Forum Activity for @Victor Kudryavtsev

adding sugar and lecithin to chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Norm is the residue of 1.5% by weight.

 

adding sugar and lecithin to chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you all for your kind answers. I also have another question that I'm trying to remove the shell of the cocoa bean from the meat ( winnowing ), but I can't remove all the chaff from it. Can anyone tell me what is the maximum percentage of chaff allowed in the final tage of winnowing before making the final chocolate?

Thank you

updated by @TerryHo: 02/06/15 02:07:52

adding sugar and lecithin to chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Lecithin should be added at the end of the process, before draining the masses, but that he would mix well. For grinding and conching cycle on melangeur in 48 hours lecithin can be added for 1.5 hours to drain. Amount of lecithin is not more than 0.4-0.5% by weight.

Tempering chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

And its also summer have atthe mo and really hot. I have been having problems tempering my chocolate so wondered if that had aything to do withit

Tempering chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

It was really strange but I had washed and dried it and then I redid it and filled them again and they came out perfect. There must have been something on the mold.  Thanks for replying

Tempering chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

 That does seem odd comming from the same batch and conditions. Normally we see this with tempering, humidity, mold temperature etc.. You mentioned washing the molds - It is critical the mold is 100% dry

- It is possible that the mold may have some residue you cannot see left in that area - from hard water, crystalized sugar, or other prior molding problems, an extreme case would be the mold surface itself is degraded, although unusual.

 

  I normally don't like people to polish molds but in this case, first wash with warm water and very SMALL amount of non abrasive dish detergent, lightly rub the area with your finger and the water to loosen. Dry with air a pure cotton cloth, then lighly buff with another dry cotton cloth. Make sure the mold is not cold, min of room temp or mid 70's or higher 70's if possible.

Another obvious quesion - do you only have one of the bunny molds?

 

Chocolate Enthusiast and a Supporter of Indian Cocoa Farmer.

Posted in: Allow Me to Introduce Myself

As a chocolate enthusiast I recently began to wonder why Indian grown Cocoa is not as widely used to make fine chocolate .I am currently working to promote the use of Indian cocoa beans in the international Artisanal Chocolate industry. I am working directly with the Farmers to procure good quality Cocoa Beans by paying them a higher price than what they are currently receiving. I would like to ask all of you fantastic Chocolate Makers out there if you would be willing to try using Indian Cocoa and thus help me (in my small way ) to improve the lives of cocoa farmers in India .

 

Regards

Nabil Chunawala 

updated by @Nabil Chunawala: 04/09/15 21:28:59

adding sugar and lecithin to chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

To build on Marks post -  since sugar is a bunch of large crystals, you need to 'refine' it down to smaller crystals - hence the reason all of your solids should be in your refining stage - to crush them into smaller pieces.  Now, as you do that,  the surface area of your chocolate will become very high, and the cocoa butter that you ahve present will have to coat all that extra surface area.  As it does this, your chocolate becomes much thicker - it's called higher viscosity.  In order to 'thin' it back out so you can do things like pour it into a mould, you have to reduce that viscosity.  That's what lecithin does.  You'll want to add it almost at the last stage because if your chocolate is too thin (low viscosity) during conching, conching isn't as effective.  Now, most stone grinders are terrible conches, so it doesn't really matter all that much - but it does to some degree.  

 

Remember, just a little bit of lecithin (0.5%) is almost always enough - adding more of it will usually result in the chocolate thickening back up again.

adding sugar and lecithin to chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Sugar before, lecithin after.

private label bars

Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE

Are you looking for couverture chocolate for chefs to use at the restaurants? Or just provide private label chocolate bars that customers can buy? or both?

I can provide both types of bars (and even the labels), including organic. The chocolate comes from a chocolate maker Ecuador where they sell (exclusively) to the top hotels & restaurants in Guayaquil and now some in Quito.

Let me know if you're still looking.  I can send samples, too.  

 

adding sugar and lecithin to chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hello everyone,

Could anyone tell me at what stage or conching/refining should I add sugar and lecithin to my chocolate? ( at the beginning of the conching/refining phase or near the end of the conching/refining?

Thank you!

updated by @TerryHo: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Rapadura sugar? Unrefined, evaporated cane juice?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

For just sugars, i like palm sugar or jaggery mixed with local things.  I'd not likely use either of those for chocolate however because in chocolate, i'd want to emphasize the chocolate, not the sugar.  Personal preference.

Tempering chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hope this is clear enough

Tempering chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Can you post pictures?

Tempering chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I am hoping that someone can help me.  I have got some molds that I have been using.  When I pop the chocolate out of the new molds there is white specks on the chocolate.  I know that this is a sign of chocolate not been tempered correctly.  But this isn't the case as I have used the same batch of chocolate on other molds and it has been perfect.  Why is it happening on only 1 mold.  I have washed the mold and dried it.  What am I doing wrong?

updated by @Michele Williams: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Rapadura sugar? Unrefined, evaporated cane juice?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

@jack-meyer Thanks, I ordered a sample to evaulate.

