Forum Activity for @Heather Johnston

We use a tall and narrow 3 Qt. cambro and then just pour directly in from the mixing bowl. What size pastry bag are you using?

Hi everyone,

I have a Chocovision X3210 in excellent condition that I'm selling for $1600 including shipping to the continental U.S. Includes a holey baffle, 2 scrapers and 2 dipping forks.

Email me with questions: heather@verucachocolates.com

I use a 2-qt pitcher. Anything that holds the bag open works.

A tall, plastic drinking glass that is a few inches shorter than the bag; drape the top over the edge of the glass.  Fill the bag, scrape along the edge if you like and then pull it up and out and proceed to pipe.  Been doing it this way for years.  The reason you get blank stares is that most pastry professionals are accustomed to holding it in one hand and filling with the other...I never could master that.

Ok....

If you've ever tried to give a cat a bath by yourself, well.... that's what it's like trying to load marshmallow into a piping bag by yourself!!!!!

I swear I got more marshmallow on me than out the end of the tip of the bag!!!

Where can I find an apparatus that holds the bloody piping bag wide open while I scoop stuff into it - and I mean a BIG aparatus - not one of those dinky Wilton piping bag stands for the happy homemaker and her cup of blue icing.

I find it absolutely ridiculous that I can buy piping bags everywhere in this city, but when I ask for a stand or a holder, the sales guy looks at me with this "deer in the headlights" look, then says "Uhhhhhh....".

I appreciate the help.

Frustrated Brad.... 

Hello,  I am looking for a Hilliard Little Dipper, please  let me know if you have one available.   This would be our next tempering machine, we  just need shipping to Miami.

Email:  gerencia@chocostudio.pe

Thanks in advance,

Cesar Jose

I let the chocolate in molds cool at room temperature. But I'm going to put it by my fan next time around. It did take hours to solidify which sounds like it was never tempered. 

I'll give an update after I try @thomas-snuggs steps. I'm really trying to avoid buying marble and I'd like to try to not use seeds because I bought specific beans from different parts of the world and I want to find out if I can taste a difference.

How many pounds of chocolate are you trying to temper? After pouring it in the molds, how are you cooling your chocolate at room temperature or fridge? (how long did it take to solidify?)

The cooling via stirring and fan may not be cooling the particules properly. You would be better with a Cold Marble cooling or seed cooling (You may need to use a 3rd party seeds at first then you can save your own seeds)

PS - You do not need to go up to 124 (118 - 120 should be enough to melt all particules), coold it down further to 82 and then bring it up to 88 - 89 and test it on a parchment parper before you pour it in the molds to make sure it is well tempered.

Sounds great, thanks! I'll do those added steps tonight

Always test your chocolate for temper. Place a little on the back of a spoon or on a piece of wax paper. It should set in a few minutes and have a nice snap. If not, then it has not been tempered.

A room temperature of 72 F is on the high side for me. I prefer 68 F and I always have a fan blowing over my chocolate molds. I learned the hard way that tempered chocolate will produce bars just like your photos if the room temperature is too high.

I also use a double boiler to heat my dark chocolate to 120 F and then cool it in a 65 to 68 F water bath to 80 F, then back on the boiler to bring the temperature back up to 89/90 F. I am always stiring and allow some time at each temperature. One must take care if using a water bath as water in chocolate is bad.

I hope this helps.

I just left the chocolate in the double boiler bowl and stir it with a fan blowing on the choc. It was a slow process. Probablt took over ten minutes to drop down to 84 F

I put the bowl back over the steaming water for 15-20 secs to bring it back to 90 F.

I did not test the choc before molding. How do I test? The room temperature is 72 F and I used food grade silicon molds.

When do you do the cooling in the bath? 

The chocolate was either not tempered when it was molded or lost it in the mold. Did you test the chocolate prior to molding? If the test was ok, then your chocolate was not in a cool enough environment while it set. What was the ambient temp while in the molds? I usually cool my dark chocolate to 80 to 81 F in a cold water bath when tempering. 

How did you cool it down from 124 to 84? How fast?

How did you bring it up from 84 to 90?

Is your little dipper still available?  I am very interested simplysogood@hotmail.com  Thank you

Hi, This is my first attempt at making chocolate from beans. I attached a photo of the chocolate I attempted to temper. Does anyone know where I went wrong from just looking at that formation of crystals? 

