I am having a hard time trying to find organic couverture. I am currently living in San Diego, CA and would love to find a local supplier if anybody knows of any business please!! let me know. I would reallyappreciate it. Thank you in advance!
Jen =)
Thanks for that Clay. Very helpful now I understand. I was always doing the temper 2, it takes a bit more time but knowing now that it makes the chocolate just that bit better is good to know.
I bought another Delta, great machine for smaller quantities.
Cheers
ChocolateLife member Jan van Portvliet sent me the following question last week:
I am using the revolation delta. Great machine for what I do.
I have a question though and you might be able to give me an answer.
There are two tempering sets,tempering 1 and tempering 2. Tempering 1 goes back to the working temperature and tempering 2 first goes to the colder temperature and then heats up to the working temperature.
What is thedifference between the two?
I sent the question off to Chocovision and got the following response:
There are two temper modes; Temper 1 and Temper 2.
The Temper 1 cycle takes the chocolate from the set melt point to the set temper point. The Temper 2 cycle takes the chocolate from the set melt point to 3.5 degrees (F) below it, and then warms it to the set temper point.
In scientific terms, taking the temperature down allows the beta, alpha, and gamma crystals to nucleate more rapidly. Bringing the chocolate to the end temperature not only stops the nucleation of the alpha and gamma crystals but also melts out any alpha and gamma that have not transformed into beta crystals.
In a nutshell, Temper 2 gives more time (and better temperature conditions) for beta crystals to develop. Higher milk fat in chocolates inhibits beta crystal nucleation so Temper 2 is important to utilize, hoewever, it would over-thicken a chocolate that has no ingredient to inhibit crystal growth.
And remember, it's not just donating money to help Chiapas farmers whose ancestors helped invent chocolateget organic certification, get better fermenting equipment, preserve their traditionalchocolate recipes & rare endangered spices, and bring this authentic traditional chocolate to the rest of the world, but for your backing you also get tons of great rewards like super rare bars we'll make from the first hand-roasted batch of Xoconusco cacao and hard-to-find spices, bars designed specifically toyour wants and needs, and privatechocolate classes. These delicious limited edition bars are worth the donation alone!
In fact, in a tasting we took part in at the Fine Chocolate Industry Association meeting in Washington DC on July 9th before the Fancy Food Show with our first limited run Xoconuscochocolate bars made with the aromatic maple-scented Oaxacan spice rosita de cacao
and carefully selected cocoa beans hand roasted on a traditional ceramic comal griddle in Chiapas,
we received unanimous praise from attendees.
Our Rosita de cacao Xoconusco chocolate, made in only 2 weeks bean to bar, waiting for expectant tasters at theFine Chocolate Industry Association meeting in DC, along with other great Latin Americanchocolates.
Even stacked up against such renowned finechocolate makers as Bonnat, Valrhona, Amano, Felchlin, and Pacari thatthe tasting organizer, the famous Cuban chef Maricel Presilla,had deftly arranged in a historical and geographic order from cacao & chocolate's origins in South and Central America, people including the founder of DagobaChocolate were waxing on, even with their small sample, about how much they loved the delicate aroma of the rosita with the fine, smooth, and fruity taste of the Aztec Royal Criollo cacao-basedchocolate. They were wondering when they could get full bars of our chocolate into their stores and mouths. Butyou can have several bars of this rarechocolate before any of the chocerati that were at the meeting if we can get to 100% backing in 7 more days.
It's not just the best chocolate makers and tasters in the country, but the local news in Hawaii is also excited about our project as both a way to get local sustainable economies rejuvenated in both Chiapas and Hawaii, and as way to jumpstart the world ofchocolate makers in Hawaii since we will use a small part of the kickstarter funds to be some of the first people to bring medium scalechocolate-making equipment to Hawaii. Right now it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem withchocolate here- no one wants to plant a ton of cacao since there's no equipment to process it on the islands, and no one wants to bring in the equipment since there's not enough cacao grown here currently to keep the equipment busy. This recent Honolulu Magazine article explains a bit of that issue and how we've been building up the equipment bit by bit, and supplementing the growing Hawaiian cacao production with modest shipments from Latin America. Imminent Hawaii food writer Martha Cheng's article inHonolulu Weekly describes how we and some other local small food businesses are using Kickstarter to get things started right.
