Forum Activity for @Greg Gould

Greg - Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see where you're enrobing or dipping your ganache in tempered chocolate. If you're trying to get shelf life for "naked" ganache, I don't think that's feasible. The tempered chocolate shell serves to seal the ganache and preserve it, at least for a few weeks. Just wrapping a ganache with foil won't allow it to be kept at room temperature.

Please forgive me if I've posted this in the wrong section.

I've made ganache filled dark chocolatepralines/truffles/bon-bons and I'm supposed to be selling them for the first time this weekend at a Christmas show. The recipe's been altered to hopefully extend the shelf life beyond the holidays but I'm not sure it's enough.

My old recipe brought together cream, butter,and Lorann Oil natural anti-oxidant (no one I know can taste it) until it starts to boil. That gets poured onto solid chocolate callets and mixed with a spoon until smooth.

Based on what I've read in the forums and a few other places, I've created a new recipe,a mixture of cream, butter, the antioxidant and a small amount of corn syrup. I bring that to just under a boil, cool it to 90 degrees, pour into tempered chocolate that's also at 90 degrees and mix with animmersionblender. I wrap the chocolates in foil, put them in a bag with a twist tie and add a string to make them tree ornaments.

Unfortunately, it seems ganache filled chocolates are only good for three weeks at room temperature. And my new recipe isn't quite as good as my original one. It's really good, just not as good.

My question are: How can I sell ganache filled holiday chocolates that may not make it to the holidays? Should Irefrigeratethem or suggest peoplerefrigeratethem and then put them on the tree the day before Christmas? That seems lame and I'm worried about bloom.

I'm making another batch next week. Does anyone have suggestions to extend the shelf life of my original recipe or is it best to stick with the more shelf stable ganache?

I am refering about it. It's a good way for the production of milk and dark chocolate. Now, i try to find way that I make good white chocolate.

What are you interesting?

Hello Sebastian! Can you sent me your e-mail adress and i ll sent you details about it!

I think, the main problem is process, temperature or moisture.

afraid you still don't have nearly enough information. you list your ingredients, but it's not the formula. The details are incredibly important (ie what fat milk powder? what size media, temp of your mill, and # of passes (i assume you have multiple passes?) what's the temperature increase over multiple passes?)

What do you need to do - you need to provide a great deal more information, i'm afraid.

Moisture is always a problem....

Does anyone know why the barley melt extract use in the productions of chocolate?

Ingredients for white chocolate - suger, milk powder and cocoa butter,dextrose, whey powder. The most important ingredients are milk powder (19%), cocoa butter 33%. We use a ball mill(t=45-50) and we add lecithin on start and 15 minutes the end ago. The whole process takes 1h45min.

Can you tell me what i have to do? I want to make smoother chocolate.

Is it the moisture in the ingredients may be the problem?

Hey Goran,

Are you refering to production management? Because this is a topic I am really interested in discussing.

well, you're going to need to provide many more details if you'd like help. Specifically:

1) Exact formula of your chocolate, including details on the milk ingredients used

2) timing of addition of ingredients

3) how you operate your ball mill.

I will tell you, that using a ball mill for white chocolate isn't the best solution.

I work in a chocolate factory and have a problem to make white chocolate. It isn t taste enough and dense fluid.

I feel the bitter taste, maybe it's from milk powder?

I use Quickbooks Online. I enter my orders as they come in, using the ship/delivery date as the invoice date, then before I start production I run a report of what products are scheduled to ship or be delivered that week. (I now have these reports set to auto-run each week and they are automatically e-mailed to me.) It's also just a great small business accounting tool due to the reports it offers (although I have an accountant friend who hates it!).

In addition, I post each individual order on the wall and arrange them by ship/delivery date, highlighting any important bits (i.e., add extra samples, etc.).

Most of the time this manages to keep us on track.

Hi stephane,

I use excel to manage my orders but like you I always wonder wether there is something more efficient. What I do is I put all the orders together and add the number of every type of chocolate. for example let's say you have 5 places who asked for dark 70% chocolate, I make sure I make all the quantity at the same time to avoid changes and as a result saving time. I also make sure I produce a little extra knowing that this chocolate is ordered alot and future orders are coming the next day/week etc.. This also depends on the shelf life of your products. I usually start producing the chocolate that has the longer shelf life and move down the list.

Also comparing your sales is crucial. I look at last year's sale of each kind I produced. It gives me an idea how much I should expect to produce this month.

