Forum Activity for @Conrad Miller

This November 19-23 in Cote d'Ivoire, Mars, Callebaut, Kraft and others are holding the World Cocoa Forum. At this forum they plan to adopt a "Global Agenda for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy" and have delegates sign a "Commitment of Stakeholders".

Is anyone else attending? I'm very concerned that the artisan and craft movement that is happening in America may not be fully represented.

Regardless of anyone's attendance, let's please all pay close attention to this to be able to help guide the industry into the best position for all of us!!

http://worldcocoa.agraevents.com/

I've attached the schedule and discussions being held to this post.

Thanks,

Conrad Miller

www.chocolate-earth.com

conrad@chocolate-earth.com

I'm also interested to hear from people with actual experience re. this. I would GUESS it takes longer to do a batch 3x the size because their are 3x as many particles that need to be reduced in size. Once again guessing, but maybe the mass would maintain a higher heat in the machine which could alsoimpact processing time.

If I do a 1 lb batch of chocolate at home with 10 hours in the melangeur (Santha) and then do everything the same except a 3lb batch. Would the same time in the machine produce consistent results or do I need to adjust for the batch size?

Also, are there any issues in storing cocoa liquor? It takes such a long time to clean the equipment I'm using that it seems like a too process a lot of beans at the same time. For liquor and chocolate in general, are plastic containers ok or would metal be better?

- Lane

Hugs...........thank-you Sebastian........that's the best list I've seen to date.

The US gov't absolutely requires labeling of both sugar and fat on nutrition labels.

Total Fat 65 g
Saturated Fatty Acids 20 g
Cholesterol 300 mg
Sodium 2400 mg
Potassium 3500 mg
Total Carbohydrate 300 g
Dietary Fiber 25 g
Protein 50 g

http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/FoodLabelingNutrition/FoodLabelingGuide/ucm064928.htm

Thanks for the help Robyn. I did find a source to buy UPC codes from. Although I neverexplored itfurther to see what kind of prices were involved. Is this the source you mentioned: http://www.gs1us.org/membership/benefits-of-membership ?

It looked more expensive then I was interested in exploring at this time. I didn't come across the fact that there are resellers, so it's interesting to know! Would you mind sharing how much you paid, so I can use that as a reference when I shop?

For any future readers I did find an online source where I could calucate my own nutritional info. here: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp and good helpful info. on making my own labels here: http://www.claytowne.com/beats-digging-ditches/how-to-make-a-nutrit... But I already found most of that info. at FDA.gov. In the long run, I'm still creating my own labels in excel........but it's not that hard.

The last thing I'm still stumped about is establishing the FDA's RDI for sugar and fats. Since they aren't required nutrients the goverment ignores including them in the mg's per day list they have of all the other nutrients. I've been able to figure out that sugar comes to 65mg but I haven't been able to establish what the RDI number is for fat, so I can calucate what my fat percentage is. Does anyone know how many mg's of fat the FDA considers as the average for a 2,000 calorie diet?

Hi Wendy,

If you know anyone who works at a bakery, deli or the like, you may be able to input your recipe and use their nutritional calculator to output the information you need for free.

As far as bar codes, I recently did some legwork on this. You may buy a lot of 100 UPCs directly from the official source (I forget the exact name, but just Google "buy a barcode" and you'll easily find the info). Only need a few? I bought a set of five from a legal reseller for much less. The downside of this is that the first numbers of the code identify the reseller, not you. Allegedly, only Wal-Mart and Macy's care about this. Each product, in each size, needs its own barcode. But as far as I know, there's nothing that legally requires you to have a barcode. It's just a matter of convenience for retailers to be able to scan your items, not have to hand-ring them.

Thanks for the quick responses!! I'm not retailing my own product, I'm only selling through other businesses. I've been wholesaling in bulk to restaurants where I didn't need individual packaging labels. I'm justgetting readyto sell to retail stores. I do qualify for some labeling exemptions, thatmakes things much easier for me to start.

I did have4 weeks to get my labeling ready..........but an sales opportunity has popped up where I nowneed to be ready in 2 weeks with small boxed samples. I need to print my own labels NOW, asap. No time to purchase labels for this first roll out.

1. I'd like to find a nutritional calulator I can use for free on line. (I've found several through google searches but none were truely accurate.) Does anyone know of such a site? Or can I bargin with anyone here that does have a nutritional calulatorsoftware to punch in my recipe and email me the results???

