Forum Activity for @Adriennne Henson

I liked the article and his bars look good

I was looking for ideas to distribute bars and this article pop up.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130506/PC05/130509567

This is a excellent story and reflects many of us who want to initiate or are already in the business.

Read in between the lines and you can get many answers and details.Look at the type of shops he distributes to, mostly gourmet shops. That's really great.

I which in my country their would be more fancy stores like this so I can expand more easily.

I will try to distribute to candy shops, gourmet artesanal candies and fancy bakeries with 1oz. bars.

Is someone has any thoughts or want to share any story your are welcome.

Hola, preag and Marinko,wanted to ask if these machines are good and if the company is reliable? thank you

Dragi Predrag, javite se kad budete na godinjem, bit e mi drago.

Ja sam u poslu sa zainima 25 godina a sa okoladama 8 godina. Proizvodim od Callebaut couverture a evo planiram poeti i svoj bean to bar. Kudvik-ove maine su kao Mercedes , odline ali skupe, a ove Indijske su kao Yugo45, jeftine ali funkcioniraju, samo sa njima treba malo vie truda. Pogledajte moj web nadalina.hr

lijepi pozdrav

Marinko!pozdrav ja slicno razmisljam o takvim masinama.Najbolje sto sam video to je masina od mislim da je Kudvik Rus je to napravio.Nisam procitao tvoju stranicu pa cu to ovih dana to napraviti.Godisnje jednom sam u Rijeci Pa bih zelio da se cujemo I vidimo irazmenimo iskustvo u cokoladi.pozdrav

Does anyone have information , what is the difference between the INNO CONCEPT grinder ICGC C-65 (price $ 2,999) and ECGC 65 (price $ 7,400).

I'm talking about models without additional equipment.

Both have the same engine and the same capacity.

What about Caramels using Beer? These days it is popular to flavor caramel with beer. Tocreate a caramel candy,When should one add the beer to the recipe? Should one reduce it separately and cook the alcohol off first? I create a soft caramel, but one that we cut and then enrobe.

Thanks very much for this thoughtful response. Now that our weather is very cold and conditions are very dry, I noticed that my caramel is setting up at lower temperatures. I now know why. Thank you for the insight!

To answer this, I need to clarify where and how I have worked with sugar. There have been two types of locations: sea-level at reasonable humidity rates (50-100%), and high altitude (5500 ft +) at low humidity rates (less than 15%) and at reasonable humidity rates (50%+). I would love to try working sugar in a low humidity/low altitude location, I just haven't been in the right place at the right time to try it. Based upon these different locations, here is what I have experienced:

From a crystallization point of view, I have not seen much difference in avoiding crystallization at different humidity levels. The techniques to avoid crystallization (use of glucose in the recipe, careful when agitating, etc) are the same. I have seen a difference in timing and temperature due to humidity and altitude changes to reach a desired caramel/sugar consistency, however.

For instance, when working at my current altitude versus sea level, and at low humidity levels, I reduce the temperature to which I cook the sugar solution by 8-10 degrees versus what I would do at sea level at higher humidity. If it is humid here (which is sometimes is during monsoon season), I only reduce the temperature by about 4-6 degrees. This indicates that both factors are a component. As a specific example, right now at 10-15% humidity and 5500 feet in altitude, if I want a soft ball stage caramel I will cook it to 228-230 degrees F. In July or August here the humidity will jump to 80-100%, and I will cook the same recipe to 232-234 degrees to hit the same viscosity. At sea-level, I would have taken the recipe to 238 degrees to hit the same. This convention (come across by great trial and error), holds true for any of our sugar based confections: fondant, caramel, toffees, nougats, pulling sugar, etc. We hit the standard sugar stages at lower temps at low humidity levels. My assumption for the reason for this is that at lower humidity rates and higher altitudes the rate at which the water evaporates from the supersaturated solution is higher at each degree of temperature than at higher humidity levels, meaning that we are losing water from the caramel at a faster rate and reaching the appropriate water/sugar ratio for a given stage earlier. Note that this is merely conjecture, but it is what I am seeing in practice.

Back to the question of alcohol, upon reflection, every once in a while I will add alcohol (particularly a wine that may have residual sugars and adversely impact the desired flavor of the caramel) during the cooking stage, but only after the solution has come to a boil. I have not had any crystallization issues with this, although it does seem to also speed up the stage levels but I have not experimented enough to come up with a quantified effect.

what effects does no humidity have on caramel and crystallization?