Hi

I own a small business, I only cater to retail stores and with the holidays and a recent trade show I signed up some new clients, which is always good news, but with 2013 just around the corner I want to start the new year better prepared.

I want to establish some sort of system for my production, I have been around on the net and didn't really find anything remotely close to what I would like to have, so I am wondering what you guys do.

I currently carry about 20 different products, all available in white,milk and dark, creating over 60 different sku's, and I will have another 20 very soon. I would like some sort of software where I can enter my orders, inventory, etc right now I work with a bunch of papers, with no real order, it's messy and I sometimes end up with not enough of this and too much of that.

What do you guys use to keep things efficient in the production area ? to make sure you are fulfilling your orders on time and correctly ? any input would be appreciated.

thanks !

Hi everyone,

Just having posted my first message I noticed a category "Allow me to introduce myself" so I thought it only right and proper to do that.

I'm pretty new to making chocolate; although I bought a mould after my first trip to Belgium over 2 years ago I've only got around to using it in the past month. I don't think there's any stopping me now!

I am currently experimenting with different types and brands of chocolate and I have just received a batch of cocoa butter to play with. Looking forward to seeing how that goes!

Thanks for letting me come and chat on your lovely forum

Thanks! I'll try that out.

Hi folks!

I'm pretty new to making chocolates but I'm jumping in at the deep end and have decided to make everyone chocolates for Christmas. I've have some minor success in my test runs so far so I'm wondering if anyone can help me with fillings.

My favourite type of chocolate filling has to be the milk chocolate praline - you know, the kind you get in the middle of Guylian chocs. I have googled quite hard but I am struggling to find a recipe for creating something of that colour, flavour and consistency.

I've had one attempt so far using the recipe at the bottom of this page ( http://www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=30086 - careful if you try this, the quantities are massive) and while very tasty it does not match the colour, texture or taste that I'm looking for. Any recipe I find on the web is similar enough to that that I really doubt it'll be much different.

Can anyone help? Do you have a good recipe you don't mind lending me?

Thanks!

Okay, here is a good one for the "fair-trade" discussion (or what I like to call the: "friar-triad missionaries").

From the linked-to page (visit the page to read the rest of the summary and to download the full report):

[Transnational Investigation] The FAIRTRADE Chocolate Rip-off

In a six-month transnational project led by the Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR), journalists hailing from Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria and the Netherlands investigated the alleged benefits received by cocoa farmers in West Africa via the FAIRTRADE label.

Their conclusions are shocking: whilst the chocolate consumer in the West pays a significant mark-up for honest chocolate, these benefits amount to little or no improvement in the lives of cocoa farmers. In some case, because of FAIRTRADE cooperatives increasing dominance, farmers were even worse off than before.

The full dossier is titled The FAIRTRADE chocolate rip-off, and was partly funded by the Programme for African Investigative Reporters (PAIR). The story, parts of which have already been published in Dutch, has caused a stir in the Netherlands.

Pretty much nothing new that we don't know or have discussed on TheChocolateLife. Just adding more...

Best to all.

-Mark

Hi Lana,

How much cocoa butter should we add? Previously, you said 10 - 20% butter oil. Would be the same for cocoa butter?

Thanks,

Omar

Thanks, Lana. I tried the method with the added cocoa butter and got a great result. The coat is much thinner and the truffle is better. Thanks so much for your help! I'm experimenting with shelf life as well. Will check how the truffle is in 2 and then 3 weeks from now.

Thank you all for your input. I checked the websites of neococoa and intrique chocolates. The latter doesn't give info on shelf life, neococoa says that its chocolates should be consumed within 2 weeks. I will try coating with butter oil, also thought about spraying the truffles with a chocolate gun in order to get a very thin shell. Does anybody have experience with that technique for chocolate candies or truffles?

Also maybe you could use untempered chocolate to coat. As from what I understand untempered chocolate melts at lower temps and is softer.

There's a Seattle chocolate company called "Intrigue Chocolates" that does exactly this.They tell people that their chocolate (interestingly they call their product "chocolate" or "truffles" but never ganache) must be refrigerated and eaten within the month. I bought some about a month or so ago. Their samples were terrific, but once I brought the bar home and refrigerated it the texture was just never the same.

