Forum Activity for @Brad Churchill

How does one make a living in the chocolate business?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

1. Drill it into your brain that business is about one thing: money. Business is not about talent and artistic ability. Business is about money. Period. Yeah, brownies are boring. 1,000 brownies are 1,000 times more boring. However 1,000 brownies over the course of the month pays your rent. Business is about money.

2. Find out what your customers want and then give it to them. Talented people go out of business for lots of reasons - one of the most common being Ego. They feel that THEY are the talent, THEY feel that only THEY can create the product that people like, and THEY don't manage their time/cost ratio. Yet they never ask the end customer what the customer thinks! Sure, they can make a chocolate sculpture that rivals a Michelangelo. However how many can they make in an 8 hour day which they canpackage and sellat prices that people will be willing to pay? Better yet, how many can their staff make? In the end, the talented person works themselves into a corner - busy being artistic, and in the end there isn't enough time in the day, and they don't get paid enough for what they do, so... poof! They don't make enough money and they're done.

A really good example of this is an "ice wine" truffle. When I started in the business, I had several chocolatiers insist that I "had" to have an ice wine truffle center on the menu. It was one of their biggest sellers. Today, my shop offers over 500 different varieties of custom made truffles, and the "ice wine" has been discontinued because it's the least popular. Why is that you ask? The reason is because when people visit an averagechocolate shop, they make their purchases through a process of elimination - starting with the ones they dislike the most, then narrowing it down to a couple of confections they like, and a few they can tolerate. Apparently the ice wine center fell into the "tolerate" category with my peers. Conversely at my shop, when people are given choices of anything they want, theyalways start with what they like most, and go down the list like that. In our shop people prefer other more convential centers, than the "creative" or "artistic" ones.

WHY???

BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE CREATURES OF HABIT!!! MOST PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE STEPPING OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE - ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO SPENDING MONEY. Find out what your customers like, and then give it to them!!! Be artistic on your own time, but remember, business is about getting your customers to open their wallets and give you money.

2. Work smart not hard. What's your time worth? Should you be sitting over a vat of chocolate all day hand dipping truffles, or can you pay someone $10 per hour to do that simple task while you get on the phone and drum up some more business? Can the $10 per hour person drum up business? In the confectionary business, if you are making confections you aren't making any money.

These are three great rules to begin with, and will totally change the way you look at your business. I live by these rules, my business is doing extremely well, and after only a couple of years I never have to be in the shop helping customers and making chocolate or confections. I enjoy life, and research new recipes for my staff to offer our customers.

You can too. IF you follow some basic rules about business.

Cheers

Brad

How does one make a living in the chocolate business?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

One thing that all of us have in common is a passion for chocolate. It is important to find meaning in work and for some reason I find meaning in chocolate. I love the process of making chocolate confections, especially on a large scale. I have been working hard on my own chocolate business since I started in late 2008. I'm still quite small with big bursts of business at the Holidays and at Valentine's. While I don't believe we should continue to blame everything on the economy, I have noticed quite a few extremely talented chocolatiers going out of business. I would love to hear from others how they make their business work year round? Thanks in advance!

Daniel

updated by @Daniel Herskovic: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Hershey - How Responsible is Responsible?

Posted in: Opinion

When the biggest companies tap into (or at least make it look like it) socially responsible projects, it is a good sign that there is a good share of market for it. They do not create thatawareness and market demands, on the contrary they go for the cheaper and more profitable ways, while small producers work on that front. When a critical mass of consumers is there, they jump in and make it their cause, and of course, at more affordable prices.

Hershey - How Responsible is Responsible?

Posted in: Opinion

$10 million over five years will give you a few offices and a half a dozen employees. Not much will be done.

Right now Dominican cacao farmers are getting about US $80 dollars for a 100lbs of dried, unfermented cacao beans. $95 for fermented. Last summer it was $130 and $145 respectively. In order to really reward the farmer, I would argue they should receive a minimum of $150 and $200 per 100 lbs. and quality would be greatly enhanced. USAID should stop paying the consultants and set minimum floors on pricing for the small farmer. That way the 10 to 100 acre farms can stay in business. Otherwise the production of cacao will continue to be more and more under the control of 4 major producers.

At what point in the process is the grading of the bean happen? The closer to the farm, it seems it would be better for the farmer.

Hershey - How Responsible is Responsible?

