Forum Activity for @Ian Whitaker

Yes they arecompletley different.

I guess that the World Chocolate Awards are different from the International Chocolate Awards . < http://www.internationalchocolateawards.com/ > Is that right?

I'd like to letmy fellow members of the Chocolate LifeCommunity know about the project I have been working on for a long time now, since it is shortly to be finished.

I'man avidconsumer of chocolate. Many timesthe mention of winning an award has tempted me to buy a chocolate just to see... but over the years I began to learn from my experiences andwas provoked by them tolook into these chocolate awards.As a consumer I didn't like what I found at all.

In my opinion the publics good faith has often been abused by chocolate makers and bypublic relation companies to gain anadvantage in the marketplace.

In my opinion, as a consumer, the ideal chocolate awardsarefully independent of chocolate brands and their agents. They should represent the interest of the chocolate buyer, who wants to know about and eat fantastic chocolate! I do not wish to bethe"target" ofa thinly disguised marketing excercise that takes advantage of my confidence in official looking awards.

Awards should be on the side of the consumer to assist them in finding the best chocolates for themselves. Awards shouldbe trustworthy and clearly not working for the chocolate industry directly.

Michelin does exactly this with its guide book. It works for the consumer, but in doing so it liberates the best chefs to focus on the quality of what they offer and not the quality of their marketing.

It is unlikley that a three star orone star restaurant will need to spendany money or time on marketing! Because the industry - generally -recognises the award. And in doing so they take advantage of a free, more ethical and more respectable marketing machine.

Insome similarway I hope that the World Chocolate awards can help toimprove the focus of everyone onto chocolate flavour if it becomes well known enough.

This levels the playing field too, so that the small chocolatier and the big brand compete more equally, on quality, rather than marketing clout.Andthey both can make significant savings in business costs. Perhaps chocolatiers might use some of that extra money to make chocolates more affordable for the consumer (fair tradeshouldnot stop at the delivery door of the chocolate manufacturer) invest in improving production or experimentation.

I believe that the public has a right to know the following facts when it is being offered a chocolate bar with an award on the packaging:

1 Was the winner judged against two or two hundred competitors?

2 Can I see a list of everyone who entered? Did every entry receive an award?

3 Have the organisers or judges received money, foreign trips, hospitality, free products or any kind of benefits from the winners?

4 Are the organisers or judges connected to the winners by friendship, family or business?

5 Was the award given only for the chocolates taste, or did its packaging, colour, a bubble, appearance and moulding count too?

6 Does a gold award mean that the product was the best one in its category, or were multiple gold awards given with the same title?

7 How many chocolates did the judges taste within what period of time? In other words did the judges have a reasonable amount of time to taste with a clear palate?

8 Was the award judged blind? Is the word blind being used by the award body to mean that the judges could not identify the chocolate visually, or that they only took the chocolate out of its wrapper, therefore its moulding marks ect. were visible? In other words they are bending the use of the word "blind" to a meaningless marketing term.

9 How do I know that the chocolate that won the awardis the sameas the barin the shops? Itis perfectly possible for achocolatier to donate a specially made superiorbatch of chocolate in order to win an award and gain the prestige over the honest one who takes random bars to be tasted in the competition.

10 Why are there annual awards for an industrywho's product rangedoes not change dramatically each year?

11 Why are there all these weird and wonderful extra awards for things other than the actual taste of the chocolate?

Unfortunately the answers to these questions may not be as you may expect. In some cases you may not be permitted to get an answer. I am unable to give you this information reads a reply to me from one of the most well known award bodies.Another:we never release the non-winners to anyone.

Its not wrong for chocolate makers and their agents to organise an award between themselves, but when they place their chocolate bar on the shelf next to another chocolate that doesnt participate in this type of promotion, then it is only fair to the consumer and to the other chocolate makers that it is made clear exactly the award means.

In response to these facts, theWorld Chocolate Awards are designed to represent only the interests of the public and not the chocolate makers, to inspire the publics confidence and set the highest standards for chocolate awards by being the leader in: independence, transparency, knowledge; consumer advice, number of chocolates judged, and number of countries included. No free chocolate bars are accepted and bars are bought anonymously. We are not limited to trying one chunk, nor is there any pressure to judge one, let alone one hundred, chocolates in one day. Often on more than one bar is tried. There is no time limit, or limit of chocolate.