@sebastian - very interesting! Where in your experience have you found the most interesting sugar, both in taste and in processing?

No More classifieds?

Posted in: FORUM FAQs

Pamela -

No and Yes.

With the move to the new software platform there is no longer going to be an active Classifieds Group. That is because neither the old software or the new software supported classified-style postings. It was just a hack. It might have worked for members, but as the site admin, it was not at all fun.

SO - I am moving the classifieds to a new site - TheChocolateLife.info - on a software platform that supports classifieds as well as a full-blown directory to companies that provide products and services in cocoa and chocolate. That site is not quite ready. I had hoped to get it up and running by yesterday, but fixing UI/UX issues here on TheChocolatelife.com got in the way of testing to make sure everything works. There is a note here on the home page that says that you will see an ad in the Member Marketplace section when the new classifieds site will be ready to go.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 02/03/15 16:42:31

Pate De Fruit

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

You will want to use a high DE pectin.  The pectin will set by solids, temperature, and pH.  Typical solids is 78-80%, this will dehydrate the pectin enough for it to set.  The temperature needs to be kept hot until deposited or sheeted, otherwise you will get pre-gelling.  The acid, lowering the pH will set the pectin, pH should be 3.1-3.5.  As soon as the acid is added, deposit or sheet as it will start to pre-gel quickly.  Lower solids and higher pH will give a slower set, high solids and low pH will give a fast set.  There is also a lot you can do with the pectin type, not only deciding on apple or citrus, but the DE (also called DM) as well.

Citrus pectin is typically a cleaner, clearer gel.

You also want to look at how much protopectin you're adding with the fruit, if any, and compensate with the level of pectin you're adding.

One final note, be sure the pectin is fully hydrated before you cook.

No More classifieds?

Posted in: FORUM FAQs

Does the site no longer have a classifieds page for equipment, etc?

updated by @Pamela Goldman: 06/29/23 16:55:17

How to inhibit sugar crystalization?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you for the response. Now I just need to "digest" this.

Supplier of organic cocoa beans, nibs and powder in small quantities-advice/recommendation needed.

Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE

Hi joseph,

Sent you a email, please check.

Pate De Fruit

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Pate de fruit pectin sold by Chef Rubber is the apple pectin if I'm not mistaken.  If you have a cheaper source of apple pectin just make sure it is the stuff for PDF not for jam as the jam version will not set up as you hope.  

Can I use a caramel cutter to cut ganache?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

The ganache does tend to stick to the blades as Tim has suggested above.  Might work better to mark the ganache with it lightly and use it as a guide to cutting with a knife.  

Grada A Raw Cocoa Beans for sale.

Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam

 

 

 

hello, what is your contact? I am based in Turkey and am looking for raw beans. 

 

Whole Bean Chocolate, Raw Chocolate, etc and the law

Posted in: Opinion

I stand corrected then  I misunderstood the labeling on the FDA's site.   I wasnt suggesting that the big guys were lobbying for change on that regard, but I've heard discussions that it was suggested as a cost cutting measure.

Can I use a caramel cutter to cut ganache?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

The only thing I can think of would be that the caramel cutter is more like a pizza cutter. Ganache may stick to the blades as it rolls across.  Anyone with more experience have ideas to prevent that?

Pate De Fruit

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I'm personally not familiar with apple pectin. But I have run into issues with trying a recipe for pate de fruit from Andrew Schotts' book.  He has his own branded pectin blend specifically for pate de fruit called G Pectin, which I believe is sold at Chef Rubber.

This was discussed over on egullet here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/97623-what-is-g-pectin/page-2  It's about a third to halfway down the page.

I've had success with Pamona Pectin recipe, which can usually be found in local specialty stores or in bigger places like Sprouts and Whole Foods. The trick is in heating things just right. Too little heat and it'll not set properly, too much heat or too much pectin and it'll be more of a gummy candy. It's been a tried and true go to for me.  

Whole Bean Chocolate, Raw Chocolate, etc and the law

Posted in: Opinion

Tim:

The relevant regs are in CFR 21 Part 163 . The 1.75% figure for residual shell applies to nib - as all chocolate gets made from nib and this specification gets inherited by chocolate liquor, etc.

I have not heard about much lobbying by the big chocolate makers to increase this because they know - as Sebastian has said - that pathogens, heavy metals, and mycotoxins are mainly in the shell - and the shell messes with both flavor and texture in really quite negative ways.

 

Can I use a caramel cutter to cut ganache?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I need a caramel cutter and I need a guitar cutter.  I can not afford the guitar cutter until the fall but I can get a caramel cutter probably this month.  Is there any reason why I should not cut up a slab of ganache with a caramel cutter?  Am I missing anything?

updated by @Greg Gould: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Pate De Fruit

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thank you everyone in advance.

