Thanks for your reply, Clay.
I'm located in Canada, so I'm looking primarily at canadian distributors. Electram and PhaseQuest are both available here in Calgary. That pesky exchange rate is killing us up here, right now.
American Rotary is a good source for phase converters. You can call (or email) one of their techs with the sizes of your motors and other elements and they can size the converter you need. Also - you may be able to get away with a static converter if there is no cooling compressor.
I personally have found that the average person does not understand what bean-to-bar really means. Instead, I started using the phrase bean-to-chocolate, which was originally coined by Callebaut. It works and people seem to grasp the concept better.
Hi Hazel. Did you go to Panama? I dont think san blas has cacao plantations. Bocas del toro does.
What exactly are you looking for? I'm from Panama.
my email is Michelle@sweets507.com
Hi folks.
I recently bought a second hand JKV30 and I'm curious if any of you are familiar with this machine?
The place where I plan on using it doesn't have 3-phase power, so I'm looking at a rotary phase converter to power it properly. But I'm trying to find the HP and max heating loads, so I can size the phase converter right, but I'm not having any luck finding this information.
As we all know, the documentation that comes with the machine is lacking at best...so I thought I'd check if any of you fine folks are able to shed any light on the subject?
I'm looking at a 10HP rotary phase converter, which has a 1.3x max rating. Is this sufficient? Overkill?
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Ok, so being new to the industry, was glad that I'm not the only one with questions about bean to bar. In your opinion description, you say: "they must produce a retail bar under their own brand", but then also define the phrase "from the bean". In my simplified view, the bean-to-bar defines that the maker gets the beans and produces the bar, but it seems like it's become quite ambiguous?
When you mention the production of retail bar under their own brand, what is that opposed to? Isn't that what most makers do, even if they just remelt someone elses product?
@ken-hastings, Is your candy cutter still avavilable?
Belt Coater is still available... Click the link for pictures. If interested, call me at 425-344-7737
Thanks, @ruth-atkinson-kendrick and @larry2. I, too, wipe wires between each cut, push the wire through thicker ganache and don't cut caramel. My husband also suggested a new policy of "you break it, you replace it." I had time today to replace all of the broken wires (12!) and as annoying as it was, it was actually good to be able to get some momentum and figure out a good system. When you only replace them on occasion, it's easy to forget the best way to do it. So I'm creating a manual, a policy and scheduling a training session. Larry, I think I will try the .8 wire.
I got a response (2, actually) from Dedy...which was ZERO help. They sent me the manual I already have, which has very little direction and no troubleshooting guidance. And they sent me very lengthy emails telling me about all their great equipment.
So here's a question to consider after re-reading this and editing it for typos:
For me, the questions are about which parts of the process truly matter in the final product. Roasting? Check. Grinding, refining, and conching? Check.
Molding and putting it into wrappers/boxes? Maybe not so much. I agree that tempering is an important art to learn, but actually doing it myself when a contract manufacturer could do it better might be worth it.
This is what Scharffen Berger did for several years before they got bought to Hershey, at least for the small tasting squares. It made no economic sense for them to buy the (expensive) machines to wrap the squares so they shipped the chocolate across the country to NJ to a company who did that work for them. Did that make them any less of a "from-the-bean" or "bean-to-bar" chocolate maker?
I think not. What think you?
Hi Nat, im interesting, you can send me a machine to miamia. i need the price, send me email to marianohonduras@yahoo.com.ar
thnaks
I had string troubles as well. I ordered some 0.8 wire from TCF and while it is a lot thicker than the original 0.5 wire, I havent broken any of the thicker wires. Our coconut fondant is pretty tough to cut because the shredded coconut catches on the wires and essentially makes them thicker.
the thicker wire has been worth the cost.
I have had my Dedy for years. I had a learning curve and broke several strings when it was new. Since then, I am careful to wipe wires between each cut, make sure that if there is a ittle bit of thicker chocolate, I push the wire with my fingers until it cuts through. I only cut ganaches, not caramels. I also try to make sure the wires play the same note. I know I am probably wierd that way, but I figure that means they have the same tension. If whom ever breaks it has to replace it, they might be more careful, as it isn't a fun job to replace them.
