Most cocoa powder is 8-10 um in particle size - if you require finer, try something like a jet mill.
I'd be surprised if you required finer than that. It's probably easier simply to find an alternate cocoa powder - perhaps the one you're using is of poor quality. Jet milling can give you sub micron particle size, but it will be very, very expensive.
Russ:
Without actually trying it, I can't see why there would be any particular benefit to using a grinder like the ECGC12SL as a mixer, which is what you're really looking to do - mix all the ingredients together and create a more stable suspension.
How long were you thinking you'd need to leave everything in to mix? I am thinking 10-15 minutes tops, which would mean that there would be little chance for any evaporation to happen - which you do want, actually, water in the suspension increases viscosity significantly.
Most dried honey powder is a little honey and a lot of filler - usually maltodextrin. Good luck in finding something that is pure honey. I and others have been looking and we haven't found anything yet.
Thanks for pointing me to that Clay! Is there a benefit to running everything through a melanger before dropping it into a tempering machine?
Russ:
Colin Green in Australia started a related discussion on honey and chocolatea couple of months ago - you might want to check to see if some of the answers you seek are there.
This is my first post and I'm just starting out working with chocolate. I've beenexperimentingwith honey (liquid, creamed and raw). I've gotten some decent results but the texture of my chocolate always seems to start getting gritty and crumbly after about a week. I'm trying to figure out if this is due to not being tempered properly, because of the moisture content of the honey or possibly both and some other reasons?
Long story short, I have a tempering machine on the way. I've been using blocks of cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and a small amount of honey to make my chocolate. I'm considering buying a melanger (looking at the cocoatown ECCG-12sl). Does anyone know if it would be worthwhile to use one to get the honey and cocoaliquorbutter more evenly mixed before going into the tempering machine? I was also thinking that the heat generated from the melanger might evaporate some of the moisture out of the honey/cocoa mix? I was also considering trying to find dehydrated honey to mix in, would a melanger still be useful in the process regardless?
Lieven:
Your production target very wide - 45-90kg chocolate per day (assuming 220 working days/year) soSebastian is right in asking what your budget is. There are several different ways to get there, and many more ways NOT to get there.
Hi,
We own a chocolate shop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We import the chocolate from Belgium and make the pralines and bars for the local market, upscale.
We will now set up a small 'chocolate factory' in-town for export and tourists. So we are looking to procure all machines (roasters, willowing, conching, tempering, etc.) to produce between 10-20 tons per year.
All suggestions on where to procure are very highly appreciated ! Best would be a former small chocolate factory which is closing and selling its machinery.
Brgds, Lieven
If the weather has been warm, I put them in the fridge when I first get them to firm up. After that, I keep in dark, dry room.
I'm going to second Kerry's suggestion. Ultimately, I am sure you will be fine if the package is sealed and you let the transfer sheets come to room temperature prior to using.
I'm for the dry, dark and cool storage area. I would worry about condensation with the fridge.
I just received my first order of custom transfers. The directions said to keep them in the refrigerator. I was surprised as I thought that would cause condensation. I have kept my other transfer sheets in a dry and dark storage area. What do you all suggest?
Thanks Valerie.........I'll give it a try this weekend.
Karen
Hello Everyone,
I'm looking for a good buttercream recipe to use as centers in chocolates. Does anyone have any suggestions.
I already have a receipe with powdered sugar, corn syrup, butter etc. but would like something a bit smoother. I've never tried a cooked recipe before, would that do the trick and if so, does anyone have one they would share?
Thanks,
Karen Blueberry
Thanks Gordon!! do you konw of any food historians that can solve the ganache question?
Gustaf:
On this last question: it depends on the recipe. What is the percentage of cocoa? Dark chocolate could be in the range 35% cocoa to 100% cocoa.
Also, if cocoa butter is added to the recipe you need to know the extraction ratio of non-fat cocoa solids to fat in order to know how many beans were used to generate a specific amount of cocoa butter.
And then - you need to know the fat ratio of the beans themselves. 47% fat? 53% fat?