2. If I can't find a free source for a nutritional calulator I'll have to buy a software program. Can anyone reccomend a reliable easy to use program (that I can purchase asap)? I've seen two programs online, one was $199.00 the other was $399.00 and I'm not knowledgable enough about my future labeling needs to know which program would be the wisest one to purchase.

I think I can put together my own labels and desktop publish it following examples andFDA guidelines once I have my nutritional info..

3. Barcodes...........maybe I don't need them since I'm only targeting small retailers for now?

thank-you,

Wendy

Here in Canada, bar codes aren't required. Having said that, in most cases bar codes will be required by the retailer, as they almost all now use scanning devices to speed check out and manage inventory. As such, there is a national barcode database that you can register your product with, and have a standard bar code associated with it.

If you are selling your product through retailers, then you will probably be asked to have bar code. However if you are selling it yourself as an artisan, unless your POS system requires it, you don't need bar codes. (at least here in Canada).

One very important thing to add: You MUST make sure your ingredient list includes all ingredients need to make the ingredients you use! For example: If you use dried blueberries, the producer will often use sulphites as a preservative, so in your ingredient list you must do something like: Ingredients:blah, blah, blueberries (blueberries, sulphites), blah blah.

Also, if you are an artisan, making and selling the product, and you aren't selling it through anyone else, the nutritional panel is not necessary because the customer always has access to the source of the product. It's only whenthe consumer doesn't have direct access to the source of the food item that all of the nutritiional information is mandated.

Cheers.

Brad

Not sure of your question - you seem to be asking two unrelated things...

1) nutritional calculator

2) UPC bar code printer

Is it that you're looking for a single program that does both? There is no requirement to bar code anything for nutritional information.

A number of years ago, i was unhappy with the commercially available recipe, spec, and nutritional programs - so i built my own. I've no idea what goes into bar coding, but my guess is with a little elbow grease you could figure it out - perhaps building your own is the way to go if you're not finding what you want?

I familar with correct US product labeling requirments but I'm stumped on how to get my correct nutritional data and bar code strips ready for print. I've seen two different software programs that offer nutritional calulators, but neither appear to offer bar code strip printing too. Can someone point me in the right dirrection where I can inexpensively produce my own accurate product labels?

thanks,

Wendy DeBord

Well, you want to drill through the plastic and if it slightly goes into the stone bottom that would be good. On one of my drums I purposefully went into the stone a bit and put little metal pieces before epoxying. I found this is unnecessary because on the other 4 I fixed, they didn't need this extra precaution.

Like Rene said, make sure the epoxy label says it is suitable for plastic. At my local hardware store most of them were.

Felipe,

please be sure, that the glue you buy, is suitable for plastic. in my experience, epoxy does not stick to many(most) plastic materials.

best.

rene

Dylan, thank you very much, this is great news!

By the way, are the holes drilled in the plastic only or also in the stone?

Felipe

It is in on the bottom of the grinder so there is no contact with the chocolate.

Dylan,

Thank you for the kind reply.I'm glad to hear you managed to repair the machines!

As far as I read there are different ratings for glues, and some are approved to be in a food processing area, while others are allowed to be in direct contact with the food.

Did you check the toxicity of 'household' epoxy? Or did you glue it so that there is no chocolate in contact with the glue?

Regards,

Felipe

Hey Felipe,

I have had a similar problem with a many of the machines. Go to the hardware store and buy slow drying 2 part epoxy. It is about 4 bucks. Find your smallest drill bit, flip over the drum, and drill 6 different holes in the overlapping edge of the white plastic center piece. This will allow epoxy seep in and hold more securely. It doesn't take long at all and is a relatively easy fix.

Does anyone know of a foodsafe epoxy glue suitable for replacing the Ultra/Santha machines?

One of our machines recently had the plastic gear separate from the bowl's bottom due to stones clogging. I can't wait until I get a new bowl imported, and the seller's have been unable to provide a glue reference.

I have found different glues locally including Loctite 330 , Loctite Hysol E00-CL or E40 CL but from their datasheets I am unsure of their food safety specs.

Any input is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Felipe

I'm what might be called a 'micro-chocolatier', I have a small business that is growing and could grow much more if I stepped up my production but I'm not sure what kind of equipment to invest in. I currently use a refurb X3210 which may/may not be calibrated 'perfectly'. I'd love to get a small enrober but that may be out of the question for now. I also make sea salt caramels, by hand, in a pot, and would love some recommendations on how to improve that process.