And that's whereyou all come in- helping us getchocolate started right, with a sense of history, ethics, sustainability, locality, and most of all, deliciousness. So please spread the word to anyoneyou can to help us and the Mexican cacao farmers bringyou great tastingchocolate by backing our campaign. We hope to sendyou some of those tasty results in only 7 days!
Do you mean milk or cream caramel or caramel? Caramel is simply heated sugar so you only variable is going to be the quality and taste of the sugar your caramelising. For non dairy caramel confectionery I'd experiment with non dairy milk substitutes. My guess being that almond and coconut milk works well, rice and soy milk maybe.
i have a fairly new chocolate company and have lots of calls for nut turtles and nut clusters
is there any way i can get a good caramel recipe
i also recently got a call for none dairy caramel is there such a thing
Hi -- just looking for some opinions. I have often rolled truffles in cocoa powder as tradition (I think!) dictates, but some people have told me it is too intense, especially with a dark chocolate truffle.
I am wondering if I should try cutting the cocoa powder with some powdered sugar, or if for those palates I should just skip the cocoa and roll in crushed pistachios etc.
What are your favorite things to roll in?
Hi Brad,
thanks for your suggestions, like you i'm a purist when it comes to make something.
I live in South Africa (after been all over the world as Pastry Chef) where a chocolate revolution is happening.
Till now the only chocolate available has been the "cheap" stuff, lately a lot is happening and we are also trying to educate people what chocolate really is.
Unfortunately with the "revolution" comes as well the one that make something without knowledge and tell "stories" just to make money..
I was somehow aware that the use of cocoa powder is not ideal, but i was looking for some form of confirmation to my theory...
We use only organic products and in less than 3 months from opening we have already developed
6 different chocolates.
Thanks for your recipes!!! i will try them as soon as i can!
Antonino
Antonino;
I've worked very little with cocoa powder, but based on my research, understand it to be literally the "bottom of the barrel" in the chocolate industry. I also know that some companies will add it at the end of the refining process to increase the intensity of their chocolate, without increasing the cost (cocoa powder is cheap).
Yes, you can probably use it at the beginning of the conche process to reduce the particle size, but in my opinion, if you are working with cocoa beans to make your own chocolate, you should avoid the use of cocoa powder and celebrate the flavour of the beans themselves, without trying to muddy the flavour with cocoa powder. One option would be to increase the bean percentage, decrease the cocoa butter percentage, and then substitute a small amount of Anhydrous Milk Fat for some of the sugar. The AMF will give the chocolate more fluidity and creaminess.
Try this recipe for, say, a 90% bar:
80% cocoa beans
10% cocoa butter
5% AMF
5% Sugar
the AMF will help with softness, fluidity, and mouthfeel, and the lower sugar content will not sweeten it as much.
The 80% we make in our shop uses no lecithin and molds with the same viscosity of milk chocolate. It's recipe is:
70% beans
10% cocoa butter
19.5% sugar
0.5% vanilla bean
Hope this helps.
Brad
Hi to everyone!
I'm chocolatier turned latelychocolate maker.
Making chocolate is an amazing experience: so many variable, so many options and so many things to learn and discover.
my Question:
Listening to other chocolate maker i have noticed the practice of adding cocoa powder to increase the percentage of the chocolate. (Eg: 70% chocolate= 50% beans+10% Cocoa Butter + 10% cocoa powder--- just saying, is NOT my recipe)
Now, in theory it should be ok as percentage is given by cocoamass and cocoa butter; but in practice is this right?
Is this something common in chocolate making process?
I have tasted some of those cocoa powder "enriched" chocolates and the first thing i noticed is the rubber mouth-feel.
I guess that is due the fact that cocoa powder is already very finely ground and if added in the beginning of conching will reduce even more the micron size >15 micron.
Adding it just at the end part of coching, would be ok?
I hope it all make sense and there is an answer out there (or 2 or more..)
Ciao
Antonino
The First All-Americas Craft Chocolate Festival in being held in NYC on Friday and Saturday September 23rd and 24th, 2011.
Held in conjunction with Get Real NY's All-American Craft Beer & Food Fest, the Craft Chocolate Festival's mission is to highlight and promote all of the exciting work being done by craft chocolate makers anywhere in the Americas (USA, Canada, Caribbean, Central and South America).