I used a doulble boiler. Took the chocolate up to 124 F, then cooled it to 84 F just using a fan and stirring the chocolate in the bowl. Then brought it back up to 90 F and put it in the molds.

Thanks for any help offered!

 Temperingproblem.jpg - 1.9MB

Thanks! I was just curious on its capacity as I've always had a 10" w  tunnel etc. This is first time running a smaller machine. 

Hi there,

I have this machine. I have an older model from the 90s. I can tell you that this machine can work all day and all night. You can enrobe for as long as you want. You will have to add more chocolate when the tank gets low. I always have a supply of melted chocolate that is ready to add to the machine when needed. If you have any more specific questions. I would be happy to answer them. Enjoy your new machine!

Daniel

Ciao! Add me to the e-mail list, please! burgundyport@yahoo.com

I recently replaced a used and no longer functioning candy case with one from Alternative Air. The new case was reasonably priced (relative to others I explored), and is very nice. It takes a couple of months to get one made, and they don't communicate much on progress, but I'm very happy with the new case. It dehumidifies better than my old one, and holds my chocolates perfectly.

I spent a little time with Kerry the last few weeks and was able to see her work with the EZTemper first-hand. It seemed to work very well. I've been considering purchasing one.  Then two days ago, when the weather cooled and humidity dropped, I was dipping chocolate toffees and was having a terrible time tempering my lecithin-free organic milk chocolate couverture (tastes great, 45%, but hard as heck to temper) and I was wishing I had purchased the EZTemper. That was truly the moment when I realized that the cost is likely worth the time savings. You can see pics of the chocolate, and how we used the EZTemper on my blog here.  Kerry was testing it out to see if liquid, tempered chocolate could be kept in temper in the EZTemper for quick decorating and painting applications. It seemed to work well, but I think Kerry was planning to adjust temperatures to see if the chocolate could be less thick when it comes out of the machine. I'm curious to see the results of her experiments! But I think I will be making the purchase soon.

Hi Thomas!  That's exciting.  I'd love to try it someday.  What is your website (if you have one)? I can add it to the dark-milk list if you are selling it.

Thanks for your comments Clay! I have not had much experience with Felchlin, given the remote location that I have been living in for the last 7 years (I occasionally make it off this island, but 'occasionally' is the emphasized word )  I just began my head-first dive into chocolate while I was in France 10 years ago, but wish I had known more when I had access to Europe back then! Sigh. But thanks to your list suggestion, I just realized that one of my regular distributors sells Felchlin!  I will be asking them about it today.

It is interesting that dark milk chocolate has been around for quite a while, but truly is trending today. Europeans have always understood that rich taste and sweet-and-savoury combinations offer much more enjoyable taste experiences, but here in North America we have finally come around.  A whole lot is changing thanks to the rapid development of the bean-to-bar industry, and I love every change! When I left Ottawa, there was not a place to buy origin chocolate (except one pastry shop selling Michel Cluizel and an Italian store selling a few brands of that country). Now there are specialty retailers for chocolate, better access online, and an increased interest all around. So I am sad to not be livng there anymore. But I am doing my part to bring fine chocolate to Northern Ontario .

All that said, I've updated the list with Felchlin and a few others: http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-ultimate-list-of-dark-milk.html

Have a great weekend!

OK, dropping the price to $675.00 plus UPS shipping.

Thank you

I've been using my EZtemper to help me make some favours for the wedding of a friend's son.

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/151520-manitoulin-if-i-can-make-it-there…/?p=2024956

Thrilled to hear it is working so well for you Danielle!

Hi Don - I sent an email asking for information about the depositor, but I didn't hear back from you.  Maybe you didn't get the request.  Will you send information about the depositor to Jennifer@ExVotoChocolates.com? Thank you!

I made my first dark milk a couple of months ago and it was great. The milk adds some richness. Several people that had it thought it was my best ever. I think they had never had a dark milk before or maybe they just wanted more free chocolate from me.  I've only made a 55% dark milk. I'm going to make some higher percentage dark milk for my next batch.

You mentioned having a mess to clean up...  I hope you know you can pop your molds into the freezer, freeze the chocolate and then just unmold it.  No harm, no foul.  You can then re melt and reuse the chocolate.  We all have those kinds of days when we realize later we've made a mistake.

