Forum Activity for @Omar Forastero

Michael thanks for the feedback, I checked the 428 roasters website, I will contact them for customized machines if I do not find any other alternative.

Clay thank you for the feedback, the thing is I am located in Dubai and I am pretty sure the relationship between israel and the UAE does not allow me to purchase anything from them. The machine I am looking for is for roasting hazelnuts and almonds. I found http://www.nutsroastingmachine.com/eng/index.php?urunler/71-94/

a turkish manufacturer, I will do some more research and let you guys know what I'll finally get.

cheers,

Omar

Omar - check out the roasters from Coffee-Tech (Israel). There are a number of roaster sizes available, up to 90kg , and they incorporate a variety of roasting technologies - and the machines are being used for cocoa roasting in Europe and other places. My contact there is Dan Urieli.

Keep in mind that coffee roasters, as is, are not really suitable for cocoa beans. You need to alter the drum speed (slow them down), and the capacity will be less (how much depends on the roaster design). Also keep in mind that hourly capacities for cocoa will be much lower than for coffee as the roasting times for cocoa are much longer, on average, than for coffee. While a 90kg roaster might be able to manage 4 or more coffee roasts an hour, it might only make one for cocoa.

There is a special offer on Coffee-Tech roasters for ChocolateLife members , so when you get in touch with Dan, let him know that you are a ChocolateLife member.

You are looking for what's called a fluid bed roaster. Some people also call it a Sivetz roaster. They are not as common as drum roasters, except at the industrial level, and I know that in the artisanal coffee industry there is a lot of debate about whether or not they are as good as drum roasters. But that's coffee - for roasting nuts I haven't really heard anything either way. Someone else here may know.

Michael Sivetz passed away earlier this year, and I don't know if his company is still around. I think the son took over but I'm not sure. I did hear that one of the main engineers started his own company, called Heis or 428 Roasters. ( http://428roasters.com ) I think that the largest roaster they make at the moment is 35 kilos, but you can ask them and they might be able to ramp that up for you.

I was wondering If anyone can recommend a good Hot air roasting machine for nuts, with a capacity of 60 - 120 KGS per batch. I checked SELMI but I am looking for a bigger machine.

Thanks,

O

I just did a salted caramel chocolate with a 70% dark chocolate shell and a cream caramel with sea salt. It's great, but I was wondering if anyone has any "research" on caramels. Sugar crystallization, effects on chocolate, etc

I just did a salted caramel chocolate with a 70% dark chocolate shell and a cream caramel with sea salt. It's great, but I was wondering if anyone has any "research" on caramels. Sugar crystallization, effects on chocolate, etc

Hello Ben,

thank you for the information it will help a lot.

There's a good discussion of this here .

hello! chocolattier,

can any body help me how to remove the bitterness and astingent in dark chocolate?

Callebaut also has some products you may want to look at for long shelf life. Callebauts Crme la Carte is a cream based ganache with 12 month shelf life, and Callebaut's Tintoretto is a vegetable based filling with 12 month shelf life. I have not used either of these products but thought you may want to look at them if you are looking for products with long shelf life. Let us know your evaluation if you decide to try any of them.

Hi Jan,

I've haven't yet used it but like you I was intrigued and went to a demonstration organised by Belcolade a couple of weeks ago. I was cynical to begin with but came away largely converted. It's very easy to use and really versatile. You can add pretty much anything to it - nut pastes, alcohols, fruit concentrates, syrup, oils, inclusions - and it aerates well too. It can also be used either for dipping or moulding dependent on the ratios you use. It also crystallizes much quicker than a traditional ganache. The real beauty is the additional shelf life and that the taste also apparently remains stronger for longer (though I can't personally vouch for that). It's also very reasonably priced.

The downsides: well, you still need to add additional chocolate to remove the 'fatty' taste of the product. It also must be heated to exactly the correct temperature before use and other users said that this could be a problem at least until you got used to the product. The biggest problem for me is how customers will view a non-dairy fat based/long-life product. Once you start going down this road I feel you're moving away from what makes the small, 'artisan' chocolatier different and special. But perhaps that's just me. You would certainly be hard pressed to call it a 'fresh' product though whether that is an issue for you depends on the sort of customer you're going for. While a 2-3 week shelf life shows just how fresh my products are (and justifies the higher price), admitting that my chocolates last for 12 months is not necessarily a selling point (though obviously makes production more convenient). As far as the taste is concerned I would say it wasn't quite as good as a traditional ganache but again, the question is whether your customers would tell the difference. For me the difference wasn't significant.