Thank you in advance to all who may be able to help!

coconut milk might be better

what

Darn - perhaps an experiment with a percent or two of coconut oil to see if that would help.

perhaps you should try dipping the cracker at a lower temp

Great, thanks for the info Cheebs

You need to open up the machine and you will see the places where belt tension can be adjusted. The fiberglass link-belt can be bought at any decent hardware store or Amazon . IIRC I used 3/8". The great thing is that it's just what the name says: it's not a continuous belt but rather a series of links that you can adjust to length.

How do you go about tightening the belt? Where did you get a fiberglass belt (I'm working with the spectra 10)?

I've been making chocolate with Santha/Ultra grinders since 2008. The machines are in constant use. I have yet to experience separation of the bowl(s) and as stated before, since my second batch of chocolate, I don't pre-grind. My biggest wear item are the bushings in the stones.

We have a warming box set to 115F and just leave the nibs in there overnight. Warming them in a microwave seems kind of counterproductive, as the nibs' very low water content will make them difficult to warm.

I am now in favor of pregrinding the nibs. Even with melted cocoa butter to start, the cold nibs put too much stress on the machine and can easily separate the plastic center piece from the stone. I tried warming the nibs in the microwave, together with cacao butter and it was as slow as doing it separately.

We deal with three machines at a time and without proper pre-grinding or pre-warming the nibs take a long time to pour in, and can damage the machine leaving it out of service .

I see a lot of used meat and grain grinders around, like this one , but I'm not sure if they can be sanitized well enough to deal with cacao.

Sebastian has a very good point... we actually replaced the craptastic black rubber belts with fiberglass link belts which last 10x as long.

And still the belts need to be retightened about once every two months.

You may also need to tighten the belt from time to time.

Absolutely. They do need to be quite warm, 115-120 F at a minimum, as must be the bowl and stones!

You can't dump the entire recipe's worth of nibs in all at once either, it takes about half an hour of slowly adding them in.

It also helps to add some of your supplemental cocoa butter at the beginning to lube things up a bit.

Hey Dylan,

Cool video! The grain mill looks like a nice and economical way to make liquor.

Thanks!

Thanks Cheebs,

I tried nibs directly but not warmed, the instrument seized up. So if you warm the nibs and allow the cocoa butter to soften the Santha can grind without any issue?

I don't really see why you need a pregrinder. Both the Santha and Ultra can perfectly handle (warmed) nibs. I haven't used the Champion (or any other device) to pre-grind since my second batch of chocolate in 2008!

Hey Adam,

I was having similar issues and did not like the champion juicer. Super messy, heavy, and always getting really hot. I ended up using a grain mill. If you secure it to a table it will quickly refine the nibs to liquor. It will be a peanut butter consistency. It's a bit of a workout, but if you are not doing too many lbs a day it works great. We have a few videos of the grain mill in action if you check out the manoa chocolate website. Hope this helps.

-Dylan

Greetings all,

I was wondering if anyone can offer some advice on pregrinders. I have been using the champion juicer which is slow and messy. I see that INNOmix offers the Surya Mixer Grinder (which looks to be the same as the CocoT mini Pregrinder but about $20 less at INNOmix ( http://www.innoconcepts.com/ )), as well as four other models: The pigeon kitchenmate, pigeon kitchenmate 2, pigeon special, and the pigeon special plus. These four other models have a larger capacity than the Surya Mixer Grinder/CocoT mini which can only take 2 cups at a time.

I'm trying to find a pregrinder for less than $200 that can grind 4+ cups at a time. Does anyone have experience with these grinders or others that are within these specs? Any insight is much appreciated!Thanks!

Hi everybody!!

I have a question for you. Where should I storeg/keep filled chocolates with ganaches? In a fridge?

I have to make arround 40 kilos, what will take me a week. What I should do in the meanwhile with the truffles and chocolates already done?

Thanks in advance!

Esteban

Thank you.

I actually went back to the shop shortly after posting and did just that. Turned out to be a blown fuse on the electrical board. ( as you said)

did you check your power source breaker? sometimes if you are running on 3 phase but everything else is running-lights etc you can forget to check the breaker.

If anyone out there has a lot of Selmi know how, please help. End of day today my Top decided to call it quits. The machine was accidentally taken out of temper, and less than a min later the temper button was pressed again. A few seconds later it decided to die. And Die it did. The black/red switch on the right that is usually used to restart these things is permanently stuck on red and the black seems disabled. ( not even a clicking feel when pressed)

Any thought anyone?

Thanks