And then - what variety of beans are you talking about? Industry is more or less standardized around 100 beans == 100 grams. However, some varieties, like the wild beans from Bolivia, are upwards of 140-160 beans per 100 grams. It takes many more Bolivian wild beans to make a kilo of chocolate than CCN51, which are much larger.
Not sure why you want to know the answer, but the question is only answerable within a narrow range, and only after you have values for the variables involved.
BTW...How many cocoa beans does it take to make 1 kilo of dark chocolate?
Daniela...yeah I heard that story too but I need true facts!! I saw that the word came from the French language, where it means literally, jowl, from Italian ganascia, modification of Greek gnathos jaw more at -gnathousFirst Known Use: 1977...I found this in the Merriam Webster site.
The name also refers to the lower jowl of a horse...
But I need true facts...ANYONE!!!
It's a french word. It's supposed to mean "fool", there's was a helper in a pastry shop who spilled hot cream over chocolate by mistake and the chef called him "ganache" but the cream was a complete success. they don't use the word in its original context anymore though 
Hi,
I have question in regards to the word ganache...where does it come from (origin) and what does it mean?
Help!!!
G
It was a loose connection on the circuit board and it's up and running. Whew.
At the worst possible time, the motor on my ACMC isnt working. The machine turns on, the bulbs light up and the temp display is working.
How can I be sure it's the motor before I order one?
How hard is it to install a new motor?
Awesome answer, Clay! I think I'll end up just using the cocoa butter for my coveurture (it's needed to make it thinner and easier to dip with, right?), truffles and white chocolate.
BTW, LOVE this forum! It's great to have a place I can go to read the musings and thoughts of so many experienced and passionate chocolatiers.
One of the reasons small bean-to-bar chocolate makers don't use added cocoa butter in their recipes is because, in order to be truly single-origin, the cocoa butter should come from the same beans used to make the chocolate.
Another reason often cited is that adding deodorized cocoa butter "dilutes" the flavor of the chocolate. Undeodorized cocoa butter has a flavor so it doesn't have the problem of diluting the flavor it has the problem of altering the flavor of the chocolate. Adding undeodorized Ghana butter to a chocolate made from Madagascar beans and what's the result?
Which way to go? It's up to you as the chocolate maker to decide. If you are going to be marketing single-origin chocolates then I think you've got a problem using cocoa butter that's not from the same origin, irrespective of whether it's deodorized or un-. If you don't have that issue, then un- is the way to go.
And - BTW - here in the US, white chocolate is legally chocolate, as long as the recipe conforms to the Standard of Identity (if it doesn't you can't call it white chocolate). FYI, perhaps the best white chocolate in the world is made with undeodorized cocoa butter: El Rey's Icoa. I tad heavily roasted for taste, but it does taste like cocoa and not sweet dairy.
There aren't many things in life that have definitive, black and white answers i'm afraid 8-) certainly not chocolate!
Hrmm... Well, not as definitive an answer as I was hoping for, but that works. lol. Thanks for the help, Sebastian!
Deodorized should have less color and less residual flavor than natural (should - if they're deodorizing correctly...). Which should you use? depends on if you'd like that extra flavor/color in your product or not. color won't matter for your dark or milk - it may for your white. flavor always matters. depends on what type of flavor you're after.
So, I'm looking into the first purchases I'll need for bean-to-bar production, and I'm not sure which kind of cocoa butter I should get... The deodorized is only $15 more than the un-deodorized (for a 55 lb brick), but that's not what matters to me. I don't want to purchase that much and have it end up something I don't want to be using...
Anyone have some advice for this problem? I'm only looking at making dark and milk to start with, but I'll want to make white eventually too (I know, it's not "real" chocolate).
Thanks in advance for the advice, guys and gals!!
~Tom
Also, when buying equipment for the fist time, who bought a roaster, and who made due with an oven to start with?
Thank you so much, Kerry. Now I know. I will follow the instructions which Gap gave above for hollow molded eggs. It will be fun trying.
Yup - that would be traditionally hollow. You could put some little eggs inside and glue the two sides together.
And two more photos. This is how the bottom looks-it is mounted on wood.
Here are photos of it. So it sounds like this mold only makes hollow eggs. That's okay.