I have a Dedy guitar cutter that keeps breaking wires. I work full-time outside of my chocolate business, so I'm not there enough to know if my staff are doing something to cause it or not. Every one of my staff have broken them. I've contacted both Dedy and TCF, where I bought the cutter, to ask for troubleshooting advice, but thought I'd try here, too.
My husband, who often gets stuck repairing the strings when we're busy (he is a musician, and they are similar to actual guitar strings) thinks my staff is not cleaning the wires quickly enough and the buildup is causing resistance. I wipe down the wires after every pass, but I'm not sure all of my staff does the same.
They are also not immediately replacing some broken wires, which I think may be causing uneven pressure?
Some wires are breaking at the handle end (which comes down through the ganache last), some at the other end.
Wondering if the repaired wires are not all being wound in the same direction, or are not all consistently taut? Could the wire itself be weakened? I've had the cutter for several years and am still replacing with the original wire I received.
I've never found any detailed suggestions from Dedy or online about how to replace the wires or troubleshoot, so we've just been winging it.
Very frustrated. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Let us know how it turns out! Pls send boxes of the finished product to me at ....
8-)
Well said Mr. Clay Gordon. Thank you for taking the cudgel for the chocolate farner.
Thank you so much Ruth and Sebastian!
I was hoping I would hear from both of you. I will definitely try going higher in temperature. I was concerned that if I went to high too much invert sugar would be created. I might possibly increasing the butter as well. I will keep you posted on any updates. Thank you again!
Daniel
ab -
That's a very good question, and one that's being asked in a lot of quarters these days. The answer in the end is that I think everyone will be better off as a result of the scrutiny and improving customer trust.
Hi all,
At first, the news was just circulated in our own circles. Now it's been picked up by almost every big news source –– Inc, Vox, NYT, etc. . .
I'm wondering if the general tone of our conversations has been counterproductive. We want the public to respect us as artisans, but it seems like the image we've been presenting is more divisive than anything else.
I totally agree about the importance of transparency and integrity. And I think it's important for any community to hold each member accountable for their actions. I'm just not so sure that that's our real motive (or at least the impression we're giving off).
I wrote a blog post on my thoughts here if you're interested.
Cheers,
ab
[edited to fix the link URL - at signs are not allowed in URLs.]
Brad -
PLEASE do not put words into my mouth. What I am asking - as I have been asking consistently for years - is that you respect my desires about how to comport yourself on TheChocolateLife. We have had many private discussions on this topic.
You can make exactlly the points you want to make. But you don't have to bluster. You may not care what other people think of you, but I can tell you from personal experience that people will pay more attention to what you have to say if you aren't so confrontational.
That's it.
Now I realize that you are frustrated about people in your market (and elsewhere) deliberately misrepresenting what they do. Saying they make 100% of their chocolate from the bean when they are buying couverture and remelting. And I realize that you are happy that someone is calling the Mast Bros out.
BUT one of the reasons people paid attention to the DallasFood-org articles is that they are written dispassionately. If they were written any other way they would probably have been dismissed out of hand. Now Scott has been having fun in social media tweaking the Brothers but the articles stand apart from that. Which is important to remember.
Please believe me when I say that I have every motivation to root out and expose deceptive practices in the craft chocolate world and elsewhere. Although I am not explicitly mentioned in many of the articles, I have been involved in several - and in some very important ways. There are huge media forces like the NY Times weighing in on this subject and they have the ability to shape the narrative in ways that are beyond our control.
I have been doing, and will continue to do, the best I can to see how we can use the firestorm that has been kicked up in positive ways.
If I were you, I'd write a reasoned op ed to the local papers and figure out how to make this a positive for your business.
iPhone 5 v 9.2 (up to date). Did you see the example I attached - screenshot of forum post.
Clay,
So what you're saying then, is when a chocolatier out here lies for years about what they do, just like the Mast Brothers did, it doesn't matter, but when someone does it in YOUR neck of the woods it does? My nemesis out here has made a hell of a lot more money (millions of dollars more) lying to people here in Western Canada than the Mast Brothers have, and it doesn't matter where the lies are propogated they are still lies, and they still affect EVERYONE in the industry.
