Forum Activity for @Daniel Haran

All the aromatherapy stuff is hella overpriced - and often the taste isn't as great as the smell. I used Lorann for my latest experiments, which was easily available and better than the 3 different brands of aromatherapy oils I could get my hands on.

Thank you, helpful advises.

1 ml per kg is a lot less from what I would guess.

Do you know this product: http://il.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Essential-Oils-Peppermint-2-fl-oz-59-ml/21127

And from your point of view, how was the taste?

Peppermint oil from Sevarome.

Use 1 ml per 1 kg.

Do not add to the grinder or conche.

Add to liquid chocolate before tempering or even better just before depositing if you can mix it in well. This will reduce the clean up.

Please remember that chocolate absorbs flavours very well so you run a risk of everything smelling a bit minty if you are not careful while producing or cleaning. 

Gently used for only 1 year and like new. I am putting a link to the exact machine from ChocoVision here so you can compare the quality of what I am selling versus the new one.  Comes with 10 lb. hopper attachment,  1 bowl, 1 solid baffle, 1 holey baffle, instruction manual, 3 pack of scrapers, 1 baffle brush, set of knobs, 1 cover. The white plastic rim that sits between the bowl and machine got thrown away by a former employee, so that is the only part missing. Asking $1000 but will take reasonable offers. Located in New Orleans, LA. Contact me at kellyespivey@gmail.com if you have any questions.

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Hi,
Did anyone try to mix essential mint oil in chocolate?
It's a popular taste recently.
Which oil do you use?
how much oil approximately you need to 1 kg of chocolate?
boiling point to avoid from evaporation while in the grinder?

Thank you

Yes, we did. Of note: they'll tell you that shipping is included, but not that its only to your nearest port. You'll need to pick it up from there or pay a good amount of money to get it to you via a LTL intermediary. There will also be misc fees to bring the equipment in, paid at the port of entry... Also there are storage fees that can rack up pretty quickly at ports if you don't pick the equipment up or arrange for an intermediary to do so quickly, which is a little annoying since the arrival date is never set in stone. Santha didn't make this crystal clear to us, so the few hundred extra dollars and man hours we spent to finish the transaction was a sizeable annoyance. I say this to encourage you to ask lots of questions and to be prepared to jump on it when you receive notification that it has arrived. 

This is the only thing I've seen: http://www.packagemachinery.com/packagemachines/table-top-diefold-entry-level-wrapper/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.packagemachinery.com/packagemachines/table-top-diefold-entry-level-wrapper/&source=gmail&ust=1463108640698000&usg=AFQjCNERyLG53PPluCqjHEiziBldqfeNBQ"> http://www.packagemachinery. com/packagemachines/table-top- diefold-entry-level-wrapper/

It's spendy - about $30K!

Hi Brian,

thanks for taking the time to reply. You have certainly helped me make up my mind and I will place an order for the 65lb chain driven machine tonight. Did you order from SanthaUSA.com?

Barry, is the pan still available?  Robert

Great adds to the discussion...thank you for your time!

CAT

Hey,

Please email me to discuss this product. I am located in Virginia. byrdeus at gmail.com. Thanks

I have 2 Hilliard little dippers for sale. I bought them brand new, I am the sole owner, I have had them for 5 years. They are in excellent condition. Each little dipper comes with a case of 100 watt incadescent light bulbs. Each bulb has a 10,000 hour life.

$1000 each. (shipping not included)

If local pick up, then the sale will include the stand. The stand is on wheels and hold about 8 half sheet bakers trays

Call with any questions.

201-424-6064

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I've used the smaller Spectra 11 units, and can confirm they burn out belts like crazy. The Spectra 40 however has been chain driven since we bought our unit a couple years ago, and I absolutely love it. Just make sure that if you buy a used one, you get one that's chain driven... We have of course had some issues with it over the years, with mixed results as to how quickly / easily of a time we've had getting spare or replacement parts. However, we did have the seal on the drum go out in less than a year from purchase, and Santha stood by their one year warranty and shipped us an entire new drum free of charge. Between this action and the price on these machines, I'm convinced they're the best option on the market right now if you're dedicated to refining with stone. 

Are these machines still available? Sent an email but haven't heard back..