Posted in: Opinion

I think there's two salient points:

1) Hsy has a large enough momentum to affect change, and change has to begin small. There's insufficient capacity in the network to make sudden, large movements

2) Hsy doesn't really source much cocoa anymore, Barry Callebaut does it for them.

The Bliss move is simply reactionary to what Mars did with Dove (Bliss is, afterall, a 'me too' product that competes head to head). Dagoba's simply the easy one to do because it's volume is so incredibly small. it's effectively an easy gimme for Hsy. CdI is a tough place to work in now, what with all the unrest of last year and the current reorganization of the cocoa sector by the gov't at the behest of the world bank(ironic, if you know the history). Although the scale of the issue is larger there simply because the scale in general is larger, the achievable momentum is in Ghana, which is why they probably started there. That, and that's probably where BC told them they could do something. I'd give Hsy the benefit of the doubt that they're intent is good; we can argue what is the most effective way to go about it, but i think it's safe to say that they're not simply doing it for the soundbite on the nightly news. People will always argue that someone isn't moving fast enough or grandly enough. Little guys will always look at whatever the big guy does with distrust, regardless of intent or facts. At current production rates of farmers, and current global growth rates, combined with increasing quality issues and decreasing generational farmer intent to continue farming, the industry as a whole should be quite concerned about it's future, and everyone involved should be looking at ways of addressing sector rehabilitation in general. Few people get to see (fewer yet understand) the scope of the problem at hand.

Hershey - How Responsible is Responsible?

Posted in: Opinion

Alec:

If Hershey was sincerely serious about doing something, they'd be working in the Ivory Coast, where the documented problems are far more severe and widespread than they are in Ghana. Also, the monies involved would be in the hundreds of millions over decades.

The Gates Foundation ponied up US$750 million last month to keep a global AIDS organization from collapsing.

If the industry (and consumers) are sincere about doing something, the entire supply chain needs to be re-examined from the farm to the factory and the price the grower actually receives for his cocoa needs to accurately reflect the actual local cost of production AND the work required to make the farms self-sustaining. Thinking about self-sustaining requires a 100-year mindset, not a focus on quarterly results.

Hershey - How Responsible is Responsible?

Posted in: Opinion

Clay great catch on Hersey'sannouncement. I first heard about this on CNN and personally I am initially skeptical. CNN has been focusing on child slavery in the cocoa producing regions of Africa lately in several stories. I wonder if thisannouncementby Hershey's is a sincere call to address a serious problem or just a PR release todissipatenegative insinuation. Only time will tell I suppose. I hope it is sincere.

Hershey - How Responsible is Responsible?

Posted in: Opinion

Thanks for this piece, Clay. Your doubts are highly valid ones-and they closely parallel most of the issues with many aid programs, whether they support the cocoa sector or other sectors, especially the ones funded by the US government. Most USAID funds, for example, end up going to administrative costs, highly paid consultants, per diems, air fares, etc. with usually at least 50%, if not a much higher percentage, never actually being spent in the country on the people where the aid is supposedly destined for. Most of the money ends up being spent back in the US. And just like this program, many aid programs have a 5 year or 3 year time horizon, hardly enough to make any kind of lasting impact. Maintaining sustained funding is often difficult if not impossible because ofpolitical changes, changes in the Administration, changes in the political winds, etc.

Hershey - How Responsible is Responsible?

Posted in: Opinion

The "Fair" trade world is abuzz this week with an announcement by Hershey that it is expanding efforts in the area of cocoa sustainability in West Africa. Hershey is one of the last of the major international players to make such a commitment.

While skeptics are cautiously optimistic about the ultimate impact of the move, at least one, Global Exchange, points out that Hershey's choice to support Rainforest Alliance over a "real" "fair" trade certification does not bring with it "guaranteed" improvements in the quality of life for farmers:

"Fairtrade labelling standards are designed to tackle poverty and empower producers in the worlds poorest countries, giving them a guaranteed price for their products. Rather than emphasizing how products are traded, Rainforest Alliance certificationfocuses on how farms are managed."

Thus, while Hershey has announced that it will make it's Bliss product line with 100% Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa, it's unclear what this will actually mean for growers. Historically, we can suspect that it will be Hershey (and Rainforest Alliance) will benefit more than growers will.

The CocoaLink program, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will earmark US$10 million dollars over the next five years for:

"... a first-of-its kind farmer outreach program that uses mobile voice and SMS text messages to connect cocoa farmers with important information about improving farming practices, farm safety, child labor, health, crop disease prevention, post-harvest production and crop marketing."