You can continue to make theChocolateLife about you and your own personal agenda (just like you are doing above), or you can respect and recognize that there is a lot of deception in the industry regardless of where you go, even if it isn't in your back yard, and that the opinions of others (such as me) matter.
Will the expose bring the whole Brookly craft "movement" down? Anyone who believes that is just plain foolish. Not everyone reads the New York Times. Not everyone reads Facebook. Not everyone will read this forum or other articles on Mast.
In my not so humble opinion (which is the topic of this forum), very little will happen. Brooklyn isn't the center of the universe, and people will still buy their chocolate. The only thing that will most likely happen is that the Mast brothers will no longer be the darlings of print and social media, and the demand for their wares will decrease to a point where they can actually make enough to keep up with demand, instead of buying someone else's.
What's most discouraging though, is that unless stiff penalties are legislated and imposed for lying to consumers, in a few years, someone else will step up to the plate and do it again. Remember Noka? Well.... Mast is the new Noka.
Best Regards
Brad Churchill
Choklat
Brad.
IMNSHO: Calgary is not Williamsburg, or even Manhattan.
It's not about you , so crowing about reflected sainthood is out of place and only reflects badly on you.
Why do I say this?
There are far larger issues at hand, especially with the media coverage on The Guardian and other outlets focusing on price and how $10 is too much to pay. Comparing Mast w/ Hershey and Green & Black's and not understanding why the comparison is ludicrous. One good question is whether or not this will have an impact on the sales of other craft chocolate makers. NYTimes even says that this could bring the whole Brooklyn craft food "movement" down.
I know that the author of one of the follow-up articles is horrified at how the story has been twisted. Fact is, we are no longer in control of it and it may be impossible to put the genie back into the bottle. Will it destroy trust? Some chocolate makers think so.
I am not interested in starting a flame war here on TheChocolateLife. If you want to take up the issue in The Calgary Herald or The Calgary Sun, I think either or both are more appropriate outlets.
There are some very substantive issues at play here and I would really like the focus to stay on those issues. Here's just one of my takes .
:: Clay
iPhone 5 not 5S? What version of iOS? Safari, right? Does this also happen in any other browser? I can't test as I don't have an iPhone 5.
ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?????
In a letter posted on their website, Rick Mast writes, and I quote (pointing out highlights):
"Mast Brothers is a 100% bean to bar chocolate maker. Every chocolate bar made by our company that you have lovingly purchased since we opened our first factory, including those purchased for the coming holidays, was made "bean to bar". Any claim or insinuation otherwise is simply false."
THEN JUST TWO PARAGRAPHS LATER HE WRITES:
"And while we never claimed to make all our chocolate exclusively from bean to bar in those early days, we did describe ourselves as a bean-to-bar chocolate maker. Since we were in fact making chocolate from bean to bar, we honestly thought we could say as much. We sincerely apologize if you or any of our other loyal customers feel they were misled about the chocolate we made when our company was just getting off the ground."
THE LYING CONTINUES!!!!
Literally, there may be some truth to it. However, taken in the context that it's written... Well, here's the summary "Look how stupid people are! Every bar of chocolate we sold had our name on it and was represented as made by us - even the stuff we bought and melted into molds with our name on it. You people are suckers!!!!"
I wish to personally thank the Mast Brothers Chocolate company for making Choklat look like a saint here in Calgary.
Cheers
Brad Churchill
Still can only read on iPhone 5 if I turn phone sideways. Vertical viewing cuts off right side. Also as I type the entire comment box is not visible, so difficult to check what I've typed here. The other updates are great.
it's been a while since i've made toffee, and i didn't take the time to look over any of my notes for details, but it sounds like to me that you've got higher moistures than you'd like to have. Without analytically measuring them, it's hard to confirm. 50% RH should be just fine. Do you get the same negative results if you cook to a bit higher temp (your cook temp will be the easiest metric to use as a guage for water removal in your toffee - the higher your temp, the lower your resultant water content). I'd be tempted to do a series of small batches (using the same lot of ingreidents, on the same day), and prepare them back to back, looking at your current process as the control, then raise the cook temp in 5degree increments to see how they compare and if it resolves your problem or not.
