Forum Activity for @Emily Woloszyn

Temperer, bloom and advice...

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Greetings~ So my husband and I have started working in the kitchen of our new chocolate shop. We've made some wonderful ganaches and toffees and wild marshmallows. However we have an entire rack of polycarbonate molds we are dying to use and the temperer is not working with us. We fired it up added the chocolate on the first day it was too hot we had realized. So I went back and read the manual and about the chocolate and the settings one more time. Day two, I made tiny frogs, they came out of the mold shiny and fine, I left them on the table and came back later and they had a few spots on them. The shop was air conditioned so that couldn't have been it? So we did the test on the back of the spoon after setting the temperer one more time... Spotty once it had set.

I am using dark chocolate, in a hilliards 80 lb temperer. Should I have to take the chocolate out since it was heated too high on day one? It was heated to 115. I didn't think I needed to take it all out, it was not burned. And how do I get this down? I am getting frustrated, I do have a separate thermometer so I know the temperer is keeping the right temp...It must be something I am doing. Any suggestions???

Also~ the molds... Do they need to be coated with cocoa butter or treated in some way before we use them to mold? I did read warming them would be beneficial, do you all do that? I am asking this because I am having a little trouble getting them out of the molds, but of course it was the chocolate described about so I am sure that is the issue...

Any thoughts or suggestions would so appreciated....( more than you know )

updated by @Emily Woloszyn: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Chocolate Liquor

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I would use a refrigerated container, and you'll need to keep an eye on relative humidity as well. You're shipping from a warm, high moisture environment to one that will soon be much colder, so you'll need to give thought as to how you're going to prevent it from 'raining' inside your shipping container. Or growing mold.

Chocolate Liquor

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thanks for the info... If I am shipping it from Colombia to New York via Ocean freight does it need to be in a refrigerated container or can I ship it in a dry container that may temperatures of 120 to 140 degree F.

Eddie Hernandez

Chocolate Liquor

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

it' unlikely that it will go rancid at those temperatures. it will, however, begin to separate out and 'oil off'. general rule of thumb - don't keep it hot longer than you need to, don't expose it to light longer than you need to, and keep it moving (or at least intermittent agitation).

Chocolate Liquor

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

What is the best temperature to store chocolate liquor and can high temperatures (120 to 150 degrees F ) damaageit or cause it to go rancid.

Eddie Hernandez

COINEX

updated by @Eddie Hernandez: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?

Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE

If you're looking for a folding bar wrapper, Solis' suggestion is exactly right on - any decent printer should be able to do one for you. Heck, the Mast Bros buy paper that is already print it, cut it to size, and slap labels on the wrapped bars.

Alufoil is probably the best place in the country to get foil bar wrappers. Lots of colors and weights and they do send free sample books.

What kind of packaging do you want to put your macarons in? Clear plastic?

Why don't you consider clear plastic tubes like these from Qualita? Koerner was also showing similar macaron packaging last year.

Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?

Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE

Clay I'm interested in a foldover format and was going to have my box guy custom make one. But if you have anyone in mind that has something for the old school 100g break away bar, roughly 3" x 6" I'm interested.

Macaron boxes as well...Glerup has flimsy boxes that are way too long. I've seen macaron packaging out there that is way tighter, but I cant seen to find a supplier.

Thanks!

Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?

Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE

Photoshop, your logo design, chocolate bar info, net weight/oz/grams of bar, dimension of bar +size of wrapper, fold lines, ( use another companies wrapper as a template, one which is the same size as your bar. Ingredients, nutritional facts, bar code. Take to a printer, choose paper. Any graphic artist or computer designer can do this, along with some computer geeks! Take to nice sized printing shop, choose paper. Order foil, again, go by the size of a company that has a bar similar to what you will be making. If you have an artist friend ask for help, pay them in chocolate. Alufoil Products will send you color samples of their foils.

You will have to get your bar code. Your chocolate supplier should have ingredient info and nutritional fact for their chocolate. This is all info you will have to come up with no matter who does your printing.

Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?

Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE

What format of wrapper are you looking for? A foldover like the ones Scharffen Berger or the Mast Bros use? Or is there some special requirement?

Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?

Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE

Hey everyone,

I am looking to get some custom candy bar wrappers done but cant seem to find a company that does it on a wholesale level. All the companies i have found just make the wrappers to go over hershey bars.