Additional efforts will be made to establish:

"... the Hershey Learn to Grow farm program in Ghana to provide local farmers with information on best practices in sustainable cocoa farming."

Before we go and congratulate Hershey too much, or thank Bill and Melinda G for their assistance, let's take a short moment to think about the very important topic of where the US$10 million will be spent (and ask how much of the ten million is actually Hershey money, anyway?). Not surprisingly (at least to those of us who follow such things), most of the money will not be spent on aspects of the program that directly benefit growers .

Where will the money be going then? To pay for CocoaLink's infrastructure, in part. Someone has to pay for the SMS gateway, the cost to deliver the messages (which might be paid for at least in part by growers depending on their plan), and the cost of producing the content that will go into those messages. Looking for a real-time feed of commodities exchange prices for cocoa that can be mashed up and sent by SMS to phones? It's not free. And where do the people developing the tools, content, and technology and who will be managing the program live? Mostly not in Ghana.

It's quite possible that 50% or more of the US$10 million will never the leave the US or will go to large telecom, technology service, and operations management oversight providers in West Africa and will not, in fact, benefit growers in the long run.

Furthermore, to have even a hope of succeeding, Hershey would need to make a generational (20 year, minimum) commitment to the program. 5 years is not enough, and what happens 5 years from now when the current commitment expires? Will Hershey re-up? Will it re-assess the impact of the program? If it does re-assess will it have the institutional courage to man-up and do the right thing and fix things and move forward? Or will it decide that the program failed (not their fault!) and drop it?

I would not say that I am cautiously optimistic about the success or future of this program. Call me cautiously pessimistic . I want it to work, but don't believe it has enough of the right elements to achieve meaningful results. For anyone other than Hershey.

updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/15/15 21:22:34

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hello Richard, I was following this post as we have also started using the CocaoT melanger and are learning a lot from this post. I am looking for a micrometer and would appreciate any suggestions (such as online stores and brands), on where I can find one.

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

May I know how long and how often should I blow in the warm air? I use a hair dryer, and I use it like 5-6 times for a period of 5-10 seconds during the start of the conch and didn't blow in any hot air again until finish. My finished product still have acid taste in them, may I know how long do you blow in warm air?

Seems like I have to invest in a cocoa butter press then, for in this country there are no cocoa butter available.

Thank you Richard for your advice!

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

When we use our small melanger, it takes a good amount of time to get smooth chocolate and are you blowing in warm air to help evaporate acids and moisture? Also. Invest in a micrometer, digital version, less than 40 bucks. Test your batch periodically. We find on the small melanger it takes often 30 hours or so to get down to 20 microns, which is your target for smooth chocolate.Adding lecithin or added cocoa butter is also often needed, depends how much of a purist you are. Without that however you will find it hard to get a real fluid and homogenized batch.

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thanks to all three of you, I buy and sell cacao nibs and paste and last week decide to buy the CocoaT melanger as well. Our first batch we used a kilo of benian cacao paste and and ran that for about 6 hours before adding any sugar into it. We used brown sugar and then let it run for another 12 hours. We have now tried 3 batches and with your notes now have a clear understanding of what to do for batch number 4.

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you Felipe and Sebastian for your advice, those tips and tricks solve all of my problems thank you!

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi Panod,

You want to avoid water content as it is chocolate's worst enemy. The beans and sugar do have a very slight amount of water which is what you want goes off during conching and is also bound to lecithin. Do not use honey, it has a MUCH higher water content or even think of adding fresh fruit and the like.

My first batch was about 200g of nibs; I thought I'd start small but learnt it was good to do bigger batches (1kg+) considering the time spent to refine and conch. I can't really answer your fridge question for storing finished chocolate as I live in a cool and dry place, but do warm those nibs and everything else you use to 120-160f as it will make it easier on the machine to release the fat butter.

Regards,

Felipe

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Brown sugar will indeed add moisture to your chocolate, which can be a problem. I'd say, generally speaking, just make sure you've got enough white sugar on hand before you start 8) however, now that you've got brown sugar in it, here's what I'd try:

1) if it's not 'chunky' (rather just sandy feeling) let the grinder run for another 24 hours. if you've got the ability to run it in a 'hot' area (lets say 30-35C), do so, with the top off the grinder.