This year, the flavor "theme" of the Beer Fest's homebrew competition will be cocoa.
There will be five tasting sessions during the two day festival, two on Friday and three on Saturday. In addition to sampling chocolates matched with the beers being served, a demonstration of making chocolate, from the bean, will be operated continuously during the festival.
The tasting session on Saturday morning will feature guided pairings of craft chocolate, craft beer, cheese, bacon, hot chocolate, and more.
There are several ways craft chocolate makers can participate:
If you are interested in participating in any of the four ways mentioned above (or some other way that's not mentioned), get in touch with Clay Gordon at claygordon (at) thechocolatelife (dot) com for more information and details.
Watching this page and visit the Fest's listing page here on TheChocolateLife for updates and more about this exciting first-of-its-kind Festival.
And of course visit "the factory" sometime! Did you know Kees Raat, a famous Dutch chocolatier, also bought equipment? Chocolove, Vera
Best of luck in your new venture. It is indeed an exciting and very different world than being a fondeur.
I'll be in Belgium in September and would love to drop by.
well done and congratulation!!! i also just did the "big step" and you will see how exciting it is!
a new world of possibilities has open to me and you will spend so much time in research, blending, roasting in different levels.
Being "the master of your own disasters" is actually really cool....
keep posted, we might share experience and knowledge..
Nino
It is the certainly one of the most exciting steps in my chocolate life: I am now producing my own chocolate from fantastic beans! Only Giants like Callebaut and Marcolini ( aka Nestle) do it in Belgium. I am then proud to say that we are the only belgian craftsman to work from the bean!
..more to come in the following weeks, including a new experimental website!
Anybody from this site who will be in Paris for the Salon du chocolat?
This year it will be from 20th to 24th of oktober.
http://www.salonduchocolat.fr/(S(rddtfh4h43tlswzkxnsspctb))/accueil.aspx
If any ChocolateLife member owns a Cacao Cucina roaster, I am interested in getting
Thanks,
:: Clay
Along with watching the temper of your cocoa butter, also look at the temperature of your molds. Try to warm them up to within adegrees or two of your temper. If too cold, even a good temper can be ruined, especially since you have a thin coat.
When tempering cocoa butter watch the temperature. For chocolates, rule of thumb is the more other fats/oils in the chocolate, the lower the tempering temperature, with dark being higher than milk, and milk higher than white. A gianduja tempers down to room temp. You would think then that pure cocoa butter would be the highest, but it's lower. Reason here isyou can't just look at the fat(s) in your system, but other solids. With pure cocoa butter you don't have the sugar/cocoa particulates to help induce seeding.
I've had a lot of luck using your "shake it in the bottle" tempering. I warm the bottle in hot water until about half is melted. This works better than a microwave since hot water melts outside to in, leaving center cool and hard.I getthe melted portionto about 105F, but stillthat solid center. Then I shake it until the solid center cools down the melted portion to tempering temp. The seed coming from the unmelted center. Didn't take much practice to get it working consistent.
There could be a couple of of problems here. The splatters of cocoa butter might be too thick. Your molds would release without problems in the areas with it is not too thick. Your cocoa butter may be out of temper. If you melted all of the cocoa butter out (with nothing solid left in the container) it could be out of temper and simply shaking it will not temper it. If it is all melted out you need to re-temper as you would chocolate. Also, remember that, like chocolate,cocoa buttercan be over tempered (over crystalized). I am no expert in working with colored cocoa butter but keep practicing and you'll figure out what methods work best for you.
Thank you everyone for your comments. I'm not certain what the temperature of the cocoa butter was, I warmed the bottle and shook it up to "temper it." The cocoa butter solidified in the mold after about 15 minutes, then I poured 32C tempered dark chocolate into the mold.
Could the colored cocoa butter be out of temper? I didn't have a problem with it before, so I'm wondering if somewhere along the way, all the continued melting and shaking of the cocoa butter bottle has brought it out of temper?
Although, if the cocoa butter is out of temper, I don't know why most of it releases without a problem. Seems like if it is not in temper, then none of it should release.
firstly, cocoa butter must be tempered before splattered.
This might work: pour a little bit of chocolate in the mold, tap it/vibrate until every pcs has a a thin layer of chocolate in it. Then mold the rest of the chocolate. The chocolate might be too cold too.
