world ... is it worth the cost? Not the price - the cost. I can walk into a local store in NYC and buy a 2oz bar of the 2002 Valrhona Chuao for $35. That's about $250/lb. A lot, I know, but $35 is something I can easily afford for special occasions.
The least expensive r/t flights I can find from NYC to Calgary cost US$552 with a route time totaling over 20 hours. I can get a non-stop for over $832 that takes about half the time. When I factor in the time it takes to get to the airport, overnighting (at least) in Calgary, incidental expenses (airport transfers, accommodations, meals), one of Brad's bars of chocolate costs me, what? At least $800 but only if I don't factor into the equation the value of my time (after all, I am a chocolate professional, and I do need to factor the value of my time into this whole process as I am not likely to choose Calgary as a vacation destination). That brings the cost (time and expenses) of a bar of Brad's chocolate to be between $1500 and $2500.
I don't know about you, but even if it is the best chocolate in the world, it's not worth the cost (the price of a bar is only $12) - to me - to go find out if it's as good as some people say it is.
'Tis a pity. I'm always up for reviewing a new b2b company, especially one that received such high accolades. I'm on a quest to taste, review, and compare every Chuao and Porcelana bar made, but I guess this will have to wait indefinitely. Oh well...
Lowe
Lowe:
The ONLY way to get chocolate (bars or confections) from Brad is to visit him in Calgary. I've asked him on numerous occasions in the past and he has categorically refused on this point.
:: Clay
Brad,
Are your Choklat Chuao and Porcelana bars available anywhere in the U.S.? If not, do you ship to the U.S.? I'm interested in these bars, so I'd like to know how I can get them.
Feel free to PM me too. I can give you my email address if you need to send me any shipping information.
Thanks,
Lowe
P.S.- If I can make a friendly suggestion-- on your TCL page you should put the name of your company and a link to how to learn more. It's not readily apparent, at least that I could see, so it took me a little bit of detective work to track down the information.
You are a good guy... everyone should appreciate your advice. ~Wendy
Hi Everyone.
For the past couple of years I have beenmaking various contributions to this forum. Some have had me take some heat. Some of the responses to my posts have been downright insulting to me. Others have asked some very pointed questions - questions such as "Who are you to be saying what you do?"
It's a valid question, seeing as I don't present people outside of Calgary with the opportunityto buy my chocolate and confections, and this is a global forum.
Having said that, I feel it's appropriate to, this once, blow my own horn, and provide some legitimacy to what it is that I do here in Calgary.
Here'sa true story:
On January 20th, I happened to be in my shop doing some last minute running around before going to the mountains for the weekend.
A couple of relatively unassuming gentlemen entered the shop and began talking to Charmaine, my head chocolatierat length. As I walked past, Charmaine handed me one of their cards. To my suprise, they were from Chocolate Giant Barry Callebaut. Not only that, but they were none other than Derrick Tu Tan Pho, Barry Callebaut's Technical Director, and Mark Pennington, Western Canada's Sales Manager!
They said they'd heard great things about my little shop, and had flown to Calgary tosee what I was I doing!
Holy Cow!
We talked at length, and I invited them to an event I was hosting this evening. They graciously accepted and spent the evening with 10 patrons, listening to me blabber on about chocolate, and what we do in our shop, and what makes our chocolate so much better than mainstream mass produced chocolate.
By the end of the evening, they were blown away with Choklat. Derrick paid me one of the biggest compliments I've had yet in my career as a chocolatier. He said that my chocolate is every bit as good as the finest chocolate in the world - chocolate made by artists like Cluizel, Amedei, and Valhrona!
He also provided some great tips with regard to our confections, and how to increase shelf life without compromising quality.
In a follow up email, Mark was quoted as typing:
"Sensational chocolate class tonight. I also really enjoyed your products.
In fact a Remarkable effort and some of the best bean to bars chocolate I've seen."
So, for those of you out there on the "chocolate net", who question who I am, or what I do, or the quality of that which I make,the fact that one of the most respected chocolatiers in the world makes a trip to little 'ol Calgary to visit ME, and then pays such high praise to my creations, I hope this nullifies any doubts you may have with regard to my skill with cocoa beans.
Cheers everyone, and Happy Chocolate Making.
I was going to suggest a cardboard cone, which can be found at many different craft places, but that looks real cool Stu.
If you choose to use the cone method, you can wrap your truffles in colorful foil (I'm a redneck and like shiny things), and then use "sticky dots" to fix them to the cone.
Another idea is to check out the website at www.sunflowersugarartusa.com They have edible glitter that we use in our shop for "blinged out" lollipops. You could roll your truffles in glitter too for your tree.
...but I DO like the one in the photo that was just posted. Probably the nicest I've seen yet.
Cheers,
Brad
Hi
Here is an example of the old "cone ball and toothpick" - this is from House of Chocolate in New Zealand.
Hi! I am looking to make chocolate truffle trees/towers for weddings and other events. Does anyone know if there are tools to do this, or just simple a foam cone and toothpicks? I am looking for something sturdier and specific to this purpose.
I (as well as others) focused on your question about Lecithin...but you also asked about cocoa liquor. I was wondering if you knew what 'cocoa liquor' was?
Cocoa liquor is simply ground cocoa mass, generally at the stage prior to pressing to separate the cocoa powder and the cocoa butter. Sometimes this is called unsweetened chocolate, although unsweetened chocolate might also refer to the same stuff after it has been further refined to reduce particle size.
In any case, if you want a decent shelf life in a sauce, you are going to need to control water activity. Since you likely want to keep the water content high in order to get the right texture for a sauce, you need ingredients that will 'bind' this water yet keep things fluid...and these 'humectants' are commonly the compounds that you say you don't want to use.
I'd suggest looking more closely at the whole range of humectants, learn and understand their properties, and then look for acceptable humectants that share these properties. You already know that honey is very similar to inverted sugar; honey is arguably a better humectant than inverted sucrose, more like the dreaded high fructose corn syrup So perhaps a naturally sourced honey is acceptable where a chemically similar HFCS or inverted sugar is not.
Sorbitol is found in many fruits; perhaps a fruit concentrate is acceptable.
Finally, plain ordinary sugar will lower water activity.
Good luck!
Jon
Interesting thought. Since it apparently occurs in every living cell you would imagine cacao pods should contain some for example.
Personally the extraction of lecithin by hexane is enough to put me off.