All in all, I certainly intend to give it a try at least in a small way to see the reaction I get. If people don't recognise the taste difference and don't care that it's a vegetable rather than dairy fat then the advantages it offers will certainly make me think hard about where I would go with it.

In terms of recipes, there are several online and, as I say, it's very versatile and a trial and error strategy is worth trying. We got several from the demo so if you contact Belcolade they will no doubt send some to you.

hope this helps,

nick.

Hi there,

Is the anyone using Crystofil from Belcolade. I am thinking of using it but like to know if there are people who have any experience with this product.

It seems to be quit easy and produces a long shelf life for the products. But it is also very hard to find any recipes and technical FAQ's on the product.

Thanks

Jan

Thanks Ryan! When adding seed do you use a % of the chocolate weight you are working with? I hear the double boiler method is very tricky, so am looking foward to practicing with my melter when it arrives.

When using seed method if you over heat the chocolate you have to allow it to cool to less than 110F before adding seed and continue stirring till reaches optimum temp or even slightly less then warming 1-2 degrees to reach optimum working temp. If your intent is to mold then you don't want the mold warmer than chocolate, allow chocolate to set (65-70 degree room) then refrigerate briefly to allow choc to shrink from mold. Good luck, you did very well for your first time other than rushing. Good things are worth waiting for.

Thank you for the replies. I actually heated my mold in a convection oven for 30 seconds before pouring the chocolate. Its funny, the other bars came out with no marks on them at all...they looked great, but did not have that "snap", so I know it wasnt a perfect temper. i will take all your tips into consideration!

Hmm you should warm your molds before filling them with chocolate, just a little bit with hair dryer or a heating gun, that should avoid the temperature shock in the chocolate. Do you have a marble table? or granite? perhaps you can try decreasing the temp in the marble. The inverted bain marie method you used it's tricky.

The important thing is to heat the chocolate til it feels warm, then decrease it. It'll feel cool when you put in on your lip and it'll "shrink", then warm it just a tad so you can work with it.

You have to wait for the chocolate to contract in the fridge, you'll see a air gap between the mold and the chocolate, that way you know it's released

CHOCOLATE: 1lb of dark bittersweet belgian wafer (melted whole)

METHOD: Double Boiler, seed, no seed

TOOLS: Polycarbonate mould, chocolate thermometer, heatproof bowl, plastic soup ladle

For my first attempt at tempering I used 1lb of chocolate and held 10% of that to the side for seeding. I added the wafers to the glass bowl in whole, without cutting them down. I set my stove to about 6, which was probably too high because by the time all the chocolate was melted my therm. read over 133 F, when my aim was 122 F max. I took the bowl off my pot and added the seed while stirring. The chocolate was obviously too hot, because it took over 25 mins for the temperature to decrease to 90 while stirring the entire time. At this point I was also interrupted by something, so decided to just leave the chocolate in the bowl and start over.

30 minutes later I began my second attempt. This time I held the heat at 1 and watched the temp climb slowly and steadily. Once it reached 110 F I took the bowl off the heat and placed it into my sink which had water and ice (I did not get any water into the mixture). I stirred and stirred until the temp cooled down to 84F (7 mins or so). I could not add any seed because I had none left. When it reached 84 F I placed it back on the pot to raise the temp up to 87 F (while stirring the entire time). My mistake was that I turned off the heat when I removed the bowl to cool down, so it took a bit longer to bring the heat up to 87 F and I believe the temp dropped down to 83 or 83 before I could bring it back up. When it reached 87 F i took the bowl off the pot and ladled the chocolate into my molds. I used a large knife to remove the excess off the mold, and began tapping it on my kitchen counter for a few mins, to remove air bubbles. I let it sit on the kitchen counter for a few hours before placing it into the refrigerator. This morning it was tough to get the chocolate out of the bars, but I managed to get one.