Kerry,

Will you share your source for the flexible plastic guitar sheets?

I LOVE your chocolate shop. Wish you could pick it up and take it with you and hoping you are coming over to our side of the pond?

Hi,

thanks for the reply.

It sounds like a very good machine then. Thank you for sharing your view on it, its really helpful as for me being based in the UK these larger machines once shipped and customs sticking tax on it end up being very very expensive so chosing a good machine is crucial.

cheers,

James

Oh, understood.

I thought that maybe the chocolate starts to cool and solidify in the 10 hours and somehow the grinder is unable to start. (don't know its capacity/power)

Also thought you were referring to some other separate heating appliance.

Thank you,

I hope I understand your question: friction forces when the grinder operate bring the temperature up quickly, no other devices are needed

You can use something like this  or commission/build a custom micro controller (arduino/Rpi) with temperature sensors to trigger on/off events on a relay board automatically or remotely.

I'm curious that you mention taking the temperature of a grinder first but then you state that you leave the chocolate to cool and the "turn on" something to heat it back up?

Is it the grinder or other device/appliance? 

Hi,

Is there anybody who try to measure the temperature of the chocolate in the grinder and was able to control off/on button from afar like an application in the cell phone?

I'm asking this question because my way to temper the chocolate in the hot and humid area that I live in is to leave the chocolate inside in a place with a minimum of air flow and let it cool for around 10 hours to approximately 28C (depending in the chocolate type) in then turn it on again for about 30 minutes till I reach working temperature.

Control the device from cell phone will remarkably ease my life.

I will be happy to hear comments.

Thank's 

Cherub Chocolate business is for sale for $39,000

This is a rare opportunity to buy profitable and established business in downtown Nanaimo. It has been open since May 2013 with continuous growth and development. The business has a recognized name, established reputation and loyal clientele. We are emigrating soon as a family and sadly have to move on.

What you’re buying is growing and profitable business with an active store in downtown, high traffic area with a full commercial kitchen equipped with up to date tools and machinery. Active website www.cherubchocolate.com , active facebook page with 900+ customers.

The store has an on-site open concept kitchen and service area. The location of the store is in the core of downtown Nanaimo, on Commercial street with high pedestrian traffic from locals and tourists, opposite the art gallery. No competition in the area. Nearby all major hotels, Vancouver Island Conference center, Downtown farmers market, Diana Crull plaza, etc.

Training and support will be provided to ensure successful transition. One month with 4-6 hours daily practice to learn the necessary skills and 3 months of online support. Contact, suppliers, clients lists will be provided.

Our fantastic landlord is willing to extend the lease another five to seven years at the same rent.

The business is fully equipped with all the necessary tools, easy to manage and will last at least another 10 years. All equipment and tools are new or nearly new and in top condition and well cared for.

This business will be a great fit for somebody who enjoys being creative and being your own boss, excellent for retiring people or for somebody who is searching for the opportunity to relocate to the island.

We participate in all major food events and enjoy great local community support in downtown.

This business has established and loyal clientele base and even greater potential and opportunities which will be discussed with sales agreement.

You’re welcome to visit the store and try our product but please refrain from discussing the business sale with staff.

Non-disclosure and non-compete agreements to be signed prior to release further information.

No financing available, cash only. Only serious inquiries please. Business will be available for sale for a limited time only.

 

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Hi James,

I've been using the small Santha 11 for a little over a year now, just for development purposes.  We recently upgraded to the Santha 100 as we prepare to launch our line of craft chocolates.

While I have not used it excessively to provide an in-depth review, I have found that the quality and performance of the Santha 100 has been good.  As Sandy mentioned, these are typically drop shipped from India so you will need to change out the plug yourself or have a qualified electrician do it for you.  This was something that was disclosed to me prior to purchase so was not a surprise.  I bought my unit from John Nanci at Chocolate Alchemy who was very helpful with support and setup.

Aside from size and power, there a couple major differences between the Santha 11 and Santha 100.

1.  The Santha 11 is belt driven whereas the Santha 100 model is chain driven.  This is a big plus as I had my belt shred on the 11 model.