I welcome any comments and suggestions. Sorry to be so serious - chocolate is one of the most fun things on the planet -but this is the catalyst for asignificant award that - if peoplerecognise it - will bring about a fresh new focus on appreciating flavour and not marketing.

Iam confident theWorld Chocolate Awards can help to restoreintegrity and respect for the consumer, plusliberate the chocolatier to concentrate on making excellentchocolate. And enable a more ethical relationship between the chocolatiers and chocolate eaters. Fairer trade for consumers!

Bon appetit to all my fellow chocolate lovers!

Ian Whitaker

www.facebook.com/worldchocolateawards

www.worldchocolateawards.com

Hardback book coming soon to amazon

Does anyone have a good US source for the die cut box inserts for a truffle/praline box--- the kind that the round or square chocolate "fits" directly in the cut out on the insert--- I need to keep the chocolates immobile for shipping and the plastic trays allow too much "wiggle" of the chocolates during shipping

Thanks

That makes sense! Thank you, Ruth.

The purpose is two-fold. To make it slide on a surface, and so that if the piece is not completely covered by enrobing, the piece will still be covered. (Use the same chocolate for the foot that you enrobe with).

Is the purpose of the chocolate foot just so the ganache won't stick to the surface it's on? You would enrobe it after, right? I'm really new to the world of makingchocolates, so please excuse my ignorance.

Any temp. Just get it melted in a microwave and slather it on your base. The goal should be making it very thin. Just enough to add a minuscule amount of stability. So scrape off what isn't needed.

i know this convo is old now but I have found it very informative

I would like to know more about theuntempered food.

At the moment I use tempered chocolate but sometimes I find it very hard to cut I think I must bespreadingit to thick

so I thought I would like to try untempered and try to get it as thin as possible

what temp would you have an untempered foot at ???

You let it sit until dry. The reason to use untempered chocolate is in part because it will be softer and less brittle on cutting, but also because as you are spreading the chocolate and moving it around, you are helping crystallize it as it cools. So it won't be completely untempered or improperly crystallized when cutting.

Thank you all for the great advice-- As for the untempered foot...........doesn't it stay too "sticky" or do you let it sit overnight.

I had this issue last year making pate de fruit.Eitherway, pressure builds up on the strings like you mentioned at the end of your slab.What I do now is I cut the slab in half andplace each oneat the beginning of the strings. I make sure Iapply as less pressure as possible when pressing down.

Hope this helps

If you are cutting just ganache you should not have problems. As Jeff said, make sure your foot is very thin. I prefer to use untempered chocolate for the foot as it cuts betters. Second, when you go to cut your ganache, slide the ganache slab near the top. This is where the strings have the most strength. I occassionally will get some broken wires now and again, but that is when I am cutting harder praline slabs that often contain feuillitine and the wires get stuck. Good luck.

It sounds like your ganache slabs are too hard and there are two possible causes; either the formulas are off making the ganache too hard when set, or your slabs (and perhaps ambient temperature) are too low, or a combination of the two. Ideally, you should be able to cut your slabs with no breakage or crumbling if your formulas are right-that being said, the slabs should be at room temperature, which should ideally be around 62-68F. The wires should go right through the ganache easily. But the ganache should be firm enough that you can pick it up with your fingers without damaging the edges. You'll know when it's right-wires cut easily, edges are clean with no crumbs/breakage, and you can still manage to pick up the cut pieces fairly easily without the edges being so soft that they squish from the slightest pressure from your fingers.

Chocolate foot should be down when cutting and very thin. I prefer to put the foot onto the silpat or sheet I'm laying my ganache down on first, then pour the ganache on top. Alternatively, you can let the ganache set, then add a thin layer with a spatula-but you get a flatter bottom if you lay down the thin layer first, then pour the ganache on top.

I seem to breaking a lot of wires on my guitar-- I am using it only for ganaches, but am still getting broken wires and ganache that is splitting and cracking with the wire pressure. Am I putting the slab "too close" to the end?? Am I putting the wrong side of the ganache down on the guitar surface? Chocolate foot "down" right?? Am I just using the device incorrectly? Any help and or pointers greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance !!