We routinely use combinations of caramel and alcohol - and the easiest way we have found to use it is to add the alcohol AFTER the caramel is made and after cooling if using a soft caramel (we add it to the piping bag itself with the caramel and massage to combine). Crystallization has already occurred in the caramel itself, so the alcohol does not affect the caramel batch. Adding after the fact does affect the viscosity of the caramel, so if we are going for a specific consistency we will cook the caramel slightly longer (take it to a few degrees more) to thicken the output prior to adding in the alcohol. If adding the alcohol to a toffee/sugar candy, we add it just after taking it off the heat. This limits the effects on crystallization. Note that we only use the wet method of caramel making, as it is easier to control the output at our altitude and humidity levels (we had to adjust sugar temps for soft stage etc due to being a mile above sea level and almost no humidity).

I'm no chemist, but my husband told me that alcohol is all some sort of fermented sugar, and presumably that is why the adjustments need to be made as Mark has said. My caramel tasted sooooo good, but I don't know how to adjust formulas, so I guess I'll have to skip it.

Mark,

Your insight is very helpful. I never knew that about Alcohol. Understanding and controlling how caramel crystallizes is so important. During the summer, I find that is when I have the most problems with crystallization. Do you know if Sorbitol will help? What about Lecithin? I add a bit of lemon juice to my recipe. I also add a good amount of glucose. Thanks again for your contributions.

Daniel

Alcohol reduces the solubility of sugar. If your control'scombined recipe and texture had your caramel on the edge of graining (crystallization) the alcohol can take you over that edge. To compensate you can reduce the sucrose, and increase the doctors (glucose syrups, etc.). Another option would be to control the crystallization, getting it to grain in much smaller crystals, done through technique. However this will start to shorten the texture.

Has anyone tried adding liquor to a batch of caramel? I'm thinking of Christmas (can't believe I'm thinking about it already) and adding rum as well as spices for a "hot buttered rum" type caramel. In my experimenting, I'm getting some crystallization (I'm a novice, so I think that's what it's called) around the edges of the batch: sides and bottom. I've thought that liquor would work in caramels and toffees, etc., as long as they didn't have sugar of their own in them, like I think Kahlua would, for example.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Hi everyone! I owe a chocolate store 3 years now and have to close for personal reasons 1 year ago. As mentioned before in this forum people dont know what they are getting into, is a tough business. During my operating time the business was ok, but not as lucrative as I thought. My chocolatier where mostly truffles oriented, people love our chocolates, started to distributing truffles on other stores and find that other sellers didnt take care of our product and customers think it was pricey.

We dont have a culture for fancy chocolate, although people recognize it when they taste product. Now I try to reopen just from a different perspective.

Just bars and distribute, cut all the retail myself as the local demand is not huge I will cut down some costs and place the business as a side income.

Try to come with a competitive product keeping its quality to compete with chemical global manufactures as a local, with the niche flavors.

I will like to hear any advice from you or if any one has initiated distribution, what was your experience?

Hi Im making a cherry coconut confection as a filling to dip it in milk chocolate to make a CHOCOLATE CHERRY BAR. I used cherry and coconut, I tried to keep my recipes as natural as possible.

I used maraschino cherries, desiccated coconut and icing sugar. I thought I will be needing some vegetable oil but no need since further grinding of the coconut release all its oil. I end up with a cherry coconut marzipan. I was expecting some difficulty on this recipe because cherry is a very tricky ingredient. I guess nothing beats the whole cherry.

Then I gave some to my best critics (family) and their comments where are following. They are really tough but that helps to only the best product goes to market.

- I dont know what it is

- What is it

- It is coconut or cherry

- It has some chemical to it

- It takes like medicine

- This one was interesting. If I bite a small piece it doesnt even tastes, if I bite a small ball it has flavor.

- It leaves a dry taste in your throat

- From one to ten , a 5

- I leave some aside at is got dry and the cherry flavor got more tasty.

As you see, the comments where as expected from a cherry filling. My question is how do I improved this recipe and keep it stable for chocolate filling. I add some rum and improved flavor , the I cook it and improved texture. I was thinking on natural flavoring . Any suggestions?

