Forum Activity for @Jennifer Davis

Tempering & surface texture issue, swirls, circles & matte finish.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi everyone,I have been having more problems the past year with the finish of my chocolate truffles than I had previously. I have a rev 3210 and a rev2 tempering machine with a warming bowl for after it's tempered. Why is my chocolate surface so inconsistent if I'm using professional equipment?To give more info...my truffles are square not round (not sure if that matters just want to give enough info for a diagnosis). The truffle centers, or "innards" as we call them are out of the fridge when I dip them. I thought this might be the issue so we tried them a little warmer. Too warm and they are hard to dip. Still seem to have the problem. The surface just seems to have swirls and little round dots. From everything I've read that points to it not being tempered properly.I will assume the matte finish, as opposed to shiny which I would prefer, is due mostly to the temperature when dipped?The ingredients in my dipping chocolate are cacao paste, cacao butter, vanilla bean, sea salt, coconut sugar and the last 10 minutes sunflower lecithin (liquid) but only about 1/2 to 1 tsp to a total batch of about 8 lbs of chocolate. This grinds for at least 2 days so it's pretty smooth.Any advice would be greatly appreciated.Thanks so muchJenniferP.s. This is raw chocolate we are dealing with if that matters
updated by @Jennifer Davis: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Experimenting and Tempering with Criollo Bean

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

For tempering, you essentially need to heat the mass up to 120, cool it down to about 81, and then reheat it to about 88. it does not really matter how you do this so a bowl of cold water would be fine, assuming it is sufficiently cold to allow you to get your chocolate to about 81f. you do not need a thermometer to temper, however it greatly, greatly, greatly increases your likelihood of success - for at this time, since you're not accustomed to tempering, you don't really know what success looks/feels like - so the thermometer will guide you.

Local taste preferences vary greatly around the world. in many places in east asia they don't ferment at all. in some places in c. america they bury the beans with lye in the ground. hard to say why a local flavor preference develops the way it does.

The sugar won't heat up the drum at all, it's getting warmer due to the frictional heat generated during grinding. what it is likely to contribute, however, is moisture, which is rarely a good thing for dark chocolate. if your chocolate is very viscous, it's a potential contributor to that.

Experimenting and Tempering with Criollo Bean

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Ok would it be sufficient if i put the bowl of chocolate in a pot of cool water and steer?

The digital thermometer should be here by the end of this week.

Also the locals told me that the germinated bean is a sign of quality and they choose their bean by that, i understand from you that is negative for the taste,

What is the difference when the bean germinates and do you have any idea why the locals here with all their cacao rituals and traditions prefer the germinated bean?

Last question... i noticed that the panela heats up the drum more then normal sugar, this morning it was up to 125 fahrenheit, Is that to hot? Do i need to place a cooling fan next to it?

Experimenting and Tempering with Criollo Bean

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

It's called fat bloom, and is the result of not being in temper. If you're just starting to temper, an accurate thermometer is critical, and you're going to need someway of cooling the chocolate once it's been tempered. The germinated bean won't impact your ability to temper, but it's not likely to taste very good as a result.

Experimenting and Tempering with Criollo Bean

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Hey Sebastian

Im using a food thermometer which is not very precise (you can easily be 1-2 degrees off) , im still waiting for the digital one i ordered from the states.

I did manage to temper industrial dark chocolate decently with only this thermometer back when i was in the states, but like i said im no expert and i am happy to hear what i did wrong.

The 30% is what i heard from the locals without any reference,

the beans do have the little sprout inside (sorry for my english i dont know if that is the right word, but when you crack the bean you can see the very little beginning of the plant inside)

I only have my mac at hand right now for pictures but i hope you can see the problem

Thanks a lot

The picture is from the batch i made 4 days ago

Experimenting and Tempering with Criollo Bean

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

It most assuredly has more than 30% fat in it. Unless it is very immature. Tell us more about why you think it didn't work, what did you see, photos are helpful..

Experimenting and Tempering with Criollo Bean

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Im doing a little experiment here in Guatemala and I have some issues tempering something which is called ceremonial cacao.

It is the criollo bean fermented for about 3 days and then slightly roasted for about 15-20 minutes just enough so that its possible to hand peal the beans. This process seems to be the traditional way and is done by about 10 local families here.

From what i heard this bean has only about 30% fat and is very rich in Theobromines.

So what i did is i got a cocotown melanger here and i am experimenting with this stuff.