Andy

What type of airbrush are you using? I've tried a badger 250 and 350 (very simple design) and have had no success with them. I'm starting out with my cocoa butter at 90 deg. F.

I have experience with a badger 200 and Paasche single action using enamel and other paints.

Should I switch to a double action top loading airbrush?

Scott

I use warm vegetable oil, especially when I am done spraying for the day or an extended period of time so that butter doesn't crystillize in the brush.

brian

You don't need to clean between colors. Take one color off, blow out as much remaining color as you can, attach you next color and spray again to make sure you aren't getting residual before spraying your molds or whatever. You need to clean the sprayer when you are done. Check Chef Rubber for a food-safe cleaner they sell for sprayers.

I'm teaching myself airbrushing of cocoa butter colors. I have a good background in airbrush work from my hobby of building plastic models.

However: what do you use as a thinner to clean the equipment after you have finished with one color and which to change to the next? Thinking alcohol would dissolve fats I tried Everclear with no luck (straight ethanol), hot water works poorly.

What works best?

Thank you Ruth,

Lebanon can get really humid especially during summer.I have humidity removing machines installed in almost every room. That's why Inever knew if itaffects the product..until now. Thanks again!

Our humidity here rarely goes over 20% (unless it is raining) and I don't have problems. I rather think it is an advantage. I can take chocolate from a cold room to room temp without condensation collecting. It might be just what you are used to. I don't know if I could produce in high humidity with the same results.

Hey Guys,

Most of us know that moisture is an important factor in controlling quality and that it should not exceed 50% where chocolate is stored.

My question however is how low can the moisture in the room drop down to without affecting the product(if it does affect it at all) For example, what happens if the moisture goes below 30% or even less?

Thanks,

Omar

Hi George. I am not certain where you are located, but you may want to check out www.aspecialtybox.com . They do have a custom box business that does smaller runs, and they may be able to do something more permanent. I am not certain that they do anything other than disposable, but you might look into it.

Good luck.

Jayne Hoadley

I'm trying to find sources for POS displays, something small that I can give to retail shops to display and merchandise my chocolate bars. I'd prefer something more permanent/non disposable as opposed to a printed paper box that can be used as a merchandising tool.

Ideally, I'm looking for a manufacturer that will do small runs at a reasonable cost.

Any leads?

Thanks!

I loved the reply to this article: "Please remember that Fairtrade refers to the FLO global system, whereas fair trade is a concept and anyone can claim to be fair trade without having to show compliance to any standard or practice"

This is like saying that anyone that doesn't believe in God cannot possibly be a good person and do the right thing.

http://www.justcoffee.coop/blog/%5Buser%5D/2012/01/13/fair_trade_is_dead

FULL WEBSITE TEXT AT BOTTOM OF POST

This article was written by coffee specialists but it applies equally in cacao / chocolate in my opinion.

He nails it when he writes " In 1997...... farmers knew that, despite good intentions, they had already lost control of what would become branded as Fair Trade. Over the years the certifying bodies in the north controlled the conversation and set the norms with feedback from farmers, but without farmers truly having any ownership of the organization. Consumers could see farmers' faces on marketing materials and bags of coffee, but could not hear producer voices. Now farmers want their voices heard."

I've spoken with hundreds ofunaffiliatedcacao farmers in peru and ecuador, and it never made sense to any of them. I've spoken with dozens ofaffiliatedcacao farmers and they ranged from lukewarm to confused about FT. Nobody I've ever spoken to loved it except european administrators who derived a living from it. something grass roots and farmer-based should now take Fair Trade's place. people on this forum can be a part of it.

Brian

FULL WEBSITE TEXT

Sitting in San Cristobal de Las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico things are crystal clear. Underneath the din of organizations in the North clamoring to set the definition and terms of Fair Trade, small-scale coffee farmers-- the original and supposed main beneficiaries of the system(s)-- have a unified opinion that Fair Trade has not worked. This of course, on the surface, is not a new revelation. However, where in the past we often discussed Fair Trade as not working, we now are closing the book on it-- we are speaking in the past tense. In the wake of FLO's slow and steady sell out of the model to large corporations and TransFair USA's sprint to complete the deal, Fair Trade has bitten the dust. Now is the appropriate time to spill an espresso shot in the dirt and say a few words.