Ah ha, well caught! The cinnamon was air dried at ~70C for 24 hours while in a rough powder form. so I'm thinking it will be very low H2O by now.

Thanks for raising that point!

I agree that microbes from the cinnamon will not grow within the chocolate due to its low water activity. But since the cinnamon comes in form of inclusions, it's maybe more relevant what water activity the cinnamon has. If it is in dried form (like cinnamon mostly is when we use it as spices), everything should be fine.
I would only worry about C. Botulinum when using inclusions of high water activity.

Thanks to both of you! I greatly value your scientific perspective.

It's surprising indeed! I'm not surprised about the water activity, however. So it looks like between lack of water and presence of oxygen, I'm ok in terms of botulism. On to steaming...

Thanks Sebastian!

C. Botulinum - the organism responsible for the botulinum toxin - requires a VERY high water activity - well over 0.7 (many say as high as 0.95). Chocolate has a water activity somewhere in the 0.1-0.25 range. There's not nearly sufficient water activity for any organism to vegetate, i'm afraid. C Botulinum is an anaerobic spore former, and spores of course will remain viable for very long periods of time, but the toxin is only produced when the organism is in it's vegetative (i.e. growing and reproducing state). It doesn't matter how much oxygen can penetrate the chocolate if there's insufficient water for the organism to grow. It's a bit like saying humans require oxygen to live - which is true - but if there's no water in your environment, it similarly doesn't matter how much oxygen is present...

I know this as i've led global chocolate research for decades. The high oxygen permittivity of chocolate surprises most people.

In terms of botulism, whether chocolate contains / is a barrier for oxygen is critical in my view. Botulism only becomes a health hazard when the related bacteria find themselves in an anaerobic, low-acid environment. So if the interior of a piece of dark chocolate is low oxygen and no new oxygen can get it, the bacteria can quickly use up the available oxygen and begin producing botulinum toxin.

However you are saying chocolate is not a barrier for oxygen. How do you know this? I'm not doubting you here, just curious to know where I might find more detailed information.

As to other bacteria, of course there are always concerns, although it's my understanding as well that chocolate is by and large an inhospitable environment for most things, hence the 2-year shelf life. Again, could be mistaken! Your mention of steam sterilization is very useful though, thanks. I'll look into that further.

Hi Lee - i've only seen cinnamon come from tree bark - not roots - so that's interesting. Anytime you're working with a raw agricultural product, but it from above the ground or below, there's a risk of unsavory microbiological elements. Bacteria will not grow in chocolate, but may remain viable, and yes, chocolate is a terrible oxygen barrier, but that's not really important for this. Usually cinnamon is steam sterilized prior to use to ensure a low(er) micro count, but even then spices are notoriously high in micro load. If i was making it for personal use and consumption i'd be less concerned about it, if i was making for my business and others to consume, i'd pay far more attention to it.

Sorry for the nasty title. I'm currently making a chocolate with a cinnamon inclusion. The cinnamon is from a local source, and I've cleaned and processed it myself. This species of cinnamon actually grows as a root, however, so there's probably no way of getting 100% of whatever was on it underground off. And it is basically raw.

I know things like garlic cannot be stored in oil due to concerns about botulism. Chocolate is largely oil (40%+ cocoa butter?), so I'm wondering if there's any concern here. How much oxygen is in chocolate? Is the pH low enough to prevent production of the toxin?

Haven't seen any info online, and only see one other post on TCL which admittedly says chocolate allows oxygen to "pass through" whatever that means lol

Anyway, jokes aside, botulism isn't funny, so if anyone knows something I'd love to hear it!

Thanks

Lee

Are you certain it's bloom? I've seen moulds - when clean - have soap or mineral residue left behind on them that's invisible to the naked eye - but the chocolate pulls it off the mould and leaves surface discoloration. Could be a potential.

Hey Milford,

I too use Tomric molds and have issues with pull off marks.

Do you mind sharing your "setting" process?

We use a True refrigerator with a chocolate/wine thermostat (55-60F) to set the chocolate.

Thank you for those resources. I have looked into getting Beckett's book Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, but have shied away because of the price. I think Ill start with Youtube and The Science of Chocolate and see how far I can get with those.

That is all extremely helpful. Thank you. With my next batch I will definitely experiment with warming the molds and using a fan.