Here are a few pics of how it turned out. Obviously not that great, but I would like some critiques on my end product, my method, and the areas that I went wrong. I would also like some instructions on the correct way to remove the chocolate from the moulds, as they seem stuck and easily break when removed. Thank you!

Tony:

In future, posts for equipment go in Classifieds.

:: Clay

Hello

we are looking for a good quality 50 or 100KG wheel moulding machine

We are based in England

CAN YOU HELP PLEASE?

Please email at: anthnybin@sky.com

PLEASE HELP!!!

Thank you

Lecithin is an emulsifier - that is, it provides 'slipperiness' between the fat in your chocolate, and the water - for as you know, the two don't mix well. Yes, there is water in your chocolate - a little bit comes with the sugar, the milk, and the cocoa components for example, or the relative humidity in the production area. Lecithin is an ampi-phillic molecule - ie one end 'likes' to stick to lipids (fats), and one end likes to stick to hydrophillic things (such as water).

Lecithin is a mixture of lots of things, but the 'active' element of lecithin can vary. The viscosity reducing capability of lecithin depends on many, many, many things, one of which is how much of the active component is present. Total moisture content, total fat content, particle size, particle distribution, conch time, etc all factor in as well.

To your main question, lecithin is thought to 'coat' the particles of sugar, with it's hydrophillic end touching the sugar, and it's lipophillic end pointing outwards towards the cocoa butter. This provides a 'bridge' between the two, allowing for them to slip past one another, instead of forming a sticky mess.

Lecithin is known for having a direct effect in cacao butter's properties and texture when it melts and it does affect particle size and its emulsion.

I read it influences sugar behaviour, cocoa butter crystallization, crystal growth, viscosity and oil migration. One can add 0.3-0.5% of lecithin to the chocolate formula during conching. It forms like a veil over sugar crystals making them more fluid and increasing its moving capability.

A chocolate with small particle size, high content of cocoa butter and low level of lecithin will take longer to melt.

Hi friends please tell me the effect of lecithin on viscosity and its affinity for sugar i.e how it reacts with sugar?

All:

I don't have a problem with promoting your own work (though a forum discussion is not the right place to do it).

However, I do ask that members be up front when they are promoting their own work.

The book's authors are the faculty of Chocolate University Online (the OP of this thread) so I find the "I just learned" to be potentially misleading without acknowledging authorship.

:: Clay

Hi y'all,

Here's a book for chocolate lovers. It's called "201 Fun Chocolate Facts and Chocolate Trivia Quiz." Right now it's only for the Amazon Kindle, and I just learned that it will be free to download for 5 days starting this Saturday, October 13. You can get it here: http://bit.ly/PWmkVV

If you don't have a Kindle, you can download a reading app for your PC, tablet, or phone. I hope you can take advantage of this. Enjoy!

I guess you just have to try and see how it works for you, choose one and jump right in. There are so many variables you have to consider, I'll discuss it with my pillow and think about it

Thanks for all the advices!

Omar -

I think the better way to answer the question is, "You don't get what you don't pay for." While Pomati machines may be more budget-friendly than Selmi's (and FBM is in between) you need to ask why that is the case. What are the reasons for the differences in pricing?

Having looked closely at a T5 on a trip to Europe a while ago, one question I know to ask is about build quality. What are the materials used and how does the machine feel? This is far more important than how does the machine look. Many people buy the machine thinking that the looks are important ... but when the machine is in the kitchen and covered with chocolate during a long work day, looks actually are not that important!

Build quality also applies to what is inside the machine - the workmanship and materials and approach to the art and science of tempering. Here, the small details make a large difference. For example, where are the temperature sensors located? I can tell you that you want the sensor measuring the temperature of the tempered chocolate as close to the point that the chocolate is being used as possible. If the sensor is halfway up the cooling/tempering auger the machine is not measuring the temperature accurately.

Another example: I recently learned the importance of the relative size of the core of the screw pump auger to the size of the tempering pipe. If the diameter of the core is wide (compared with the diameter of the pipe) then the machine can do a better job of developing crystals in the chocolate because there is more contact between the chocolate and the cooled surface of the pipe. However, this reduces the volume of flow of chocolate. You can increase the flow by reducing the diameter of the core of the auger, but this reduces the quality of crystal formation - which is what tempering chocolate is all about.