Now dry that tear because I have some good news. Out of Fair Trade's ashes there is already a movement to build something better and it is coming from the people who were virtually shut out of the old system-- the producers themselves. After four days of meetings with coffee farmers from all over Latin America, as well as mission-based coffee roasters and other allies, it is clear that there is abundant energy for rebuilding a model of fair trade with true representation from all involved and that comes from farmers themselves. This new spirit can be seen in many initiatives, but most concretely in the Coordinadora Latinoamericana y del Caribe's ( CLAC) new label that highlights products grown and sold by small-scale producer cooperatives under terms defined as fair by the producers themselves and agreed upon with buyers in true partnership. This small farmer-owned certification system is up and running and will be a market force to be reckoned with by the end of 2012.

During our conversations a veteran of the small-farmer movement in Mexico summed up the situation nicely:

In 1997 we were in meetings with other fair traders when FLO announced that they were forming and would be setting the standards for our movement. Many of us stood up and walked out.He said that from that moment on farmers knew that, despite good intentions, they had already lost control of what would become branded as Fair Trade. Over the years the certifying bodies in the north controlled the conversation and set the norms with feedback from farmers, but without farmers truly having any ownership of the organization. Consumers could see farmers' faces on marketing materials and bags of coffee, but could not hear producer voices. Now farmers want their voices heard.

Fair trade is not a brand owned by companies and non-profits in the global north. The look for the label movement bet that people were simply consumers who could not stop for longer than a few seconds to think and truly care about what they were supporting with their purchases. They were wrong. True fair trade can start with a simple communication on a product, but it goes deeper as people start to ask questions about every product that they purchase-- including those bearing the label. Real fair trade is in small-farmers and their democratic cooperatives as well as in our hometown farmer's markets, small businesses, and communities-- these things are connected and worth supporting and fighting for. Authentic fair trade is a mutual agreement between people who produce things and the people who buy them. Its standards are the result of equals transparently negotiating in good faith with the intention of both parties satisfying their basic needs. All of this results-- little by little-- in a world where producers and consumers see each other as people and together work toward creating a sustainable global economy and global society.

Fair Trade is dead. It is played out, stale, corrupted, and largely meaningless. When the CEO of the US body that claims ownership of it makes a quarter million dollars a year , drops gems like Small is not beautiful, and brands small farmer advocates as fanatical, you can go ahead and close the coffin lid. When Starbucks becomes corporate leader of the system while it simultaneously boasts of paying under world market prices for its coffee in its own CSR report , rigor mortis has set in. When plantations-- with their traditionally indentured labor forces-- are welcomed in with open arms while small farmers' voices fall on deaf ears, the bucket has officially been kicked.

Fair Trade is surely dead.

Long live fair trade.

HI all,

i have been looking at solution for our production and also to keep a certain standard and not just simply roll truffles to get "numbers".

i have a 25kg tempering machine but FBM also does a 7 kg with enrobbing belt.

7 kg tank means about 40 kg (+/-) an hour... that should be able to speed up truffles making a bit! we are starting testing next week for a client that need 4000 pcs per order.

will let you know how it goes...

Cheers Nino

We just finished revamping our COGL spreadsheet and I needed the analytics so I could understand the true costs. On an average day our main chef can dip about 550+ truffles in about 5 hours. This is lower than our old average, we're now using TCHO as our dipping chocolate as well as our main chocolate and it's much thicker which requires more drain/tap time.

Like you mentioned startup, re-temper times, and "SQUIRREL" moments all create delays. Not quite sure how to get things faster at the moment. Looking into enrobing machinery and all that.

Kathryn;

It's good that you're calculating setup and takedown time. It will give you a very good idea where your inneficiencies are. I bet you're finding them in the set up and takedown time.

Here are some benchmarks we have for minimum performance here at Choklat.

Scooping: 200 per hour

Hand Rolling: 450 per hour

Dipping and coating: 230 per hour.

Foil Wrapping: 240 per hour

My staff all surpass these minimums, and do it all day.

Cheers.