Bottom line - yes you can do this and Intrigue is making a whole business out of it, but you would have to instruct your customers to refrigerate the ganache if they're not going to eat it within a few days. Many (if not most) retailers would not want to sell a product that had such as short shelf life. But I think that if you present the ganache as an artisan product with no preservatives, etc and you're honest with your customers about the limited shelf life you would be fine. Many customers might even see it as indicative of a higher quality, craft-based approach.

http://www.intriguechocolates.com

I can't remember the exact numbers, but from memory the shelf life of uncoated truffles is considerably less (measured in days rather than weeks)

Hi,

I have been making truffles for quite some time, but have never been happy with the hard shells. What I'm looking for is a soft truffle that just melts in your mouth. So I have been experimenting with different types of Ganache that I let harden over 1- 2 days at about 68 degrees F. Then I cut them on the guitar and just roll them in high quality cacao powder.

The truffles look and taste great. I'm just a little concerned about the shelf life. The ganache consists of cream, couverture and a tiny amount of liquor. The shelf life of my former truffles that I enrobed with tempered chocolate was 3 weeks. Is it less when the truffles don't have a hard shell?

Thanks, Caroline

1cc=~1.27 grams. This is at least for my dark 60% couverture.

Is there a way to work out mold size from weight?

Essentially I am looking to have mold made for 75 grams and require a certain thickness. I realised I don't actually know the weight/volume ratio of chocolate so can't work out the exact dimensions of the mold.

Does anyone have a formula for this or at least know the volume of 100g of chocolate so I can work it out from there?

Another one of those little questions that leaves me scratching my head when planning my start up.

Hello,

I make chocolate panning but i use polishing agents. Maybe i can help aomething...?

Hi,

I am currently looking to start a small chocolate business by producing various type of panned chocolate. I have done some research and found that most of the people will use polishing agents (e.g coating gum & shellac) in polishing the chocolates. I personally don't quite like this method because the smell of this polishing agents are quite terrible. Anybody knows how to complete the polishing by not using the polishing agents? Also, will the results be comparable to using the polishing agents?

thanks.

A very small amount of cocoa powder will have been processed to contain lecithin. Unless you've specifically asked for it, yours is not.

Why do you read that? i've no idea 8) i've read lots of crazy things on the internet.

One t hing you'll need to watch with higher fat powders is that they will be more susceptible to both temperature and pressure, in that the fat in them may melt or squeeze out, and when it resolidifies, will turn yoru bag of nice powder into a brick of solid cocoa. however, it's still fine, it's just needs to be reground.

Can you tell me what you mean by "unless it's been lecithinated"?

And why am I always reading that cocoa powders with a high fat content have a low shelf life?

Thanks!

Dorothy

Every cocoa powder, unless it's lecithinated, will have the same shelf life if properly stored. Assume proper storage conditions, and it's not lecithinated, your cocoa powder will be good for up to three years.

Can anyone please tell me the shelf life of Pernigotti cocoa powder? It has a higher fat content (20-22%) and I want to make sure I am not using any that has gone bad.

Thanks,

Dorothy

I guess this gives new meaning to "hot chocolate"

5:59PM EST November 23. 2012 - In a real-life caper that could have starred Willy Wonka , Austrian police are seeking a thief who stole 18 tons of chocolate bars and melted into thin air.

Earlier this week, a truck driver loaded 33 pallets of milk chocolate at a factory in Bludenz for a delivery in the Czech Republic, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reports, according to the Associated Press . But the license plates and paperwork for the truck and driver were forged, was discovered when the real truck showed up later, the Austrian Independent says .

The paper says the truck was chartered from Chechnya .

"The fraudsters were very sophisticated," police said.

The news reports do not identify the producer, but Suchard , famous for its Milka brand, has a factory (and shop) in Bludenz.. Kraft Foods now owns the formerly Swiss

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/23/18-tons-chocolate-stolen-austria/1723445/

Yep, temper to 27C

I should have mentioned, this is for making bars and not fillings. I think I'm right on the border of this batch being able to hold its shape as a bar without melting or breaking too easily. I'll try doing a temper and see if that holds better at room temperature. If not, I'll just put it in some 4oz mason jars. It's for holiday gifts.

I temper until about ambient. Getting the right crystal structure can not only help with texture but in slowing oil migration into the shell.

Am I going to get a crystal structure with all the hazelnuts in there? They were in the conch for a few days so they are fully incorporated. I molded one that wasn't tempered and it seemed pretty much like what I'm used to. Thx.