Need Ideas for an Advanced Chocolate Course - what would people want to learn?
Posted in: Chocolate Education
I have a small production that supplies 3 retail outlets and numerous hotel and wholesale accounts. I have a great tempering unit, a SELMI Plus, but can't afford to add a $3000 guitar or $1400 Thermomix or Robocoupe( everything cost double here after you add shipping) or lots of other goodies that cost a bundle. ( Actually I bought an $1800 guitar and the plastic base warped so that was a costly error and I'm back to low tech cutting)I love molding and am fast and consistent at it but also like the efficiency of slab ganaches that you can decorate.The combination of techniques makes the case more interesting.So a challenge for me is getting consistent results with low tech equipment-cutting ganaches with drywall tools or paint shields etc. I 'd like to do more complex ganaches with layers of texture but when you start adding ingredients like that all kinds of new problems occur and they are also challenging to cut into somewhat perfect consistent pieces. So understanding more about how different things react with each other and at what point to add them to maximize their crunch or flavor etc....building more complex ganaches.Also knowing what the effect of various additives is whether its glucose, trimoline, sorbitol or other shelf life extenders.I see people put salt on top of chocolate ...well in my tropical climate you can't do that, it melts almost instantly. So does sugar. I made a creme brulee ganache and caramelized sugar, then smashed it up and added it to the cooled ganache. It was heavenly for several hours.. But in the time the pieces sat overnight, even in my 65 degree cool room to dry out a little to enrobe the next day the sugar "melted" and lost its crunchy edge due to humidity most likely. You can't leave cough drops out here , they get soft in a few days.Peppermint bark would never work, the candy canes go liquid in their wrappers.I guess the "artisan" part of the chocolate is that they are not all perfect mirrors of one another but in striving for better perfection I'd just like to find solutions for having a little more consistency.