2) additionally, you didn't mention anything about lecithin. If you have some, add 0.5% of fluid lecithin after you run the grinder for another 12 hours. that'll give time for the water to evaporate off, and the lecithin will help bind up any remaining water.

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you Felipe! So if any ingredient I put into the melanger that have a higher water content, it could cause the chocolate to seize up more? So if I put honey in, the chocolate it would turn out to have a higher viscosity than brown sugar? Sadly I have no access to cocoa butter, can I put in more cocoa nibs instead? May I know how big is your first batch? And this question I always wonder, when you leave your chocolate do you leave it outside? Or you put it in a fridge for 2 weeks. I live in a hot humid country, so I put my crack cocoa beans and conched chocolate into the fridge, would it be alright? Thank you Felipe, I've learn loads of stuff today! :D

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi Panod,

Congratulations on your first batch! Here are a few ideas that come to mind regarding viscosity and sweeteners:

I believe brown sugar has a higher water content than regular sugar. This may cause the chocolate to seize and can explain the change you saw after adding the additional sugar. If the chocolate is too strong, you can alwaysadd additional cocoa butter instead of adding more sugar. It will help the chocolate flow better. Of the 5 batches I've done so far, the best one was the first, with 55% nibs, 15% cacao butter, 30% and just half a vanilla bean. At the end of conching (about 12-15 hours) it was good, two week later it was just fantastic and creamy.

All the best,

Felipe

Types of Sweetening and Conching Time

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi,

I just got my CocoaT Melanger yesterday, so this is my very time making chocolate properly.

For my first trial I use 380g of cocoa beans, I added in 163g of cane sugar to make it 70% dark chocolate. Three hours later I taste it, it's bitter sweet, and I want it to be a little sweeter, but I ran out of cane sugar but I got brown sugar, added 90 g in to make it 60%, I went to sleep and woke up the next morning (12 hours) letting it process. The liquid is smooth, but not that chocolate smooth I would get in normal chocolate, and it also doesn't have the color of a processed chocolate.

Is it the brown sugar that's causing the problem? Or 12 hours of conching is not enough for this 633g chocolate batch I'm making.

It also have a sour taste to it, can this problem be solved by letting it rest for 2-3 weeks before tempering?

Thank you so much in advance for your advice!

updated by @Panod: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Tempering help

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Ok... I'll help.

If you get your room temperature down to 24 degrees, using the ACMC (I own 6) will take absolutely FOREVER to cool and reheat. My suggestion is as follows:

1. Heat the chocolate in your ACMC to 120 degrees F, and make sure it's thoroughly heated.
2. Ensure that your motor is running and the bowl is spinning.
3. Reset your machine temperature to 90 degrees F, and begin to cool it.
4. When the chocolate gets to105 Degrees, remove 1/3 and cool it using a cold water bath in your sink. DO NOT GET ANY WATER IN THE BOWL.
5. The temperature of the chocolate in your cold water bath should get to about 79 degrees F. It will cool very quickly, so make sure you are stirring the entire time. It should get thick like pudding, and begin to stick to the sides of the bowl.
6. Add the chocolate back into your ACMC and stir really really well, MAKING SURE THE WATER IS WIPED OFF OF THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR BOWL BEFORE YOU POUR IT BACK IN. This will not only bring the chocolate in your ACMC down to the working temperature, but will also seed the uncrystalized chocolate and bring it into temper.
7. Let the machine mix the chocolate for 10-15 minutes to ensure uniform crystalization before beginning to work with it.

That's it. Super easy.

Hope that helps.

Brad

Tempering help

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I'm definitely no expert but i noticed no one else had replied. As far as I've learned and experienced ambient temp of the room in which your tempering should be closer to about 20. Also you can temper without seed by tableing.

Tempering help

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I was wondering if you need to use seed chocolate to acutally temper?

Could you temper the whole batch? like say i bring the whole 5lbs of chocolate down to 80 F and then heat back up to 90 - 92 F?

I'm about to buy an ACMC machine and im in the tropics where the ambient temperature is 33 C. So I will have to temper in an airconditioned room where i bring the ambient temp down to 24C. I use a Santha to grind my beans and add my ingridients, and when i usually get the chocolate out of the santha the temperature is about 115F.

updated by @Malcolm Tiu lim: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Hi,

I found this posting on the internet http://www.bid-on-equipment.com/detail~id~124510.htm . It seems as though someone is selling a used enrober. I personally bought my machine used and you never quite know what you are going to get. It took me a while to realize certain parts were missing. With that said, I figured it out and now I am in good shape. In summary, buy the machine new if you can. If you cannot, this might be a opportunity for a deal.

