Forum Activity for @Tom

Try adding a little salt, salt makes nuts taste nuttier. You don't need much but the change is remarkable.

Hi Sebastian! Good point. I planned to try with milk chocolate to see if that helped. I was also interested in hearing what other people do -- how they roast the nuts, whether they include them whole or minced, if they use any added flavorings, etc.

How you roast can significantly impact flavor of the nuts. My guess is that since hazelnuts are a more delicate flavor, the fact that you're putting them in a HIGHLY flavorful base (dark chocolate) they're just getting overpowered. Hard to say for certain w/o details.

Hello! I am searching for the best method of achieving pronounced hazelnut flavor in dark chocolate ganache. I have roasted them whole, roasted them crushed, varied the amounts, supplemented with Frangelico, but it's just not coming through strong enough. What's the secret? A paste? Thanks in advance!

Kate

Elizabeth:

You should post equipment for sale in the Classifieds groups (under the Shop tab in the top navigation).

:: Clay

Hi. I live in South Africa, Gauteng, and would like to know where I can purchae Valrhona Couverture? I also have a 15kg Moulding Machine from Prefamac for sale. Elizabeth

Mark, I just answered you in a different post- happily, we can announce that KREBS has worked with companies like Barry Callebaut to develop a purpose made heated chocolate sprayer. You can google the hotCHOC food gun or check out the youtube vids.

You are so right Stu. We have a lot of customers come to us after buying a cheap and cheerful Paint gun only to find it doesn't have the power, precision or reliability.

Krebs food guns start at 160Bar and the nozzle options are designed for food materials.

The problem is that most Chefs, bakers, butchers and Chocolatiers etc. are not aware that a professional electric spray gun solution exists.

Krebs Food Spray Guns

The key is to use 50% chocolate & 50% cocoa butter when spraying. Trying to spray chocolate by itself is pretty challenging. Then anything above 50PSI should do the job, just be careful if using a compressor, that the oil used in the machine can't contaminate the air (many industrial units have this issue).

@ Mark- They are a nice food gun. Which one did you buy?

A few years ago I used what looked exactly like a Krebs gun in Germany but it was branded for Unilever and sold as food certified for spraying one of their thick greases . I also found the Alexo200 when googling so I guess Krebs are also making their electric food sprayer guns for other food companies.

Hi guys, thanks for the replies, really appreciate it. From your reply Sebastian Isearched Wagner guns and in doing so came up with Krebs (which from their site were bought by Wagner). They have food certified versions of the paint guns and have different nozzles depending on the surface area to be covered and the material being sprayed, so I've ordered one of those this morning. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers

Mark

I have just purchased a Campbell Hausfeld HVLP spray gun for spraying with chocolate. Initial results have been disapointing with very little chocolate coming through. On reading the manual carefully it seems that the unit is shipped with an "all purpose" nozzle/needle (they need to be matched). I think that it needs the "thick" nozzle/needle but I can't get a response from Campbell Hausfeld to buy one as yet.

Although I heated the "cup" on the sprayer I did not heat the tube that dips into the chocolate (thinking that the chocolate would do that). When I opened up to clean out this was blocked although I had tried to spray hot water through in an effort to clean.

I was trying to spray light items (freeze dried fruit) and the force of the air coming through the gun simply blows them away. I'll have to pin them down I think for the first coat.

Not giving up as yet. Will try Sebastian's thought for cocoa butter if it does not degrade my chocolate too much.

Have had good results with wagner power paint sprayers. make sure you use a very low viscosity chocolate. may need to dilute it with cocoa butter to further thin it.

I'm looking for a device to spray liquid chocolate onto baked goods, does anyone know what works well?

Generally speaking, the more water you add to your chocolate, the lower it's shelf life will be. It's hard to discern your exact goal, but if i'm inferring correctly, you've got a solid chocolate (bar, someother form - you're not talking about a ganache center i don't think). If that's the case, iand by smoother you mean you are not happy with the melt quality - i'd be sure you start with a fine particle size chocolate (< 20 um) and you can begin to modify it by adding anhydryous milk fat (or ghee). milk fat will make it softer, harder to temper, and melt more rapidly (often referred to as 'smooth').

Do not add much - perhaps 1%, learn how to work with it, taste it and see if you're happy with it. if not, add 1% more, repeat..

If I add heavy cream to my chocolate mixture for dipping will it go sour when your candy is left out for long periods of time? I want a more smoother, creamy base to my chocolate.

Thanks,

Theresa

Thanks guys!

Didn't know the pound plus was made by Callebaut, I have been snacking on that one for years, have some in my pantry right now, coincidentally I have been using Callebaut 811NV for my bars, even bought some more from Gygi in Utah yesterday.

What places did you contact?

Would love to know of more options.

Thank You!

I had the same problem a little while ago. I just decided to call and email a few places I was interested in. I told them that I was thinking of opening a shop and was still in the pricing stage. I told them I still was not sure what supplier I wanted to go with, and needed to compare wholesale prices. They then sent me a list of their wholesale prices! Most places will not let you order from that list until you have a businesslicense, but at least you have the data you need. It amazing what a "pretty please" can do. =D

thanks Ruth!

thank you!

Check out Albert Uster. They have a large variety of items and you can compare prices.

BBFDirect.com is great for buyers, you can see wholesale pricing and recommended retail from a HUGE number of chocolatiers and bean to bar products.

Hi

I am currently writing a business plan for a new retail chocolate shop. This will be 180* from anything I've done but I am ready to make the leap. However, I am having difficulty projecting my costs for goods - I cannot apply for a wholesale account anywhere as I don't have a business yet. But I can't finish the business plan without at least some ballpark estimates of purchasing high quality chocolate bars and products, globally, wholesale to ship to California. These would be consumer-ready products.