So far i add just enough butter (about 10%) so that it is possible to liquify the cacao liqueur and i added panella (unrefined cane sugar), because i am very inspired by the dark flavor it develops this way after about 30 hours in the melanger.

All is good but when i try to temper it im not being successful.

Now i am not an expert in tempering by hand but my normal method of heating it up to 120 then let it cool to 80 and back up to 88 while constant steering is not really working...

Do i need to add more butter or is panella a bad idea?

I am happy for any hints or ideas to try out.

updated by @Harald: 04/22/15 03:11:19

anyone know how to change bulb in dry case?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thanks Clay. I found the manufacturer's video online. Its made by True and they have an excellent video on how to change a bulb...not apparently obvious on first inspection, but now I know. Thanks for the response!

anyone know how to change bulb in dry case?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Somewhere in the case there should be a label that indicates who made the case. Contacting the manufacturer (it's not Bakery Dry).

You can also post a picture of the case showing the area(s) around the fixtures. Someone may recognize the manufacturer. But at this point we don't have enough information about the case to begin suggesting solutions.

anyone know how to change bulb in dry case?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hello Chocolatiers. I have a used Bakery Dry case in my shop and I want to change the flourescent tubes for LED tubes...anyone know how to do this? It's not apparent how the existing tubes come out. Anyone?

updated by @Choco Starr: 04/11/25 09:27:36

moving up from spectra 11 to spectra 100

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

due to demand for our chocolate bar, i am now considering buying a spectra 100 , has anyone made this jump in production of chocolate and has anyone got a spectra 100 , (we are one of a handfull of bean to bar producers in ireland at the moment, since i launched my bar the demand has pushed my spectra 11 to its limits , i simply cannot make chocolate quick enough)

any advice would be greatly appreciated

michael

kilbeggan handmade chocolate

updated by @michael donegan: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Caffeinated Chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you for your reply Michael, I think the Benecoat mention is heading us in the right direction.

At the moment we are doing high end chocolates, but we reckon a Caffeinated (Functional) product, can open us a broad market since it isnt a similar product at this end. We are still trying and doing samples, hope I can find Benecoat from a local supplier.

Regards

Caffeinated Chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Salt is a known bitterness suppressor, and is often used for this purpose. Plus it goes well with chocolate. It's the only natural ingredient I can think of that will do this. There is of course a limit to its effectiveness, so I don't know if it would be enough to mitigate the issues you're dealing with. The only other natural ingredient I can think of is sugar. Sugar does not suppress bitterness per se, but it does fairly effectively mask it. Again, there are limits.

Of course you can always resort to chemical bitterness suppressors. I'm no food scientist, but I know that these are out there. I think I read somewhere that tannic acid can do this. And there are other products (such as Benecoat) that are made for this purpose. Before using these however you'll want to think about how important it is to you to have an all-natural product. Personally I think all-natural approaches are always preferable for high-end chocolate. But if you're getting the extra caffeine into the bar using chemicals then the ship has sailed on that anyway. And if your prospective customers are buying these bars mainly to get a jolt of caffeine then a case could be made that this approach would not be as much of a negative with that segment of the market.

Caffeinated Chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

We are looking to develop some artisan chocolate bars with more caffeine than usual, but we have problems with bitter taste.

At the moment there are some chocolate bars on the market with 100mg Caffeine in 43gr Chocolate, all of them manage to avoid caffeines bitterness and also the chocolate taste good. (Tipically Chocolate has 9mg of caffeine in 43 grs)

Does anyone know any product that can reduce or hide this bitterness.
We appreciate any ideas.

updated by @Cesar Jose: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Handmade Scottish Chocolate

Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam

You can win handmade artisan Scottish chocolate from The Chocolate Tree (Edinburgh) by entering here http://www.youngperspective.net/win-handmade-chocolate-with-young-perspective.html [open to UK residents only]

updated by @Isaac Callan: 04/10/15 11:56:35

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

The best recipes I found are the Marco (Cognac & marzipan) which I think is in book 1, the coconut caramel and banana from book 2 and the blueberry from book 3. They are all beyond fantastic. FYI: I omit the sorbitol.

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

Other than a few food scientists, we have yet to contact any of these top chocolatiers. We do have to find out if they will be a good fit for us still (they may or may not). I will keep your referral in mind --- as always, thanks for helping out.

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

John:

Have you contacted Mr Wybauw? Is he available to consult? Can you afford his rates? Is he interested in helping you?

There are many consulting chef/chocolatiers who can help you in this regard. Professor Greweling is one - Drew Shotts is another. They, and the person I am thinking of, are in the US and are more likely to be available than JP is.

