Chocovision enrober
Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)
Any feedback on the Chocovision enrobing attachment? I'm very small, low budget but need to step up production. Thanks!
updated by @Linda Schiaffino: 12/13/24 12:15:15
Forum Activity for @Linda Schiaffino
Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)
Any feedback on the Chocovision enrobing attachment? I'm very small, low budget but need to step up production. Thanks!
updated by @Linda Schiaffino: 12/13/24 12:15:15
Finished tempering question
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
What are the ideal temps for milk chocolate? I keep reading different numbers.Also do you use the Little Dipper? I am trying to find a decent temper machine under 600
Finished tempering question
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Check it with a thermometer. That will help you sort out why the chocolate is being finicky.
Finished tempering question
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
LarryWith the mini rev it doesn't display temperature. It just tells you when to seed after the chocolate melts. I am going to upgrade to the rev 2 that has a temperature display and you can adjust it.
Finished tempering question
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
It sounds like tempering. Your chocolate can come out of temper as it sets if the room is not cold enough or is too cold.
Could you reply with the temperatures you are using? i.e. melt the chcocolate to xxx, add seed, cool to xx degrees, the room is xx degrees.
You could also add air movement.
Reading the little dipper manual would be helpful. discussions/1-1000/90-LITTLEDIPPERanalog.pdf
yes, I realize you are using a minirev. There is a lot of very valuable information about chocolate quality in general you can glean from the little dipper instructions.
Thanks,
Larry
Finished tempering question
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
I have a minrev tempering machine and I was using it during the summer months. It seemed that my chocolate would still come out soft and would melt very quickly to the touch. So then I tried the microwave method and the chocolatee still seems to melt very fast when I pick it up. And it seems to be dull as well. Would these problems have anything to do with the chocolate I am using callebaut? Or is my tempering technique wrong ?
updated by @Bryan: 04/11/25 09:27:36
Topping chocolate after it dries?
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Bryan -
Just a quick technical note to follow on to what Andrea mentioned about the technique she uses: Chocolate does not dry as there is little to no water in it. When chocolate cools down the cocoa butter crystallizes. There are several forms of crystals, and proper tempering ensures that the right crystals set up.
Topping chocolate after it dries?
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
I usually have a batch of tempered chocolate on the side and dip whatever I am putting on my finished chocolate. You can do this with nuts, coconut, or whatever. If you do what you are suggesting (steaming) then you will alter the temper and if not, then just ruin the shine. Buy a set of tweezers to make dipping and placing the item on your chocolate easier and neater.
Topping chocolate after it dries?
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
How would I stick stuff to tempered chocolate after it dries? Would steaming it like modeling chocolate work? Any ideas? I don't want to ruin the temper.
updated by @Bryan: 04/11/25 09:27:36
Experience with FireMixer
Posted in: Opinion
I am wondering what experience people have with the Savage Bros FireMixer in making caramels. Would so love to hear opinions on this machine as it is a very hefty investment to make.
updated by @chocolatehappy: 01/16/16 18:29:31
Wrapping Candy?
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
So I put the wrong reply here. I will post pics of what I am doing later this week when I make a batch.
Wrapping Candy?
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Bryan,
You could look into flow wrapping, but it would probably be cost prohibitive.
Could you put the caramels into glassine candy cups and then put them in a box?
Pictures would also be helpful.
Wrapping Candy?
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
I make chocolate covered caramel and I want to give them as gifts. I bought a stack of wrappers for but is there a better way to wrap them then individually by hand? It takes me forever.
updated by @Bryan: 04/11/25 09:27:36
Hand temper Dark chocolate couverture by Callebaut 54.5% cocoa
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
What did you do with the tempered chocolate? Enrobe something, or just leave in the bowl? If it was all left in the bowl, you would get streaking from the large mass of chocolate and the latent heat of crystallization. If the streaking is on an enrobed piece, the chocolate wasn't truly in temper, or the room was too warm.
Hand temper Dark chocolate couverture by Callebaut 54.5% cocoa
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
did you mix it while doing so?
you did that just in a bowl or you have a marble for tempering?
my best gues is that you did not mix it.
Hand temper Dark chocolate couverture by Callebaut 54.5% cocoa
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
I am using Callebaut Dark Chocolate for tempering by hand.It's my first attempt ,as mentioned on the package I heated and cooled and then reheated the chocolate.but next day there were white streaks on the tempered chocolate what could be the reason for that?What do I do to get perfect tempered chocolate by hand ?Thanx.Arti.
updated by @Arti Jain: 04/11/25 09:27:36
FireMixer
Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE
Melanie (and all ChocolateLife members):
Posts like these belong in the Classifieds.
Thanks,
:: Clay
FireMixer
Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE
I am looking for a Savage Bros FireMixer.
Would love to hear from you if you have one available or know of someone looking to sell one. Thanks!