I am sorry Clay. I have now fixed my post.

So, I was tempering my milk chocolate, and after thinking it was ready, I filled a whole lot of shell molds.  Then I realized, I never added the seed chocolate.  Now I have a whole lot of mess to clean out of the molds.  (and a lot of wasted time).

Hello, All,

I am selling my Santha 4 liter tilting wet grinder. It has significant weight, so I'm looking for someone able to pick it up in the Dallas, TX area. The only apology is that it's missing the spring nut (Santha part spring nut 11/4), but this doesn't seem to affect use. Please contact me with offers. 

With thanks,

Sean Cotter

CR -

This kind of posting is frowned upon here on TheChocolateLife. If you want to post a recipe the entire recipe, and any accompanying photography, MUST be posted here on TheChocolateLife. You should not post "teaser" links whose sole purpose is to drive traffic to your site.

Lisabeth:

I had my first dark-milk many years ago, one of the Slitti Latte-Nero family (they come in a variety of percentages) and I was immediately hooked. Dark milks are my favorite category of chocolates. The flavor intensity of a dark chocolate, the creaminess of a milk chocolate, and they're less sweet than a dark chocolate from the same bean/roast would be because lactose is less sweet than sucrose. I eat a lot of single-origin, two-ingredient chocolate, which requires attention. When I am looking for something to simply enjoy, dark-milks are the first place I think to reach.

People who know my history know my connection to Bonnat so when they introduced the 3, 65% dark-milks I immediately started using them as a tasting flight.

Your list is missing the 49% Felchlin Creole, a great offering from one of the best  small chocolate makers - if not the best - in Switzerland.

Thanks, Jeremy, for reaching out amongst all your busyness! I did really want a Hilliard and DeRhonda's came to the rescue. Good luck with your new business. 

Thanks to everyone who reached out to me in one form or another. I did find a used Dedy thanks to Clay, so I'm set.

Can you please send me some pictures to:  gerencia@chocostudio.pe     Thank you!

Hi, can you please send me some pics from your Little Dipper to:   gerencia@chocostudio.pe     Best regards,

excellent, thank you both for your help in answering my chocolate dilemmas. :D

For your 70% dark bar - essentially yes. Usually the 30% is made up of sugar (majority), lecithin (~<0.5%) and vanilla or vanillan (~<1%).

White chocolate has cocoa butter - usually in the 28-35% range (but it can be outside that range). So it is typically a 28-35% chocolate because the only cocoa solids are the cocoa butter (because as you note, their is no liquor). It is not 100% cocoa solids because there is also sugar, milk powder, vanilla, lecithin etc

thank you @larry2

in fact you are right, it is actually 99% dark chocolate. i said 100% for simplicity.

ok, im gonna push it and ask another one (or two) on the subject. :D

so, when they say its a 70% dark chocolate bar, is that 70% cacao liquor +/ butter (solids) and 30% anything else?

what about white chocolate? it has no liquor, but it has cacao butter ... why is it called white chocolate and not 100% too?

why is it so confusing? lol

Cocoa butter extraction is done after roasting the beans.

To extract cocoa butter from cacao beans, the beans are roasted, cracked to help separate the shells from the nib. (The sells are a significant source of the nasties mentioned by gap.) After cracking, the nibs and shells are winnowed to separate the nib (broken beans) and the shell.

The nibs are then ground into Chocolate Liqour. Chocolate Liquor can be pressed to expell the cocoa butter. The grinding process helps allow the cooca butter to separate out.

The leftover cake of non-cocoa butter can be ground into cocoa powder. Thus as Gap said, you can think of cocoa beans as cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter and cocoa powder are just beans in a different form.

Re: the different fat content of your beans vs. 100% bar. The bar has a higher fat content. This could indicate the manufacturer added cocoa butter to thier recipe for 100% chocolate. It could also mean the beans they are using have a higher fat content, or it could simply mean they developed thier nutritional data table from different sources or methods. I suspect the latter is the more accurate diagnosis given the variance in saturated fat quantity, carbohydrate quantities between them. The manufacturer or producer may not have sufficient budget to outsource their products for detailed testing so the accuracy of the nurtritional tables you posted is suspect in my mind.  

Mariano,

How interested are you in the little dipper? I haven't heard any more from you ince your post on 7/18.