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

Mr. Gordon,

Thanks for the assistance. I'm sure that any recommendation you give will be great. My only concern is that would your consulatant be better at this project than JPW?

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

JPW's second book has lots of good advice about how to increase shelf life using a variety of techniques. You can use the techniques and the recipes in the book(s) as starting points.

If you are looking for a consulting chef/chocolatier, I would be happy to make an introduction to someone based in the NYC area. He isclassically trained in Spain with much practical experience (and with a great flavor sensibility and work ethic) and can help you in your recipe development.

If you are interested, please send me a PM and I will respond with the contact information after checking in with him.

:: Clay

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

Thanks for the input.

We have been to many food scientists all to no success. The way we see it now is that we should go to the best and just get this over with already. When we began on this journey we did not know of any of these authors and because of this we kept going to mediocre food scientists who claimed to know it all but didn't.

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

So far I haven't actually tested too many of the recipes and the ones I tested had not such mistakes. The mistakes were more like rather stupid text errors such as saying that something contained "x% egg whites" where it should have been "protein" (in Dutch you use the same word for egg white and protein), and some funny google-translate-like phrases. I guess it's not crucial, just annoying.

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

Hi,

Do those mistakes affect recipes (amounts, missing ingredients)?

Thanks.

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

I am familiar with the Grewling and the Wybauw books (not the Shotts book, though). I would also clearly prefer the recipes presented by Grewling (more original, more finesse...), but the 2nd volume of Wybauw's books on extending shelf life presents more principles and knowledge if it comes to changing recipes to make them last longer. If you are mostly looking into ways to extend the shelf life of your product, then this technical knowledge might be more useful.

But on the other hand: Ways to increase shelf life in confectionery follow very general principles.In most cases it comes down to reduce the free water content or adding preservatives (such as alcohol). I would guess that many different experienced chocolatiers and consultants will probably be quite familiar with those techniques, and not only the 'famous' guys from the books

Good luck!

(by the way, the Wybauw books were translated very badly. I really find all those mistakes quite annoying, but anyway...)

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

Mr. Gordon, thank you for the reply.

The reason I am asking these questions is because we are looking for a consultant to reformulate our recipes. Our recipes taste great, but do not have a very long shelf life and we need it to be at least 2-3 months. Since I have not tried the recipes in the book, I am looking for advice to screen out who we should contact for consulting.

My assumption is that if JPW is world-renowned and published books on extending shelf life, that he would be a great consultant. My questions then are this:

• Would Grewling or Shotts be good consultants? Is JPW better as a consultant?
• I am located in the US, so would working with somebody in the US be better because it is closer? Or is this irrelevant?
• How would you approach this problem we are having? Are we going about it the correct way?

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

John:

I think you are asking the wrong questions.

Are the recipes any good? Technically yes. They are, however, traditional and tend to be on the sweet side according to many. The real answer to that question is ... do you like them?

JPW is not considered one of the best chocolatiers in the world. However, he is a very good technician and an extremely good teacher. His recipes and books are a foundation, a guide; not a bible to be followed literally. You want perspective, so also get Greweling and Shotts. Compare different approaches. You will learn a lot of technique.

In the end, do you really want to be known as a Wybauw clone? Just duplicating his recipes? Go out and make them - over and over again - learn what works for you and then apply your own taste sensibilities to the technical lessons you have learned and the market you serve.

Jean-Pierre Wybauw Discussion (Recipes)

Posted in: Chocolate Education

I recently picked up 3 books fromJean-Pierre Wybauw called Fine Chocolates: Great Experience (books 1, 2, and 3). I wanted to make some recipes but I don't have all the ingredients yet. In the mean time I wanted to know if anyone here has tried the recipes that he provides in these books. My questions are:

• I am really interested only in the truffles (not others).
• Are the truffle recipes any good?
• Would you say these truffle recipes are some of the best you have every tried? If yes, which are your favorite?
• IsJean-Pierre Wybauw considered the best chocolatier in the world?

I look forward to everyones input!! : )

updated by @John E: 04/09/15 13:31:26

Highest altitude cacao in the world

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

Cool indeed. i bet any fruits are going to be very slow maturing and quite high in fat - it'd be interesting if you could get it to fruit, mature, and grab one 8-)

Highest altitude cacao in the world

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

I think I might have found the highest altitude cacao in the world. Nobody can know for sure, but we do know that almost all cacao grows below 1,000 feet above sea level. This tree and a few others are healthy and happy at 5,448 feet (1,661 meters) above sea level. There were no pods yet but plenty of flowers. When these trees produce pods the fruit is quickly eaten by squirrels or monkeys.

saludos, brian

updated by @brian horsley: 12/13/24 12:16:07

Sourcing Cacao in South East Asia and Oceania.