I don't know that you can make a successful solid egg with that mold with the flange in place. I tend to make my eggs in two pieces then heat both sides on a heated sheet pan and gluing them together.
Yes, Kerry, the flange is what I have on this mold. (I looked almost to the end of your link and I see a flat metal piece like the one on my mold) The mold makes three eggs, side by side. They are about 5" long. There are two sides to the mold, so it makes 3 D eggs. In between the two sides of the mold, there is a flange. It has decorative marks all around the opening in the flange.
I would like to make solid eggs, with toasted pecans. I am still unclear about just how to do this. Should I pour the two pieces, and then attach them together when they are cool? How would I use the flange? ( I feel so lame, I should be able to figure this out) I asked my husband, and also my son who is an engineer, and neither of them can tell me how to use this mold. I might be able to upoad a photo of the mold if I can figure out how to do that. Thanks so much!
http://www.oldmolds.com/SpecialEggs.htm
Scroll down this page - there are several eggs with flanges - I wonder if this is what you are describing?
If it's the sort of mold I think it is - the piece between the two molds provides a decorative edge on one side of the egg and allows you to have a two piece egg.
I always toast nuts before adding to chocolate.
Hi Donna,
sorry, but I can't picture what you mean by the hinges but I haven't seen anything like you're describing before. Maybe someone else can chime in?
Solid eggs can be done depending on the size of the mould. If it's too big, it may take too long to cool, throwing your chocolate out of temper. If it's a smaller size, it will prob be OK and just need a little longer in the fridge than I described above. I would mould the egg first and then put the pecans into the mould. Personally, I prefer toasted nuts, but I think you could do whatever you prefer.
Thank you, Gap. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer! I have a few other questions for you, if you don't mind.
Do you know what the thin metal plate is in the middle of the two sides of the mold? It is on piano type hinges, and is decorated on both sides, on the outline of the egg hole. It sits on either side of the mold, (depending on which side you put it), flat on top of the mold half. Is this just to add a decorative accent to the finished product, if you are only doing halves? Or, is it to level off the chocolate and give the maker a level to level the chocolate?
And, if I would like to do solid eggs, do you have any pointers for me? I sort of had my heart set on doing solid chocolate eggs with pecans interspersed in the chocolate. (I was thinking about using Valhrona Caramelia or Trader Joe's pound plus bars in dark chocolate. I am not sure which would give the best finished product. Would you toast the pecans before adding to the chocolate, or just use them right out of the bag? They are pecan halves. Thank you, and sorry for the additional questions~I just don't want to mess up-it would be an expensive mistake. Luckily, I purchased a used Rev 2 temperer, so that part will be easy!
Hard to say without seeing it. My guess is:
1. Temper your chocolate
2. Polish the inside of your metal mould with cotton wool
3. Smear a thin layer of tempered chocolate on the inside of the mould using your finger
4. Let it set
5a (if the mould has an opening when two sides are clipped together): Clip the mould together and pour tempered chocolate into the mould - fill it up and then tip it out of the opening
5b (if the mould is completely closed when clipped together): put some tempered chocolate in one side and clip the mould together. Then slowly move the mould around in a circular motion to keep the chocolate moving inside to form an even and thick coating of chocolate.
6. Let it cool. If your mould is making a good sized egg, it might be best to give it a while in the fridge (maybe 5-10 minutes).
7. Unmould. It doesn't matter if you wait too long to unmould, but it will matter if you're too quick and this just comes from experience - knowing your chocolate, mould and conditions. Without knowing your mould, I would say give it 15 mins in the fridge and see if it releases easily from the mould. If not, give it a bit longer.
Good luck - 3D moulds are a piece of cake once you've done it once or twice and can produce some great things for Easter.
I would like to mold some eggs with tempered chocolate and pecans for my family this Easter. I purchased a beautiful metal mold on ebay. It makes a nice three D egg. Each side of the mold is three dimensional, and there is a metal piece in between both sides. There are clips to clamp the mold tight, and one half of the mold is set in a wood base. It looks like it was used commercially. How do I use this mold? I don't know where to start. Please be gentle-I am a hobbyist, and not a professional! Thank you!-Donna