2.  Speed controller.  The Santha 100 comes with a speed controller which can be very useful.  At very high speeds you may find some of the chocolate splashing out of the bowl.  The speed controller can help you to dial it down or up as needed.

3.  Tilting mechanism.  This is a must for the Santha 100.  Not only does it help with getting the chocolate out (I couldn't imagine picking the bowl up by hand) but it also helps with the cleaning process, making it very simple.

Hi Sandy,

Thanks so much for replying!

A very apt name for your salesman then, is on the same line as my dentist name being Dr Pulley.

I am glad you have had a good experience with the machine, as i havent had any experience with the santhas yet, only having small premier grinders. I have been wary of purchasing the santha grinder due to reviews of their smaller grinder machines are not all that brilliant, with people having problems with overheating, and the belts constantly breaking. But i believe their larger grinders use chain belts which should help?

The santha machines appear to be the only larger grinders available in the UK, which certainly goes in it favour, as otherwise it means paying a massive shipping cost with added customs and other taxes added if i were to buy a cocoatown, fbm, or the new large grinder from DCM who make my small premiers.

Thanks again for your insight, and hopefully other users will also add their experiences too

Thank you Gap.

I guess I will try and error with different amounts of vegetable oils...

I saw one of the Ghirardelli recipe for chocolate hazelnuts and according to the their ingredients I saw that they add 6% hazelnuts of the total weight of the product, that means ~3% vegetable oil.

If other forum memebers have empiric knowledge about vegetable fat addition I will love to learn..

We actually made the move from CocoaTown small melangers to the Santha 40 in the last few months. It has been the best move we've made in our 3 year company's history. The machine has been a reliable tool that has increased our production capacity and lowered our stress level.

I would, however, advise you to NOT buy it through HotDishes. Our salesman's name was Sham, which is defined as "something it does not appear to be." That was exactly who we got. They sent a machine from India to the USA which came with a plug that was only usable in Europe and then refused to fix it. This should not be an issue for you, but be sure you do not get one that's only set for the USA.

Overall, the Santha 40 has been a great machine. Since we got it out of the box we've had no maintenance or repair issues and the stone-on-stone grinding has produced greatly smooth chocolates.

I hope this has been more helpful than not.

Adding fats generally softens the chocolate. You work out the % of fat based on weight.

For instance, if your formula has 10% full fat milk powder (assume 26% fat content), then the milk fat in your formula = 10% x 26% = 2.6% milk fat.

In terms of non-fats and tempering: I don't think non-fat ingredients (eg., skim milk powder) would affect tempering. I imagine it as a solid-type ingredient that just displaces sugar in your formula and gets ground up/refined with all of your other ingredients. This is just a hypothesis from my side, I've no testing or evidence to back it up.

If you want to sell your product and call it chocolate, there may well be limits to what additional fats and non-fats you can use and how much of them you can use.

In terms of other fats, I haven't used them. I would expect them to soften chocolate. I'm not sure how much, say, vegetable fat, you can add to normal chocolate before you turn it into compound chocolate. Most things I've read suggest 4-5% before you start affecting your ability to temper, but this probably differs based on the fat you are using. And as mentioned above, I think some fats can't be added to chocolate if you want to sell it as chocolate.

For some reason I have in my head that, as a rule of thumb, you should try and keep the additional milk fat from milk powder to <15% of total fat (ie., total fat = cocoa butter + additional fat) to minimise any problems with tempering. I'm sure that isn't a hard rule and depends on what type of milk powder you're adding, but it might give you a starting point for testing. So for a 40% fat chocolate, that would give an upper limit of 6% (40% x 15%) milk fat. If your milk powder was 26%, then the milk powder in your recipe would have an upper limit of 6%/26% = 23% milk powder by weight in the total formula.

When I have made milk chocolate, I have added ~5% milkfat but have taken it as high as 6.5% - it depends what you're after from your milk chocolate. 

Hi,

A few months ago I went through all the relevant topics in this forum and in Alchemy forum. I don't remember a lot threads regarding this subject.

I found two:

http://chocolatetalk.proboards.com/thread/460/hazelnut-ratio

http://chocolatetalk.proboards.com/thread/106/nuts-chocolate

In essence, vegetable oil (like hazelnuts)  is liquid in room temperature not like butterfat, so whole milk powder is different from nuts oil.