Hai Dragane.
Dali si jos u potrbi informacia.To nije tako tesko.samo ne znam koliko mislis da proizvodis.Mozes mi se javiti na pmiladinovic@yahoo.com.bilo bi mi drago da ti pomognem.
Hi everyone!
My name is Dragan, I am from Serbia (southeast Europe) and I would like to start small-scale production of chocolate dipped pretzel rods. I have to organize production of pretzel rods, since it can' be bought here, as well as dipping process which puts me in rather difficult position because I am not professional baker nor candy maker. I would try to use some homemade equipment for manufacturing pretzel rods (dough extruder, lye bath). In the beginning I would apply hand chocolate dipping. Major part of the pretzel rods would be dipped in cocoa coating which doesn't require tempering. For small part of production I would temper chocolate by the seeding method. Cooling of the chocolate dipped pretzel rods would be in the cold room with portable a/c.
Planned daily output is in range of 100kg (about 220lbs).
Please, if anyone has some advice regarding best recept for pretzel dough, dough extrusion method, baking process, process of chocolate dipping, cooling after dipping, storage, method for extension of the shelf life etc.
Thanks
Dragan
Your final texture or firmness (i.e. stability)of your ganache should be a reflection of the ratio of cream to chocolate as opposed to tempered versus untempered chocolate. Your final product may be a little more firm using tempered chocolate but that is something you can experiment with to see what you prefer. Personally I'd give it a shot with untempered chocolate and see what happens. I do the same as you and melt the chocolate with the heated cream and it saves me from tempering more chocolate (I temper by hand since I don't have a tempering machine)
I am guessing that the room temperature butter should be added to the ganache as the last ingredient and once the ganache as cooled enough that the temperature of the chocolate is not melting the butter but only incorporating it. Think about when you make chocolate chip cookies. The butter is added to the recipe softened but not melted. If you added melted butter to the recipe your final texture of the cookies would be different- it is kind of the same concept here.
Take care,
Andrea
Andrea, that is an interesting aside!! I usually just use hot cream to melt my chocolate and use that -- untempered!-- and it has never broken... I decided to use tempered chocolate for the same reason you did (someone swore by it), and this is when I encountered problems. I would happily go back to using untempered chocolate in my ganache but I am wondering if this will effect the truffles' stability when they are not refrigerated. What is your experience with that? I am looking to make truffles that can be stored in a cool place, but don't have to be refrigerated.
Also, If i continue trying to use the tempered chocolate in the ganache, what order would you do things in? I'm particularly interested in when you would add the butter.
Hi Katie,
I do think the butter mixture was way too hot. Definitely cool it down into the low-to-mid 80's before adding it.
Do you mean you are planning to add the room temp butter to the cream instead of the the chocolate? If so, then I would not do that. Adding things at different times and temps can affect the texture and mouth feelof the final product. Also, make sure the butter reallyis at room temp before adding it.
Also, this is just a funny FYI. A few months back I was at a class where they were talking about ganache and the problems one can encounter (i.e. broken ganache, too hard, too soft, etc) and I commented that I had never had a broken ganache before. Well, I cursed myself... just about every ganache I made for that class broke and had to be repaired! It was interesting because I typically do not use tempered chocolate for my ganache and this instructor swears by it. He thinks the texture of the ganache using tempered chocolate is better over the life of the product. I have tested this notion (strictly on myself)and actually found that I prefer ganache made with untempered chocolate no matter when it is in it's life (i.e 1st day it is made versus 2-3 weeks old).I have taken recipes that call for tempered chocolate and just used melted chocolate with no discernable difference in the end - of course I make bonbons and don't usually slab my ganache. Just something for you to think about and maybe test for yourself in the future. I hope your next attempt with this ganache goes well. Let us know...
awesome, thanks Andrea! I will definitely whisk tonight.
As for the temperature issue, do you agree that the honey/cream mixture needed to be cooler? Also, my plan is to melt the butter right into the cream mixture. Do you think that is a smart plan?
Thank you all for the tips! Sorry for my late reply -- computer out of commission. I am going to use all of these tips slowly but surely and hopefully the will fix my issues.
I'm still freaked about the grainy ganache -- I'm hoping adding the butter at a different time, cooling the cream more and mixing with a little more vigor will do the trick! I will try this all tomorrow night.