Brian:

Thanks for your nuanced approach to this issue.

Hi Daniela,

I have been following your post for some days and I was not sure you needed a company representative opinion.

But...may I introduce you a 1977 company who has some experience in tempering chocolate?

Don't want to act as a sale man so, only if it helps, you could have a look at these posts in Chocolate Life itself.

http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/which-tempering-machine-to-purchase-fbm-gami-selmi-or-wheel-type?

http://www.thechocolatelife.com/photo/dscn5841?context=userrcommentId=1978963%3AComment%3A138087 (there is a old Fbm over there!)

http://www.thechocolatelife.com/page/fbm-chocolate-equipment

The main difference is a commercial/marketing issue!

Hmm it's kind of difficult to find someone who works in a similiar environment and has the same machine. Since I live in Costa Rica, I had to equip our shop with dehumidifiers and stuff like that. But I've heard great things about both brands and they're kind of similar.

What's your favorite brand? outside Pomati and Selmi, is there any other worth looking at?

Omar.

I understand that the Pomati is less expensive than the Selmi. WhatI recommend to all my clients when they are looking at equipment is to work with it and to talk to people who have that identical machine in their shop. Try to find someone with a similar enviornment so that you can compare apples to apples. If we pick anything exclusively on price, we tend to get what we pay for.

Hope that helps.

brian

Hi Brian, got it.

Pomati seems to be more budget friendly than Selmi. How did you like it?

Thanks,

Omar

Omar.

You are absolutely correct but I also represent Selmi's US distributor from time to time and Clay has asked that those who represent companines try to not present wholly biased opinions and I am trying to respect that by providing where much of the information can be found hence the links to Selmi's website. Having said that, I trully enjoy working with Selmi equipment. They are reliable workhorses that have minimal problems. And I believe that if you were to contact Selmi owners, they are happy with their decision to purchase and to use in their envionments.

Thanks for the understanding!

brian

Hello Brian,

It would be nice if you shared your experience. After all, this is a forum. I think communicating privately defeats its purpose. Just my humble opinion.

Thanks,

Omar

Daniela-

If you are thinking about the Selmi, you would be looking at the Color or the One. I have put links to those two machines below. But I if I can help you directly or answer any additional questions please contact me my Chocolate Life page or by email at brian@thecriollogroup.com . I have worked extensively with the Selmi equipment and worked with the Pomati as well.

brian

http://selmi-chocolate.com/eng/tempering/color-ex.html

http://selmi-chocolate.com/eng/tempering/selmi-one.html

Hi Daniela,

A really good starting point is to read the recently re-ignited thread just below:

If Selmi is the Cadalac what is a JKV and why?

Lots of helpful advice there. General conclusion seems to be, as with much in life, you get what you pay for...

Nick.

I'm thinking of buying a tempering machine, I like Pomati's T5 or Selmi, does anyone have any review on these tempering machines? What brand is your favorite? I need a small tempering machine, for maybe 7-10kilos of chocolate.

Hi! I just bought a truffle shell mold and then I realized I really dont know how to use it :S does anyone have any videos or info about this? I really want to make my own truffle shells

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and really excited to get started on here! Let me introduce myself. I'm a 19 year old chocolate lover and part time entrepeneur who has recently started my own chocolate business based in the UK.

My business ideas are based around getting original and exciting products so if anyone has any wholesaler recommendations feel free to let me know! My products are luxury affordable chocolates for any occasion. Here's the link to my eBay (I'm also working on getting a website sorted too...) http://myworld.ebay.com/meltconfectioneryltd

Thanks for reading and I can't wait to hear about everyones chocolate experiences :D

Jo

Director

Melt Confectionery Ltd

OMG!!!!!! If you retail tests have been off the charts then We Can Expect a Ginormous order this Holiday Serason ))

Hi all...we have a cool innovative company that is a fusion of gourmet chocolate and timeless music hits. Our retail tests have been (no pun intended) off the charts! We need more funds to expand sales and inventory and launched our Kickstarter Camapign below. We also want to see if anyone knows of Angels or VC's who invest in early stage in our space?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1497809042/imagine-chocolategourmet-chocolate-that-rocks