I will try to answer from my experience. I use equal amounts of sugar and butter. I don't melt the butter first. I start out with 1/4 cup water per pound of butter. I put in the water and 2/3 of the salted grade AA butter, and the sugar. I stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved, then turn up heat and add remaining butter. I rinse the spatula (I prefer silicone to wood paddle) and conitnue stirring. Be sure all sugar is dissolved. Once temp is over 260, you are past the danger zone of separation. Cook as quickly as possible without burning. I take it to about 310 (5000 ft). I don't add more salt, or cook the nuts in the syrup. I do add a little lecithin. I pour the syrup over dry roasted almonds. After cooling and coating with chocolate and a sprinkle of salt and more nuts, I break up and put into air-tight packages. We normally have a very dry climate, but I have made it when it was raining and snowing with no problems. My batches are 12# of sugar and butter at a time. You are correct in assuming corn syrup will make the toffee more sticky. I think if you add more butter and cook a bit higher, you will be fine. Try a small batch and see. You might check the amount of water you are using. If it is more than 1/4 c. per pound, you might be inverting the sugar which would give the same effect of adding corn syrup, making it sticky. Good luck.
My response in a comment to an article posted on The Guardian about the Mast Bros: Mast Brothers: taste-testing $10 chocolate bars as controversy boils over .
What is a real shame about most of the media reporting that has occurred in reply to the series on DallasFood.org (including [the article on TheGuardian]) is that it has featured a sensationalized focus on price. And that is not what the series is about at all. It's about transparency and deliberate, systematic, misrepresentation, which can happen at any price level.
It is an indisputable fact that the overwhelming majority of chocolate—whether sold as solid bars, candy bars, or confections—is sold at a price that means that the cocoa farmer was not paid a living wage for their work.
One thing that most craft chocolate makers strive for is equitable relationships with the farmers they buy their cocoa from. And an aspect of that equitable relationship is that the farmer gets paid a fair price for their labor. A price that enables them to have pride in their work, feed and clothe and send their children to school, and all of the other things we strive for for ourselves, families, and communities.
We all have our taste preferences, but this is not about what's better - Cadbury, Ritter Sport, Lindt, et al. What it is about is knowing that, when you buy any chocolate where one factor in your purchase decision process is how cheap it is, is that one of the consequences of that decision is the perpetuation of a cycle of poverty of heart-breaking, gargantuan, proportions. The fact is, virtually all chocolate is too cheap, yet most people are unaware of the fact that their perceived "right" to enjoy inexpensive chocolate is a major driver behind children laboring in cocoa farms.
Having blind faith in certification schemes is not *the* answer. Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Utz, et al, can only do so much; you as a consumer and large companies use those labels to avoid having to truly confront the reality of the situation.
Small chocolate makers who go to great lengths to source their beans provide one key to solving the problem. They confront the reality and work very hard to address it within the context of their own businesses.
Because craft chocolate makers cannot afford to buy hundreds of tonnes of beans at a time and don't have expensive automated plants, the price they *willingly* pay for high–quality cocoa beans and their costs of production are much, much higher than those of industrial producers who use their size and buying power to get the cocoa they buy at the lowest possible prices - not caring about the impact on the farmer.
In this context, what's important is not the price of the chocolate bar, it's the price the farmer receives for the cocoa beans - called the farm gate price. The higher the price paid to the farmer, the more expensive the chocolate is going to be. If you're buying a mass-market bar, most of the profits go to the manufacturers and retailers as well as to advertising and promoting the products - many of which actually have very little cocoa in them because cocoa is the most expensive ingredient!
And this is where the small chocolate maker strives to make a difference. Source the beans as closely as possible to the farmer, reduce the number of intermediaries who handle the beans - which increases their already high cost, and then work very hard to craft a product that people will like and buy more than once. Most of these small chocolate makers are self-funded startups who barely break even, let alone generate a profit.