Melanieparkcity@msn.com
updated by @chocolatehappy: 04/07/25 13:00:14
Dried and quality cocoa beans for sale
Posted in: Allow Me to Introduce Myself
To All ChocolateLife members:
Posts such as these belong in Classifieds.
Thanks,
:: Clay
Dried and quality cocoa beans for sale
Posted in: Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Standard Grade A cocoa beans Description/ Specification of our COCOA BEANS 1. TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF OUR COCOA BEANS: Commodity Name: Mature Cocoa Beans Sierra Leone Origin. Presentation: Dried and Fermented. c.Quality classification: Standard Grade A d.Other technical specifications: - Bean counts: 95 100 per 100 grs - Moisture grade: 4 % - Acidity: 4% Max - Moulds: 2% Max - Defective matters: 2% Max - Strange matters: 0.5% Max - Breakage: 1% Max PACKAGE : Seaworthy Jute Bags of 65 Kg/Net LOADING: 1 x 20 Dry - FCL (25 MT of product loaded) QUANTITY AVAILABLE: 500 / 1.000 / 5.000 Metric Ton according Client demand and Purchase Contract closed
updated by @cocoabeans.supplie: 04/12/15 21:05:40
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
She succumbed to the BS in person....
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
Ok just watched it. Pure hype. He deferred to his website constantly. Its marketing garbage. Watch his eyes; even he doesn't believe the horse shit he is spewing.
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
Rave review of Toak from Los Angeles Times food critic S. Irene Virbila.
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
To'ak Chocolate founder Jerry Toth was on a news segment debuting his $260 bars. http://www.wciu.com/videos/youandme/-260-chocolate-bars
As is typical, the news hosts seemed to know very little about artisan chocolate. The host on the left took a small bite, then at 6:32 she dropped her piece out of the small wood tweezer onto the ground! Hilarious! (Her original piece was ~1/16th of the bar, so it was worth ~$16. After her little bite, the piece that dropped was probably priced ~$10.)
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
this is a travesty. It in no way defines the concept of a 100$ chocolate bar. This is pure unadulterated marketing. plain and simple. while they will certainly sell every bar they have, only a fool would believe they made 1 batch of 28 kilos. That is one tank in a cocoatown. This is not real. The website is beautiful, for sure, but the story of these beans and the process is a bit muddy. rare secret trees....yet they have 14 farmers?....which is it guys?
whatever....like NOKA this will disappear....
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
I think one of the selling points is the fancy box and tweezers. Like the label and impressive displays of decanting wine etc... (I don't drink so I have an outsider view here) the very unique presentation will give the host who shares a bar with his/her guests a grandiose sense of pride. The guests who may it may not have sophisticated palates will feel delighted and cared for because the host spent the lage sum on a bar. It is also sure to taste better because of the perceived quality.Wasn't there a Harvard wine tasteing party that was duped with wine from switched bottles? (The plain wine in expensive bottles tasted 'better' than fancy wine in cheap bottles.Another thing they've done is put away a stock of vars which will be aged and released later.This should help build data on how chocolate ages.It is expensive, but aren't we all selling an experience?
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
There's a sucker born every minute (525,600 every year), so it shouldn't be hard to unload 574 bars....
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
The front of the box says 50gr in one of the pictures on the site, which is beautiful and may be one of the best produced and illustrative sites of its kind I have seen.
I may have tasted this while I was in Per in July. I base this solely on the fact that one of the quotes about the chocolate was from Idaly Farfn - and she tasted me on some new project she was working on. I will have to email her and ask. If these are one and the same then this is a pretty special chocolate but I don't know that $5000/kg is where I would peg the starting price (which they say barely covers the cost of production).
My issues with the presentation are simple, yet deep:
1) The point of the $100 bar is that the chocolate itself has to be the reason for the price. The Spanish Elm box and the tweezers (has anybody else ever heard about fingerprint oils despoiling the aroma of chocolate?) are a bit too over the top for me.
2) When I read their stuff I get the impression these guys think they invented the analogy between chocolate and wine. But they do hit on a lot of important points that indicate they've been well schooled. 2014 Wet Harvest. The prose seems more than a little over the top. Which segues into the next point:
3) In an online article about this bar the makers are reported to have been talking about the evolution of chocolate tasting/pairing events and how in 5 years they will be all over the place. Hello? What's been going on for the past dozen years? This is something I saw coming 20 years ago and have been actively promoting since 2001 - along with hundreds of other people, many of whom I know. These days, the press just seems to run with any statement and does little or no fact checking or background research to verify statements that get made.
4) I've heard of artificial scarcity before, but 574, 50gr bars takes it to a new place entirely. In case no one else did the math, that is 28.7 kilos of chocolate. At 81% even using Nacional trees, that might be 100 trees? At $260/bar the maximum retail value of the project is about $150,000. That said, even at this price, with only 574 units to sell and they hype around it - they are likely to sell out.