Can anyone point me to a resource for data? Many thanks!

We do regularly very large amount of hand piped/rolled truffles. we started with the 2:1 ratio and we adjusted to have a nice consistency/fat content. We know that if we change cream supplier we must adjust the recipe by reducing cream+adding milk.

Best trick to speed up process is to melt completely the chocolate; warm up cream/gluco etc stir together and pour on a tray covered with glad wrap. about 3-4 hour later you can already pipe them. Crystallize overnight, roll and dip day after...

my 2 rand.....

Nino

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that ganache typically breaks for two reasons: too much fat or too low of a temperature when agitating. Since you are having more breaking with less cream the fat content does not appear to be the issue for you. So it's probably the temperature. If your liquids fall below 90F before mixing with the chocolate you're asking for trouble. I'm guessing that may be what happened in your previous breaks, especially since it happened with less cream (which was the warm part). You don't want your liquid so hot that you lose your Form V crystals, but you want it above 100F before adding to the chocolate so that you can avoid breaking.

Another trick to toughen up the ganache by the way is to wait until it gets down to about 72F, and then table it for a very short time. I've never done this myself, but I've read that this will make the ganache less soft. Apparently it's really easy to overdo this however, so you want to be careful (and quick) if you try this. But it may help you out. As for the recipes you've seen, those sound like they are intended more for glazes, frostings or fillings. Of course you have to do what works for you, but 2:1 is definitely the standard, and I would give it another test.

What is your time frame? A 1:1 will not hold more than a few days. It also depends on your chocolate. I agree on the 2:1.

I used to do 2:1 and found that the ganaches would break a lot or become too soft, and somehow using less chocolate made them hold up better? All the recipes I've found are closer to 1:1. . .

General rule of thumb is 2:1 ratio for dark chocolate and cream. So you're a little light on chocolate with the above. Also, butter tends to soften the ganache. So unless you're adding a liquid flavoring (and in the above you're not) or using a low-fat cream I would consider leaving that out. You might try another test batch with 250 g choc, 125 g cream, 30 g glucose and see how that works out. And of course do not cool it in the fridge. That will make the ganache softer too. Let it cool at room temp (65-70). 24 hours. Anyway that's what I was taught. Others here may have different advice.

Hi everyone, I've actually been out of commission for a while, in the process of slowly closing my business. But I had someone place a large order- 3000 truffles- and I need some help. I've been using truffle shells for a while now but this customer wants a larger truffle which means I have to hand-roll. I've had problems with dark choc ganaches in the past being too soft, so I was wondering if anyone has a reliable recipe? I did a test batch of 200 g 74%, 125 g cream, 16 g glucose, 32 g butter, and I'm waiting for it to cool now. . .

That's pretty interesting Brian. Thanks for that. So I assume that all of the chocolate coating the pan interior melts off and adheres to the product? Don't you get "dents" in the product where it comes in contact with the hard stainless steel pan without the cushioning effect of the chocolate lining? I assume that you still need to seal with shellac? If so, wouldn't the product lack "grip" without the chocolate lining or ribs? Or is that in another pan?

Heat into the pan, in addition to the cheat, allows you to use the same, non-ribed, pan for polishing without the use of a commercial glaze.

brian

Thanks Edward. I wondered if something like that may be the answer. I DO find it helpful to be able to add a dab of heat from time to time but don't think this is industry practise.

Anyway, I have ordered my pan and now await for it to arrive!

The Germans and the Swiss love thier "Gebrannte Mandeln", or sugar coated/carmelized whole almonds. Some of these panning machines can be very elaborate and expensive affairs

I am buying a pan to increase capacity in my small chocolate set-up. Most suppiers stress that they have heating on their pans but I fail to see why. It has the effect that a pan drawing 1.5Kw needs a further 4Kw for the heater and as I am already having to consider installing a three phase power converter too it ups my price significantly.

On my current small pan (15kg) I have no heating although I do sometimes cheat and smooth out the choclate covered coffee beans with careful application of heat from a blower. But I consider that a "cheat" - not a requirement.

I saw on another post here that a member assumed that he'she would need heating - so I hesitate as I don't consider myself an expert in this area. But as I say, I just don't see the point!

Is it that other forms of confectionery (ie, not chocolate) need added heat and that is why it's supplied? Or am I missing something that might become glaringly obvious when I get to the much larger volumes (70Kg load) that the new system will hopefully deliver? I really acn't easily afford to do this wrong. Thanks!

Invertase as an enzyme will continue to work until forced to stop. One way is heat as mentioned above, another is pH, but not a problem with fondant unless you've added acid for a fruit flavor. The final way it's stopped is if there is not enough moisture in the fondant.

Invertase will work until the moisture level of the syrup phase falls below 20%. Most fondants are about 50:50 crystal to syrup (but can range to 60:40, and about 12% total moisture. So if 50% syrup phase, it's about 24% moisture. So you should see significant softening.If less moisture, just a couple percent, will result in minimal or no noticable effect. However, it all depends on all of the above.... age of the invertase, temperature seen, pH, and then moisture level of the fondant and resulting syrup phase. The level of invertase will effect speed to the end result, not how far. A lot more involved but the above should hopefully help.

Remember, invertase is an enzyme. Enzymes can go bad (if old, or if hot). Enzymes will work much more slowly when they're in a cold environment (ie they will work slower in a fridge than they do at room temperature). Enzymes require some moisture to work (if you've got a formulation without any water in it, for example...), and invertase will only do much for you if you've got sucrose present (ie if you're formulation is with other sugars or sugar free, don't expect much)...

Keeping the invertase in the fridge will extend it's shelf life; however if you've got 10 year old invertase or invertase that spent the first 2 weeks of it's life in an egyptian garage at 140F, it's not going to much matter....