If anyone would be willing to give up the name of the company they use that would be great!!!

We are lookingfor a starting quantity of around 5,000 pieces.

Thanks for the information!!!!

Justin Schaffer

Irresistible Confections

updated by @Justin Schaffer: 04/07/25 13:00:14

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

Rights to ALL square chocolate products, or only rights to the square in the size Ritter produces?

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

Hi Clay,

Wow that sounds weird. I heard they won a case against Caffarel, because the Caffarel wrapper was very similar to Ritter's. If you still need a translation, get in touch with me. Maybe I can help...

Cheerio!

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

Looks like a particularly unusual Germany *specific* situation. Guess Toblerone have the triangle LOL

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

From the Toytown site:

The square shape is actually patented at the German Patent & Trademark Office, rather unusually in fact.

Traditionally geometric shapes are excluded from such protection, unless a brand can prove that the buying public only associates their brand with that particular shape.

After tons of research and consumer tests showing customers square bars, with neutral packaging, no packaging, even with Milka lilac packaging with a cow on it, the public still saw square as equalling Ritter Sport.

That's the basis of the design patent. In US law such a determination would probably not stand as consumer perception is not the basis for patentability.

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

The key information in this page is the following as it refers to the mark:

Mark Drawing Code: Drawing/Design + Words
Design Search:Plain single line squares (Geometric figures and solids - Squares)

This particular trademark registration (which expires this month) is for a logotype, not for the box or packaging format.

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

Information about RITTER SPORT CUBES trademark:

http://www.trademarkia.com/ritter-sport-cubes-79003246.html

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

Toytown Germany - Germany's English-speaking crowd wrote an article 2007 about Ritter Sport and mentioned this:
"The square shape is actually patented at the German Patent & Trademark Office, rather unusually in fact."
http://www.toytowngermany.com/lofi/index.php/t67934.html

I bought my first Enric Rovira square bar nearly 15 years ago. Wrapped in a box Ritter Sport didn't care about before.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) offers IP-services. http://www.wipo.int/services/en/

I searched International Trademark Registration (Madrid System) and got 24 hits searching for"Mark"and Ritter Sport but not sure what to make of it. Maybe someone else can get find useful information (ROMARIN (International Trademark Information Database):

http://www.wipo.int/romarin

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

From my recollection they are flow wrapped in a unique resealable wrapper.The idea of trying to trademark square bars isoutrageous. I think they would also have considerable difficulty in proving prior art. i.e. that they were the first people to produce square bars.

e.g. the "Ugg" word trademark in Australia was thrown out as the term ugg was in common Australian english use prior to the trademark "ugg" being sought.

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

That's crazy!

i also produce a bar that is square, and a round one and a rectangular one... do we all now have to be scared of any Corporate that has the money to patent anything? what if they patent as well the hazelnut in it or even better the word chocolate!

I don't buy Ritter and i hope that all the German friends stop doing it as well!

send me the papers, Clay, i'll have a look into it and let you know what does it say...

Boycott Ritter Sport ??

Posted in: Opinion

While I am pretty confident that Ritter Sport is not high on the list of chocolates that many ChocolateLife members eat on a regular basis, it turns out that recent legal actions being brought by the multinational company - and not against chocolate makers but against retailers - could have a profound affect on how chocolate is produced and marketed in Europe and beyond.

You see, Ritter appears to think it has a trademark on the square.

At least when it comes to chocolate packaging.

And they appear to believe that people walking into a store will be confused when they see brands as Akesson, Domori, and more, in square boxes.

I am fairly confident that anyone looking to buy Domori is not going to be confused into buying Ritter just because the bars are the same shape - just as I am confident that someone looking to purchase a Ritter Sport bar is not likely to be confused into buying Akesson - especially when they see the price difference.

Things might be different if Ritter were actually going after the chocolate makers. But they're not. They're going after retailers. In addition to fines (reportedly US$6,000 for a first "offense" and US$30,000 for repeat "offenders") there is also the theoretical possibility that Ritter could refuses to supply "repeat offender" retailers with Ritter product going forward.

Is it possible to trademark a shape as common as a square? Also, if my memory serves me correctly, all Ritter Sport bars are flow wrapped and I know Akesson and Domori come in boxes.

Will people really be confused?