Right now they are offering free shipping til the end of the month, do you get that with your discount or is either/or?

updated by @Andy Ciordia: 11/08/15 05:00:31

Visiting the Roots of cacao in South America - looking for guidance

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Hello! I am heading down to South America in the spring to get hands on learning in the cacao industry. My interest is primarily exposure in growing and processing of cacao beans as well as it;s cultural influences. Thought to reach out to other cacao & chocolate connosseurs who may have some guidance or recommendations about such a journey.

Thank you!

Maureen

updated by @Kalibri Anne: 04/10/15 18:07:07

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I used 8% butter and 60% paste. Used 10% milk powder and added after 12 hours and kept it in the machine for 20 hours total. Ended up 22% sugar. The batch ended up being a 4 lb, 10.5 ounces and generally am getting about 10 oz. lose with each batch from cleaning. That is probably high but I do not pick through every nook and cranny of the grinder and bowl, but do the best I can without making too much of a mess.

My milk chocolate people want more milk powder in it. It is still pretty dark.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I am also experimenting with my first dark milk batches. I've added an additional 10% cocoa butter to the batch and it has been going for about 12 hours now in a small cocoa town. The consistency is pretty good already and will probably be finished in the next 8 hours. I have been trying to figure out when the best time to add the whole milk powder would be? Any suggestions?

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hello ! Thank you for sharing your experiences !

Our dark milk 60% is delicious, we added some nuts and our friends like it. the texture is smooth and the taste is good. We did not add additional cocoa butter, the tempering was ok, much more easier than the other chocolates...

But I would like also to try what you sais Antonino, reducing the nibs and adding some cocoa butter.. thank you for the idea !

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hi there, we make a Milk 60% single origin ecuador, we started the testing on a small melanger with the intent of lower the cocoabutter content (to have dry feeling) but it also turned out thick like cement!

we just modify a bit the recipe by increasing the fat content (cocoabutter) and now it works amazingly!

give a try by reducing the nibs and adding cocoabutter (let say 10%) but depending on the beans you could start trying with just 5%.

As well, what fat content has your milk powder?

Ciao!

Antonino

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I am also using the cocoa town melanger and made a dozen or so mirco batches and was not getting the smoothness I wanted. I ordered some cocoa butter and it really helps out with the texture. I started at 10-12 hour conches and raised it 20-24. I think I will go back to the 12 hour and see if more taste is maintained.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I think you'll find much better texture with that option - it'll put you somewhere in the neighborhood of 34% fat (maybe a touch higher depending on what nibs you're using) which should be liquid enough for the grinder to function properly. Your fineness will now largely be a function of how long you leave it in- the longer it spins, the finer it'll be. Enjoy!

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hello Tom and Sebastian,

thank you very much for your help. I have just tried the second option: I removed the contents of the grinder ( the texture was almost smooth, but not perfectly) and I will liquify some more nibs. Later I will add the first mixture to the second one. So, I will have 60% cocoa nibs, 15% whole milk and 25% sugar. I really hope that this formula will work..

I know that some chocolate makers make dark milk chocolate 60% without adding other ingredients, but I can not remember their names..

Thank you again for your advices, I will tell you the result.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

W/o having a formula, it's impossible to determine how much fat you have. However, i'm going to guestimate that you've got about 25% cocoa fat in there - which is low. To tom's point, one of your issues may be that it's simply not enough fluidity for the unit to grind efficiently, and you're going to have to find a way to further fluidize it - either via some lecithin or additional fat. It's my guess that you're low enough in fat that lecithin's not going to get you to where you need to be, so you're prob looking at additional fat. Now, i'd not monkey around with veg fats. Unless you know what you're doing, there's a very high likelihood that you're going to very quickly run into something called eutectics, which will give you all sorts of troubles should you want to temper this. Rather, i'd look to add cocoa butter. Now, yo'uve got two options:

1) add pure cocoa butter, bring the total fat up to, oh, say 35%. Or, if you don't have access to cocoa butter

2) remove the contents of your grinder, and add more roasted nibs. Liquify those nibs - they'll have an approximate fat content of, lets say 52%. Once you create you fluid chocolate liquor, slowly add in your original paste batch, using the fluidity from the extra liquor to assist with the grinding. 0.2% fluid lecithin will also help at this point.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Well i would say you have too many solid particles for the amount of naturally occuring cocoa butter in the beans you used. I would add cocoa butter but since that is not an option you could go for a vegetable oil with a high bp and little flavour so as not to change the taste of the chocolate too much. I am not sure how much you would be able to get away with before you will have trouble tempering the resulting chocolate but i would guess not more than 5%. Also if you do this it won't strictly be chocolate anymore because you have other non cocoa fats in there. I do this when i make a choc-hazelnutspread but then i adding more than 5% and the result is spreadable.