I just want the experience of people because this issue is a bit vague, how do you count the ratio of the additional fat: by weight or just the ratio to cacao butter? what is the limit of vegetable oil that transform the product from chocolate to kind of nut center?

The questions is aiming also to the final product not just the tempering.

If you have addtional knowlenge to contribute I will be more then happy.

Thank's again

Hi Everyone,

I am now at the stage of looking to upgrade from my several tabletop premier grinders, to one machine that will handle much more chocolate, and with room to 'grow into'.

Not a lot available here in the UK apart from the Santha machines. I am looking at the Santa 65 the 100, but reading reviews on here about the smaller santhas have got me wondering if these are the right units to be look at.

So any reviews, tips, thoughts, recommendations would be brilliant.

I am also looking at a commercial grinder from the makers of the small premier units (Diamond Custom Machines) so if anyone has also used one of these and could let me know how they got on that would be great.

Thanks,

James

Ask the manufacturer. But generally, no. 

We are looking for a small machine which can wrap chocolate disks (coins) using 2 pieces of foil. Both sides would have to be completely flat for our client to emboss their patterns. Ideally, it would be fully automated, use single phase electricity and fit on a table top.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

We have 2 of these units available. There is also a 3rd Granite Roller Stone and Stainless Steel Vessel available which would make a great backup set to reduce downtime between runs.

These were purchased in early 2014 and are no longer needed as our business has expanded and we now have larger machinery filling this role. They have been a great building block for our business.

Our products are allergen-free so these machines have not been used with any dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, nuts or tree nuts.

From the CocoaTown website description:

18” x 10” x 11” tall – melanger
1/5 HP 110V single phase motor
Weight – 35 lbs (dimensional wt for shipping – 50 lbs)
Grinds up to 8 lbs of cocoa liquor (nibs +sugar + etc)
High quality Stainless steel vessel
Conical granite roller stones
Granite stone for grinding surface
Injection molded ABS plastic body – quiet in operation

Melangers have been used for the following:
Grind almond pieces into Marcepan
Grind hazel nut pieces into Gianduja
Grind pistachios pieces into pistachio butter
Grind Cashew pieces into cashew butter
Grind sesame seeds into tahini
Grind boiled chick peas into hummus
Grind flax seeds into paste
Grind Sphagnum moss for facial pack
Grind quinoa

These sell new for $600 each. We're asking $500 for both and the extra bowl/wheel set - plus shipping.

Call 512-410-5763 and ask for Sandy if interested.

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I think you'll find those topics have been answered a few times here.  I'd urge you to do some exploring in the forum archives 8-)

Hello, hello @Mattworks -

I went through quite a bit of labeling designs and guidelines under the scrutiny of lawyers and I'd love to pass on just a few tid-bits for where we got caught up so you don't make the same mistakes.

I'm sure there are brands that violate these, but this is what our lawyer caught.

Be careful using the word "with" as in chocolate "with" almonds as this has a special 10% of DV meaning to the FDA and most inclusions don't have a DV level. You can use "and" instead.

In packages with multiple pieces the minimum serving size for chocolate is 32 g. This means if you have a 14 g piece, your serving size is 3 pieces. Only way around this is to package them for individual sale.

For calories- you must round to the nearest 10 calories for values over 50 calories.

Be very careful on any claims on packaging and also your certification strategy. I believe you can be over certified which throws up a lot of red tape and may not even matter to your customers.

If interested in having your packaging reviewed reach out to:

Evelyn Cadman
Principal Consultant
303-432-1605
www.BioTransApp.com
www.FDALabels.com

It's expensive but if you are doing large runs of packaging it's worth it.

Of course as Clay said, if you are under $100k in revenue you will be exempt/ overlooked for a lot of these regulations.

I'm seeing that most used are heat seal, is it an issue?

[quote="Clay Gordon"]

A flow wrap machine uses rolls of film.

[/quote]

Is cold seal most recommended? 