While Ritter have claimed they are only interested in asserting their rights over their packaging in Germany they do sell worldwide so there is always the possibility that they could go after American companies (notably Tcho) for the same reason.

Bertil Akesson tells me that he and Domori (which is owned by Illy, a fairly large company) are working together to fight these cases.

How can you help? You can start by taking a poll that I've added to the Facebook page for TheChocolateLife .

You can vote directly by clicking on one of the radio buttons, but you can also leave a comment (and vote) by clicking on the title of the poll or by clicking here . (You have to be a Facebook member to vote.) And - while you're at it, why don't you "like" TheChocolateLife and add it to your Favorite pages?

We will keep you posted here of any updates as they are revealed to me.

Also, I am looking for someone fluent in German who is interested in doing some translation work. I don't know the exact language of the papers being served to the retailers and it's not possible to rely on machine translation for the nuances of such.

updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/12/15 17:49:54

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

I am now going to try out some of those hand cracker cocoa mills.

But if you ever find your self with out one (like Me last week) i found that my little hand cranked mincer worked really well. you run the beans through without and mincing plates in, the cocoa beans crack in the auger Chamber and come out in nice almost cube shaped bits with large bits of separated shell.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

Please keep us posted!

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

Hello to everyone!

I am from Brazil and I bought one of these Botini coffee crackers for cracking cacao.

It's very cheap, about U$ 50,00 (without freight).

It has an adjustable gap, not much, but enought for different sizes of cacao. I don't have a cranckendstein to compare, but I think this one makes a pretty good job.

I'll try to post some photos of the nibs, dust and shells.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

I don't disagree. I just hope that the final price, when it's announced, makes sense.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

Hi Clay, I saw an earlier version of the Aether and the results were much better than the Crankandstein.

Also, I really liked how little dust the earlier version produced. Now that the improvements have been made I am even more interested in it.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

I'll add it to my list of projects!

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

Maybe. I am not convinced. Go for it. Make one and let us know.

There is also the potential to embed small pieces of concrete in the bean that you won't be able to remove via winnowing. That may just be a matter of the type of concrete used - perhaps you could use some sort of resin binder.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

Definitely, but I think that should be controllable by raising or lowering the middle/turning part to increase or decrease the cracking gap. If the gap was set correctly, the beans should just crack and drop.

I'm interested in it because I think the shearing action would help to reduce one of my current headaches, which is nibs holding on to the shell that have to be screened out after winnowing.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

Ben:

I am familiar with this project and have, in fact, tried to contact the Full Belly Project about them. My concern is that roasted cocoa beans are a lot more delicate than peanuts (what cracking cocoa beans is closer to is removing the reddish paper shell that sticks to the nut, not the outer shell) and that it would be difficult to gently crack the cocoa without breaking them into very small bits - which is exactly what we're trying to avoid.

:: Clay

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

I tried googling around for more info on these and came across the universal nut sheller. It was originally designed to give people who subsist on peanuts a better way to crack them. Looks pretty easy to build (especially the 2nd revised version at the end of the 'redesigned' video) and could be motorized to really chew through some beans. What do you think?

Original designers:

http://www.thefullbellyproject.org/Products/UniversalNutSheller.aspx

Instructable:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Universal-Nut-Sheller/

Redesigned Universal Nut Sheller

Redesigned Universal Nut Sheller

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

Hmmmm..... Interesting concept....

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

Deborah -

The grid is on the bottom - the output side of the grinding mechanism. My guess is that it's necessary to remove the grid to allow unimpeded flow of the cracked beans. If you don't mind a mess (or can shroud it otherwise - this is a short test), you might be able get away with not using the bottom cover.

Worse comes to worse let me know and I will see about getting a replacement for you.

: Clay

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

John did tweek the Champion by cutting out a grid . If no one else gets to it first, I have both a Crankandstein and a Champion and can try the comparison this weekend.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

On a related note, John Nanci over at Chocolate Alchemy has finally published a photo for his new winnower - the Aether - that uses a Champion juicer as a bean cracker. I don't have a juicer at the moment, so I was wondering is there are any ChocolateLife members who do have one - and who also have a Crankandstein - who'd like to experiment with using their Champion to crack roasted cocoa beans and compare the difference in the cracking efficiency between the two with us.

In particular, I am interested in knowing about the consistency in sizing and the percentage of very large pieces with shell still attached.

Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)

A ChocolateLife member in Hawaii recently sent me pictures of a Brazilian-made coffee sheller that they've been using in a lab in the University of Hawaii to crack cacao beans for winnowing.

One of the things that makes this device interesting (apart from the fact that it should be inexpensive) is that the gap is adjustable. If so, this could address one of the issues that many people have with the Crankandstein, which is that because the gap is fixed (and narrow) it results in over-cracking the beans and a lot of small particles and dust.

Here are some pictures of the unit:

I am asking any member of TheChocolateLife in Brazil if

a) they know anything about these coffee shellers
b) can try them out on roasted beans and let us know how they work (photos, please!)
c) let us know how much they cost
d) be willing to help (translate) to see if it's worth trying to bring them here to the US.

Thanks,
:: Clay

updated by @Clay Gordon: 12/13/24 12:15:15

Chocolate and water do mix

Posted in: Opinion

The article is indeed misleading. Sounds like they are using water as a selling point to portrait a unique product. Thank you for the in depth reply Clay.

Also Brad, I've included water a few times to broken ganaches earlier in my career. It was the best way to fix them by gradually adding and whisking. Works well.

Cheers,

O

Chocolate and water do mix

Posted in: Opinion

I'd like to add something here too. There is a fallacy about a simple drop of water being added to chocolate to cause it to sieze. This is not necessarily the case - although it's a good scare tactic for beginners! If done properly, water can be added to properly tempered chocolate in order to speed the thickening process for working with. When one really thinks about it, chocolate is by nature very hygroscopic - it readily absorbes moisture from its environment.

It's common for chocolate to equalize somewhat to the relative humidity of the area in which it's being stored/used. This is why it's hard to work with chocolate in humid climates, and areas like Belgium and here in Alberta are great for working with chocolate as it's very dry both in Belgium and here.

Try it sometime: take a couple of lbs of tempered chocolate, and carefully pour a couple of teaspoons of water into it while stirring vigorously. It'll thicken very quickly, but still temper just fine.

Cheers.

Brad

Chocolate and water do mix

Posted in: Opinion

Water-based ganaches are nothing new - I have personally known about them (and have made them) for at least six or seven years. I have also known people who have been making them for a lot longer (it's where I learned about them). So Damian Allsop is not at the vanguard of anything - he's just doing a good job of PR in a market that is unaware of the history of this area.

Cream has a flavor, and while fats do a good job of transporting flavor, the flavor of the cream (and other dairy) will mask other flavorings in the ganache. The fat in the dairy helps with emulsification, so it requires more work to create a stable emulsion with just water. Immersion blenders are just the trick here - doing it by hand is not the way to go.

One thing the article got wrong was the idea of a chocolate and water shell. There is no reason to do this and, technically, it won't work. Another thing the article confuses is conflating ganaches with mousses. There's no reason to add egg to a ganache. Most knowledgeable people will know that, but people with less experience might try to figure out how to add eggs to a ganache.

Another thing to consider is the solvent used to extract flavoring.

Take a cinnamon stick, for example. You'll get different flavor components with water, oil, and alcohol extractions that can deliver a far more expressive version of cinnamon than any one (and water is the one on the tongue). If I were working on a new cinnamon-scented water-based ganache I would look to blend my own extract of cinnamon from a variety of solvents. This technique can be applied to any number of herbs and spices.

Chocolate and water do mix

Posted in: Opinion

awesome Clay thank you.What do you think of this product? Seems to me like more of a chocolate dish to be served in restaurants. But why would the taste be stronger with water rather than with cream or any other product?

Chocolate and water do mix

Posted in: Opinion

Omar - the link was broken so I fixed it and rearranged the post so that something showed up in the description on the front page.

Chocolate and water do mix

Posted in: Opinion

Anyone tried this before?

Water-based chocolates create 'far superior' flavors

Love to hear your comments, gang.

updated by @Omar Forastero: 04/21/15 00:17:26

Transfers on White Chocolate?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Because white chocolate has the lowest working temperature, your transfers are having a hard time "transferring" . So it is very important you get them on to the top of your creations immediately. Also try storing your transfers at a few different temperatures until you find the best result. Could be your transfers are too cool or even too warm to work the best. I think it is just an equation of tweaking your method, but again, most important is to remember white chocolate is already cooler working temp so will be most difficult to melt those transfers off the plastic onto your surface.