It's really just a matter of practice and planning your production carefully. I've been at it for two years now and my speed has increased gradually along the way. I'm also careful about how many different flavors I'm making in any one day. When I'm by myself I top out at 5 different flavors, anything above that becomes overwhelming. I also try not to work with multiple chocolates for coating the truffles, i.e. I'm either dipping in dark chocolate that day or dipping in milk chocolate.

400 in one 8-hour day including making ganache sounds absolutely miraculous! How do you manage? I don't even make my ganache the same day, though I do scoop and roll the same day I dip. I've been analyzing my time to try to figure out where it's all going, how I can get more done in the same amount of time. Please tell me more!

You say you're slow, but it looks like my average is 120, so my hat's off to you!

Just dipping or the whole shebang from scooping, rolling, etc.? And would you already have your chocolate tempered and ready to go or not? By writing down the time I start and stop each task and then dividing by the number of truffles, I came up with an average of about 30 seconds to dip each truffle. I also learned that I had to stop what I was doing and re-warm my chocolate about every hour. Plus there is some setup time, since I'm working out of my home kitchen. It could be realistic for me to have scooped and rolled the day before, but I'd still have to temper the chocolate that day. So let's say out of an 8-hour day I'd have to subtract about 2 hours for setup/cleaning, and packing upall the truffles at the end of the day. Then subtract another hour and a half to temper the chocolate, that leaves me with 5 1/2 hours to work in. I'd also spend about 5 minutes out of each hour, conservatively, re-warming my chocolate, so let's just cut that back to 5 hours because it's an easier number for me to work with. 5 hours x 60 minutes per hour x 2 truffles per minute comes out to 600. In some universe where someone else is tempering my chocolate and setting up my kitchen and all I have to do is stand there and dip for8 hours, I guess it would be 960. Now, if I was starting from having to scoop and roll ganache, each ganache ball takes me an average of 45 seconds to scoop and roll. So if I take that 5 hour time to work in and each truffle needs 1 minute and 15 seconds of my time then I could do 240+ (cause less dipping time means less times I need to stop and rewarm). And all of these estimates would only apply if I were using a single type of ganache (so I didn't have to stop and wash my scoop--because I only have one) and dipping in just 1 type of chocolate. I haven't established yet what a typical workday is for me. I worked for about 10 hours on Tuesday and only made 161 truffles because I was using 4 different ganaches, a pureed fruit filling, and making a little truffle mortarboard and doing some writing with a syringe.

Someone please tell me I'm not the only person analyzing their time in the kitchen?

ETA: And I also need time to bring all my stuff into the kitchen, remove all my stuff from the kitchen at the end of the day, and photograph the truffles.

Hi Krista,

I'm not sure if you're looking for an actual production total or just the number you can dip in an hour. My average production is around 400 chocolates/8 hour day if I'm working by myself. This number includes everything - making the ganaches, tempering the chocolate, cutting and/or rolling the set ganache, dipping, decorating, packaging, dishes, cleaning up and packing away (I share kitchen space and need to pack all my equipment and move it back to my storage cage at the end of my production day). Hope that's helpful.

HI There,

when you talk about dipping by hand, do you mean single dip with the fork? you could try to speed up the process by first rolled them by hand with a very thin coat.

that should help you with "stickiness", also keep your chocolate at right temp. to prevent getting thicker and slow down the process.

otherwise if you hand-roll them you should be able to do about 200/250 hour. just take 4 or 5 truffle in your hand at time.

Ciao

Antonino

Hi Krista.

I am very slow at dipping, but on average I can do about 125 per hour. 150 if I really concentrate lol. I wonder what someone who is really fast can do? I hope more people post, so I can ask a few questions too.

Warm regards.

Jayne

just keep the the whole engine cool all the time and that should make the work. if something brakes (belt or other moving parts) change them for something more resistant.

just make sure to not overheat the electric motor!if you use cocoabeans just crush them and add bit at time, be patience and add ingredients slowly otherwise will block and you have to remove everything and start from scratch again.

Good luck and have fun!!!

From what I have researched the basic modification would require opening vents at the top of the motor cover (either drilled holes or lines), lifting the machine on a stand and adding an extra fan at the bottom.

I already have a fan from an old video card with it's own 12V 0.15amps that I will use for cooling. While I get a hold of cacao beans I will try making gianduja with some nuts this weekend.

Felipe