I want to ask a tricky question/issue:

If you dig inside the "bean to bar" or artisan small scale business (or even some big manufacture chocolate producers) you find two main different kinds of ways to give a special taste to the chocolate (not infusion):

1. mixing additional fat in chocolate: coconut, sesame, hazelnuts and more (even whole milk powder)

2. additional ingredients that not including fats: non fat powder milk, spices etc

After this small briefing I have two questions:

1. How the non-fat ingredients effect tempering? for example if I put skim milk powder how it will affect?

2. As I know, as a rule of thumb more then 5% additional fat will affect tempering, what is your experience with addinal fat?

I would like to hear your opinion,

Thank's

Could someone explain in detail how to obtain a sugar coating on the outside?

what the exact ratio of sugar glucose etc and the right temperature? 

Also I would like to create the stone pebble effect too if thats possible.

Here are some awesome panned nuts 

/www.dragees-adam.fr/

www.muccigiovanni.it/

especially the muccigiovanni line is awsome

Perhaps they will now develop new packaging and labels to go with the new factory?

Clearly, flying 'close to the Sun' is their business model?  Not a good idea if your a chocolate maker or any kind of food company,  but actually MB aren't the only ones,  just apparently one that's blatant in terms of dodging some of the requirements?  

All fun and games, until someone suffers a serious allergy issue or there's a State / Federal recall issued as part of investigation of a food borne illness /allergy complaint. 

If I was a potential investor in this business or any other craft maker, I'd have required FDA label compliance as part of the due diligence before funding an operation that is designed to produce millions of bars and place them in interstate commerce.  In particular, as I know having purchased a very expensive policy that liability / recall insurance doesn't cover a claim if selling misbranded / mislabeled goods and most knowledgeable retailers wouldn't be prepared to stock the products either.

More generally, I'd question how many craft chocolate makers making and selling in the USA are fully FDA compliant?    I suspect there are a few that aren't and probably don't even know they are required to register with FDA etc?   The lack of funds for Federal agencies like the FDA means they don't do proactive enforcement, their model for food related issues is to come in after the problem and tackle GMP and other issues that relate to food safety.   Not likely to change anytime soon, so many firms just carry on as usual,  knowing the risk of action is rather low absent a consumer or public health complaint.

Mark -

The way the rules have been read to me is that a product can be equated to a recipe. a 70% Dominican is one product, a 70% PNG another, and an 85% Dominican a third.

With respect to units, a 200gr bar counts as 5, 40gr bars. So 100, 200gr bars counts as 500 units because of the 40gr unit's availability. With 25+ grinders in NYC alone making as much as 80MT of chocolate/year, that's over 2,000,000 units/year. Assuming fewer than 20 recipes/products, then many if not all of them should be sporting nutrition labels - from the NY factory alone. Add in London (as is required by law) then pretty much everything should be.

Any way you look at it, it seems obvious that the MB should no longer eligible for the small business exemption. And it seems likely that they should not have been eligible to apply for the exemption that expires in 2016, but did so, anyway.

To me, this seems to be a continuation of the same arrogant, "The rules don't apply to us. Because, Mast Brothers." attitude that led them to be less-than-forthcoming about melting Valrhona early on. There is no reason why they cannot (and should not) be in compliance with the labeling laws today because they clearly have the financial resources to do so; compliance would not unduly burden them. Whatever their attitude towards openness and transparency (right?) it does not appear to extend to proper labeling. They could lead by example - do the right thing just because it's the right thing to do. But they still choose not to. 

One theory? The nutrition labels "ruin" the aesthetic.

What's up with that, anyway? 

As we both wrote Organic on the Front LABEL.... Certification required.  Apparently for the  FDA ingredient panel only: something like:    Cacao*, Cane sugar*,  Cocoa Butter*      *organic  is acceptable..... However,  it's not much of a marketing hook printed in 1/16" type on the back of bar and you can't mention 'contains organic ingredients' on the rest of the packaging.    

The cost of certification might be something to investigate, think you will find it may not be as expensive as you think, but does require good record keeping and annual inspection in most States.

I have an update about my Organic Ingredients question. I contacted www.ccof.com to inquire about oOrganic certification and they told me I did not require certification for what I want to do. I quote from their email response:

"If all you want to do is list the organic ingredients in the FDA-required ingredient list, and not use the word organic anywhere else on your label, you do not need to be certified."

This is what I thought and was surprised by County Health Department when they told me I could not.