The topic of the $100 bar came up while I was in London at the Academy of Chocolate conference. One of the points I make - and this bar does not address that point at all - is that there needs to be money in the system to pay for critics and educators to tell people why it's okay to spend $50, $100, $260 on a no-compromise chocolate made without any gimmicks (and there are at least two elements of gimmickry here - the tweezers and the very limited availability). Unfortunately, the lack of availability does not address the much larger issues - at least as I see them.
:: Clay
PS.Iwouldlike to know if samples are available for bona fide members of the press to taste and write about.
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
Answered my own question. The photo on the Toak website at the bottom of this page says 50g
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
The (second) article you link to says a 50 ounce bar but it looks a little small for that in the photos. Undeniably expensive either way, but I was wondering if you had tracked down something else which indicated to you the bar was 50g?
Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar
Posted in: Uncategorized
Clay called for the $100 chocolate bar. The good folks behind Toak Chocolate answered the call with enthusiasm. Rare and secret Ecuadorian cacao, so delicately flavored that one must handle it with tweezers made of Spanish elm to avoid commingling its aroma with that of the oils from one's skin.
Scott
updated by @Scott: 04/09/15 04:37:35
Butter & Ganache
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Does anyone know the difference it makes in a ganache when the butter is added melted, creamed or solid? Or when there is none? Is there a difference in shelf life?
I'm refering to a cream-based ganache, where there is an emulsion with milk fat particles present, do they remain as a separate droplet structure in the fat phase?
People have told me is a preference thing but I'm pretty sure there's some explainable science behind it.
updated by @Daniela Vasquez: 04/11/25 09:27:36
Francois Pralus
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
I would say that he has done this technique for many years and knows how the taste of his brewed tea translates into finished chocolate. I have a similar method where i taste the beans as they are roasting every 5 mins after about 15 min roasting to see when i should end the roast. I taste two shelled beans with half a teaspoon of sugar and munch it for a while. This gives me a precise idea of how that will translate into finished chocolate, not because it tastes exactly like the finished chcooate will but because of many years of experience in translation from this to finished chocolate. I know that certain flavours and aromas will not translate into the finished chooclate and i know how others will change and develop. Translation is the key here, i think
Francois Pralus
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Interesting. Just wondering what he was talking about. Much appreciated.
Francois Pralus
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
The extraction of flavor via hot or cold H2O, or with neutral spirit (via maceration) will not provide you with a good predictor of what the true flavor of the chocolate will be given a cocoa type. Perhaps, he found a way to make it work for him given the limitations. From experience, I've discovered these methods to render poor results for that purpose.
Francois Pralus
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
It's incredibly difficult to make a tea out of something that's encapsulated with a total fat content of over 50%, as it is to reach roasting temperatures in tea, as it is to simulate process (grinding, conching).
updated by @Sebastian: 01/29/15 00:28:34
Francois Pralus
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
So searching around the internet and came across this interesting quote on Francois' website:
Franois Pralusgives away one of his little secrets to give us a more precise idea of how he obtains the right flavour before he starts to manufacture:
"I brew the cocoa in water, rather like making herbal tea and sweeten it slightly with sugar, then I leave it to settle. This gives me a precise idea of what the flavour will be like before I launch the manufacturing process."
Has anyone ever heard of this or tried this?
updated by @IH: 04/11/25 09:27:36
Chocolate Vendors
Posted in: Uncategorized
Where are you located, what's your usage, volume, and budget?
The two big couverture players in my area are Barry and Valrhona. Some use Belcolade because it's cheaper and "Belgian", but it's nowhere near as good.
Real chocolate that tastes great is expensive. A tastier but more expensive option is to contact a bean-to-bar manufacturer whose chocolate you like and inquire about bulk pricing.
Chocolate Vendors
Posted in: Uncategorized
Hello Everyone,
I have been in the chocolate business for about a year now and have been looking for appropriate as well as affordable vendors to work with. I don't know if this is my inability to find great vendors or they are really hard to find. Is anyone willing to share/suggest vendors for the items listed below?
1. Good quality chocolate
2. Packaging - looking for magnetic lock boxes
3. Natural/Organic/No GMO added products for fillings etc.
Any advice is going to be very appreciative.
THANK YOU ALL!
Keti
updated by @Keti: 04/11/15 04:42:18
Contact Samuel Von Rutte
Posted in: Uncategorized
Hi does anyone have a contact email for Samuel Von Rutte in Evuador or does anyone know if it is possible to visit his Hacienda Limon?
updated by @Cat Ankerson: 04/09/15 04:15:00
Commercial chocolate-making kitchen for rent in Salt Lake City Utah
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Melanie,
Would you by any chance be interested in selling your Hilliard little dipper machine?
Isaac