Dark milk chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hello,

I am trying to make my first dark milk chocolate from the beans, and I have some problems about grinding and conching. I do not add soy lecithin or cocoa butter, only cocoa beans ( 45%), whole milk and sugar. I use the CocoaTown grinder and after 72 hours of grinding - conching, the texture is not perfectly smooth. But the taste is very delicious ! I wonder if I have to wait another 24 hours ?

What do you think ? I don't want to add other ingredients, do you think that I can make a smooth dark milk chocolate without additional soy lecithin or cocoa butter.

Thank you in advance for your advices !

Maria

updated by @Maria6: 04/14/15 17:20:06

Nothing Like Chocolate

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Trailers of the movie "Nothing Like Chocolate" with The Grenada Chocolate Company:

http://www.nothinglikechocolate.com/trailers.php

updated by @Vera Hofman: 03/11/26 06:20:34

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

A couple of things suggest themselves as this sounds like it might be inconsistent distribution of crystals in the chocolate.

1) Keep the chocolate at the melted point for a while longer, 10 minutes? before starting the cool-down part of the cycle (when you add the seed chocolate). This will help to ensure that the chocolate is completely melted. Remember, the temperature is only being measure where the little sensor probe is located. Waiting a while will make sure that the chocolate is a more even temperature and that the crystals are all melted out.

2) When the temper cycle is over, do two things: a) stir the chocolate a bit to mix it, evening out the temperature and spreading the crystals around; and thenb) wait a while before starting to use the chocolate - remember, the temperature sensor measures the temperature in only one place.

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Oops, sorry about that.

I'm using ChocoVision Revolation X3210, and Noel and Callebaut chocolates. After going though the tempering process, the chocolate has shiny streaks as well as whiteish streaks and spots.

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Jasmine -

Not sure if you mentioned this before, but what kinds of machines are you using for tempering and what exactly are the symptoms (visual and otherwise) of the temper being off.

I have to agree with Jeff about low humidity, as chocolate is not supposed to have any water in it anyway. The only issues I have ever seen with humidity is when it's too high, and the chocolate, being hygroscopic, absorbs moisture and thickens making it difficult to work with.

Another issue - I suppose theoretically - is that you're not melting out all the crystals before starting to cool the chocolate down. This would result in "bad" (unwanted) crystals still being in the chocolate, forcing improper crystal structure. When you warm the chocolate up, to what temperature and how long do you keep it there before starting to cool it down?

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Humidity shouldn't really affect your tempering process. I work at 10,000 feet here in Quito with probably 40% or lower humidity much of the time and never had an issue.

Too Dry for Tempering?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hello,

I am trying to pinpoint my recent tempering difficulties in my store's kitchen. I've ruled out machine malfunction and the chocolate itself, since the same poor temper is happening with both machines and different % and brands of chocolate. (Plus, I have also gotten beautiful tempers from these machines and chocolate brands.) The only other variable is the atmosphere of the kitchen.

My kitchen is currently at 66 degrees Fahrenheit and 31% humidity. I know the ideal atmosphere is 68 degrees Fahrenheit and below 50% humidity.

My question is: is 31% humidity too dry to get an excellent temper?

Looking forward to hearing from everyone, as I am stumped about this problem.

updated by @Jasmine Mead: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Tempering problem

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hello !

I have just started making chocolate from the bean. I make 70% chocolate, two different origins. They taste good, I think I have found the best temperatures for the tempering process, but I have some problems... I use Selmi tempering machine. My molds are warm, but not too much.After tempering, the structure and the color of the chocolate are ok, but there are always 2-3 very bright, glossy, spots, not white, and not always on the same molds.

Do you know why ? I don't know if there is a problem with the molds or with the temperature ?

Thank you in advance !

updated by @Maria6: 04/11/25 09:27:36