And that's the source, I think, of much of the indignation surrounding The Mast Brothers. Their claim to being one of this amazing group of makers is on very shaky ground as the DallasFood.org series reveals. Most of the press surrounding the Brothers is about their beards, or about the paper used to wrap the bars, or about the design of their shops. And that's messed up. We were being lied to. It's not about the prices, it's about what appears to be systematic deception. That's why the chocolate community is up in arms. It is not a good thing for craft chocolate.
We can agree or not on whether we like a chocolate the Mast Brothers makes. That's partly a discussion of value: is the money I paid worth it, to me? In the case of the Mast Brothers - for me - the case is usually no: I did not get good value for money, but then I am focused on what's inside the wrapper, knowing that the wrapper is a not-insignificant reason for the price being what it is.
You may think I am an idiot to pay $10 for a bar of chocolate - but I have willingly paid much more. And I will continue to do so. I will do so because I want to see smiles on the faces of cocoa farming families when I travel at origin. I will do so because I believe in supporting honest, dedicated, craftspeople who work extremely hard to produce products they believe in and that they hope customers will buy and like.
What I try to avoid is purchasing chocolate where I know the farmer was not paid well or where the marketing is less than genuine.
And that's what this story is really about . It's not about a tenner.
###
Hello Georg,
I would like some details about your Kleego 100 for sale. How long have you had it? Dis you use it for concging or only melting? What are you using instead? Where will it be shipped from? I am interested for a project in Haiti. (I 'll have it shipped to Miami where the equipment is centralized) and of course the price. I'm reachable at aboville@gmail.com I'm looking forward to reading your answer.
Alek
Hi there,
I am currently in Toffee Hell and I am hoping that I can get out with your help. The toffee I make sticks to peoples' teeth and I have received some complaints about it. I am committed to changing this situation. Ideally toffee has a nice snap when you bite into it, but then it gives way to a tender texture that immedietly crumbles and dissolves in your mouth. Even though I add a tremendous amount of butter to my recipe, the texture I end up with is more like a hard candy that ultimately sticks to your teeth. I am hoping some of you can help me understand the finer points of making delicious toffee with a very pleasing texture. Here are some questions I have.
1. Currently, I use standard American salted butter. Does the quality of the butter make a difference? If I used Plugra or an European style butter with a lower water content -- would that make a difference?
2. What temperature should I be cooking the toffee to? I currently stop at 295-300 degrees Farenhite. Should I be going for a higher temperature?
3. My current recipe does not use corn syrup. I thought by not using corn syrup I would have a less sticky texture. That is not the case? Would corn syrup help me on my quest to a tender texture?
4. What should the relative humidity of my room be? I make everything in Northern Wisconsin. These days the RH is around 50%. I use a dehumidifier, but We have had a humid and warmer than usual autumn. Does my relative humidity of my room need to be lower? I noticed that excellent toffee comes from arid climates such as Colorado. I've also had excellent toffee that comes from the Midwest.
5. What about stirring? We cook the batch in a big copper kettle. We stir with a paddle to prevent scorching. Does the stirring or lack of stirring effect the texture of the toffee? Honestly, we have to stir as we don't want a scorched pot.
6. What about storage? Can I store at room temp just fine?
For your reference Here is my recipe and my process...
Salted Butter: 9080 grams
Water: 2270 grams
Sugar, White Granulated: 11,350grams
Salt: 71 grams
Soy Lecithin: 28 grams
Almonds: 2270
Melt the butter in the copper kettle. Add the water, salt, sugar, and lecithin. Cook until 295-300 degrees. Stir in Toasted Almonds. Pour on Marble Table. Let cool. Coat with chocolate and add Crushed almonds.
Thank you for your help. I can really use it!
Daniel
We are selling our new FBM Kleego 100 for melting and conching chocolate.
The machine works perfectly and is only sold for space reasons.
Please email to georg@georgia-ramon.com for more information.
You're too kind Ruth - one of the fascinating things about this category is theres ALWAYS something new to learn - which makes it a ton of fun!
Have a very Merry Christmas!!
You are way too modest!!!
No. But some might say I dabble 
Sebastian,
Do you have a chocolate shop ?
Great would you accept $1300 packed for shipment to NY? Thanks kindly. If you want to speak see my info below.
Jim Greenberg 203.913.9656 mobile
Hi where are you located thanks?
Jim Greenberg