It depends on how deep you want to get into it. There are several articles, youtube videosand such on crystal formation that keep it simple, covering the temperatures you use and a little bit on why. For more depth there are several books, Beckett and Minifie are two good ones. If you're just interested in the fats involved with confections then Talbot is good.

Keep searching on this site, there are several discussions that talk about this. I faced these problems too up until the last week or two!

What I've learned about molding is:

• Crystals give off heat as they grow. Chocolate becomes solid due to crystallization. In a mold, often heat has trouble escaping. That's why people tell you to refrigerate once you see clear signs crystallization has gotten off to a good start. Note that simply putting the full mold in a cold place / the fridge might not be enough for very thick pieces, since it'll just warm up the immediate area it's in. Some recommend putting a fan in your refrigerator :D
• Cocoa butter left on the mold from the first batch of chocolate will stick to the next batch if you don't melt it by heating the mold up before pouring in the second batch. Obviously don't heat it too far above 30C or the chocolate you pour in might go out of temper. I have a dish drier that runs at a constant ~50 degrees or so, so I put the one mold in there while I'm pouring another. I guess putting it under a lamp would also work. You just need enough heat for the cocoa butter to warm up so it can integrate into the next chocolate rather than stick on the surface and look nasty.

Ok - so that's probably not interfering. See how it goes with Mark's heating suggestion and let us know.

Good crystal information in Beckett - The Science of Chocolate - but that might be a little more complex than you want. I think that Greweling covers it pretty well in Chocolates and Confections.

Mark,

Thank you so much for that information. I will definitely try warming the molds first before I fill them.

I would really like to expand my understanding of chocolate crystal formations. Are there any resources your could recommend?

Thanks,

Jessica

I have four sizes between 5mm and 14mm.

You mention that the room conditions are 64-68F. If your moulds are this temperature it can be the problem. When you are in temper, only a small percentage of the cocoa butter is crystallized in the type V crystals (~3%). If you deposit the chocolate in a cool mould you can crystallize some of the fat on the surface in less stable crystal forms. Ideally you want the moulds to be at or just below the temperature of your tempered chocolate. The thin plastic moulds are notorious for this as they do not hold the heat. Polycarbonate or thicker moulds are more insulated from losing their heat but they should still be warm when depositing.

Jessica,

How thick is this bar you are making?

Larry,

Thank you for your insights.I am having problems with the bloom on the top of the chocolate bar that does not touch the mold. The outside edge seems to remain in temper, while everything else seems to come out. When I break the bar apart the inside is whitish and chalky as well, while the outside edge retains its snap.

Kerry,

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually did that with two of the batches and still had the same result as the others.

I don't think you have bloom. I think you have release marks from the thin molds.

There are two kinds of bloom. Sugar Bloom -Humidity on chocolate dissolves some sugar & then the syrup evaporates leaving sugar crystals on top. and Fat Bloom - The chocolate melts, some of the cocoa butter separates and comes to the surface, and leaves you with spots on your chocolate.

What you seem to be describing are white marks (possibly circular) on your chocolate right after you de-mold it. I believe this is from the chocolate pulling on the mold as it contracts and the mold not holding firm. - the result is something like scraping the surface of the chocolate. It just makes a smudge. I can't say this with certainty though as I'm still learning.

We don't do a lot of molding, but I experimented with reinforcing some thin business card style molds with epoxy. - (sand the back of the mold to get a rough surface for the epoxy to adhere to, then pour epoxy on the mold.) The reinforced molds did perform better than the non-reinforced molds, in that the release marks were reduced. However they were not eliminated.

Kerry's idea about putting them in the fridge may do the trick. - It is certainly worth several attempts.

Try popping them in the fridge for about 15 minutes as soon as they start to show signs of crystallizing around the edges.

Every time I use my molds for chocolate bars, they bloom. However, If I dont use the molds and pour the chocolate on parchment paper, the chocolate is perfectly tempered, shiny and has a beautiful snap. As soon as I put the same chocolate into a molds, it blooms in the center on the top of the chocolate while the outside edge looks tempered.

This has now happened three times. the air temp is approx 64-68F, and the humidity has been about 40% with moderate air flow in the kitchen. I am using thin theroformed molds from tomric that are unheated before I pour the chocolate into them.

How can an unheated mold pull chocolate out of temper?

Has anyone experienced this before? I appreciate any advise or tips.