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

When you make bars can you send some test bars this way or are you selling any bar yet.

Where are you located now?

I am on the other end a consumer and work in retail and interested in either blended or plain dark single origin bars.

I live in the New York City area

Sourcing Cacao in South East Asia and Oceania.

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

I have absolutely no idea about cocoa production in Indonesia, but I am Indonesian(-Australian) and like Sebastian above, I agree that it's a tough place, chocolate technicalities aside. Do you know anyone in Indonesia?

An owner of the chocolate factory in Yogyakarta is French (look up Monggo Chocolate) and as far as I know he uses local chocolate. Another guy in Jakarta is French also (L'atelier du chocolat) but I believe he uses Swiss chocolate.

Sourcing Cacao in South East Asia and Oceania.

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Selamat jalan (Bahasa for safe travels...)

You've picked a tough place to start, mate - almost no one in indonesia ferments their beans, and pod borer is a nightmare there. great beans can certainly be made there, however it's not part of the culture to do so, so it's a bit of a treasure hunt.

Sourcing Cacao in South East Asia and Oceania.

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Hello everyone,

I thought Id introduce myself a bit more and hope to get some of your professional input.

Me and my partner are starting a bean-to-bar company. Just a brief background of us, Im French and Ive been a Professional Waiter in some great gourmet places in Melbourne, NZ and France and my partner, British, is a Digital Art Director and we are currently based in London. Both of us combined hope to bring a great bar to this world, with the all best intentions.

Were wanting to travel to Indonesia next year for a base to start sourcing and sampling beans in SE Asia and Oceania.

We would be grateful if anyone had any advice, ideas, experience or anything you think we should know. Or perhaps some contacts for translators would also be helpful.

Many thanks in advance, and I look forward to everyones response!

Thomas & Bo

updated by @Delcour Thomas: 04/14/15 11:59:27

Wanting help with the best type of cacao bean to start growing in the Pacific Islands?

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Thanks Sebatian im on to it now:)

Wanting help with the best type of cacao bean to start growing in the Pacific Islands?

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Where is your plantation?

Wanting help with the best type of cacao bean to start growing in the Pacific Islands?

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

"Best" is one of those words that everyone likes, but means something different to everyone who hears it.

What you'll need to get your arms around is

1) Harvesting mature pods.

2) identifying removing damage/disease

3) fermenting

4) drying

and THEN you'll be able to make good chocolate. "best" for fermentation and drying above can vary a great deal, depending on what your targets are. I'm afraid it's very difficult to distill what you need to know in these areas in a few minutes on the web, but there's a great deal of info on these boards to get you started. It'd probably be a good use of time to spend a solid week reading everything here and compiling it to start.

Wanting help with the best type of cacao bean to start growing in the Pacific Islands?

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Hi Sebastian,

Yes, I am already in the process now, im doing research on what is the best procedure. To compare to what it is we do.

Do you know of the best procedure currently out there?

Thank Sebastian for your time I appreciate it

Wanting help with the best type of cacao bean to start growing in the Pacific Islands?

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Is it that the beans aren't of good stock, or that the post harvest handling procedures are not appropriate? My suspicion is that the beans are just fine, but the knowledge required to properly prepare them once mature is lacking. If that's the case, no change in planting material will help that i'm afraid.

Wanting help with the best type of cacao bean to start growing in the Pacific Islands?

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

I am new to the chocolate life, this is a great site! I would love help out there regarding the best approach into growing good beans in the Pacific Island. Currently we do grow beans however not good enough for the external market. What beans do you recommend? Any suggestions please. Thank you in advance for your time:)

updated by @Tiana: 12/13/24 12:16:49

chocolate covered frozen bananas

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thanks for your reply, Terry. I'll do some trial and error.

chocolate covered frozen bananas

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

The addition of coconut oil (76 degree melt point) to your base chocolate will improve its resistance to cracking when the finished product is re-frozen. Depending on how much coconut oil you add, it will be difficult to actually retain temper in the chocolate. As you noted, the only way to determined what is acceptable from an appearance and texture perspective is to do some trials.

chocolate covered frozen bananas

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thanks for the tip, but I want to dip the bananas into my semisweet nondairy Belgian chocolate. I guess the only way to decide is to try it and see what happens.