I want to make pate de fruit for two layer pralines.  I've tried a dozen times with 2 recipies and it never sets but I now understand that I need aple pectin, or something.  I see special pate de fruit pectin on Chef Rubber and I'm wondering if it's that worth paying more or will apple pectin be fine?  Is there anywhere cheaper than Chef Rubber for apple pectin?

updated by @Greg Gould: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Whole Bean Chocolate, Raw Chocolate, etc and the law

Posted in: Opinion

It is interesting and I find the whole Raw Food think kind of...hmm, to remain diplomatic and civil.....stupid.   One of the reasons I got into chocolate was because of interest in where my food comes from and chasing down and reading up on food science.  I essentially became a foodie because of demonization of various ingredients. Big ones I see in chocolate is lecithin and corn syrup (high fructose or otherwise).  But I digress. that's a whole topic on it's own.

Something I noticed about the link you posted.  The shell content only seems to be an identification of selling and marketing cocoa nibs as a food in and of themselves.  So when you go to the store and find a bag of cocoa nibs; that's the standards that are required.  The reason I mention this is it seems that the big industry folks have toyed with if they havent already moved to just keeping the hulls in the processing because it accounts for 20% of "waste"  If processed and refined correctly other than a slightly more bitter and "dry" taste, I'm not sure there's any way to enforce that without sending inspectors to the factory as it's not readily noticible and I'm not entirely sure that it's testable either.

For the raw people; unfortunately it's going to take a small epidemic (more than one or 2 isolated cases) of someone getting sick before the FDA really moves on anything.  Right now, our politics have a lot of our safety agencies sorely underfunded which means they dont have quite the enforcement capacity as we would expect. Hopefully that changes, but until then, FDA and USDA are largely reactionary to problems as opposed to heading them off at the pass like they should.

Not meaning to dismiss them outright, so I do appologize for the wording here.  It seems like the majority of the Raw Food enthusiasts are able bodied adults that tend to be of a more new-age hippy mindset.  As long as it stays that way, I dont see too much of an issue.  It's when they start feeding this stuff to thier kids, that's the only time that I think that we'll feel the reverberations and the government will step in.

Rev Delta baffle sensor repair

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

David -

I was thinking you could post it in the DIY group. You have all the formatting tools necessary to do this. There is even a page break you can insert so that you can put each step on its own page.

If you like, I can recreate the instructable for you, as a guide to others.

Whole Bean Chocolate, Raw Chocolate, etc and the law

Posted in: Opinion

Having spent some time with my fair share of folks at the FDA - i can say with some degree of confidence that this is on their radar, and good things are not in store for those who habitually violate the standards and/or put consumers at risk.  That said, there's lots of threats to the food system, and not all of them are #1 priority, so it's difficult to say when the hammer will fall, but it will fall.  Remember that pathogens are only one of the category of 'bad things' that reside on shells.  Heavy metals and mycotoxins are also very real concerns.

Rapadura sugar? Unrefined, evaporated cane juice?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Almost all sugar is produced - essentially - the same way - there's a series of extraction steps to get the sugar out of the plant, then it's concentrated, then it's purified.  It's at this purification step where you end up with a range of colors - every single region around the world calls their higher color sugars a different name - but they're all effectively the same thing - higher impurity sugars.  That may sound bad (and in some cases, it is - i've been to most sugar refineries in the world and some of them are abyssmal.  In other cases it's just more natural colors and is fine).

Since it's not effective to talk about each regions individual nomenclature (there's literally hundreds of names for the various brown sugars) - the world has standardized how they talk about it in the form of ICUMSA color standards - it's an analytical measure of how dark the sugar is.  Your standard white sugar has an ICUMSA value of perhaps 40-50.  A tan sugar may be ISCUMA 100.  A very dark sugar may be ICUMSA 600.  Not sure you're going to do anything with that, but sometimes the back story is interesting.

The easiest way to get higher color sugars is simply to run it through the washing, crystallizers, and centrifuges less often than one does for a white sugar, leaving effectively more molasses in it.  This typically results in a higher color, but still low moisture sugar (< 1%).  However, in some of the more modern high t hroughput refineries, it's not efficient for them to run like this, so what they do is highly refine everything at the high speed rates, then blend back the previously extracted molassess stream into the highly refined white sugar - sort of 'reconstituting' brown sugar.  These can be much 'wetter' and higher moisture than their counterparts - so it's important to get a specification on your sugar to know the moisture.  As you are aware, high moisture does bad things (tm) for chocolate.

Priscilla -

Continuous tempering machines are not designed for constant changeover. The reason is as you point out - it's not cost-effective to completely clean the internal plumbing and if you're using water to clean you need to let it dry out completely before starting the next batch.

For this reason, people tend to run their machines for as long as they possibly can before changing over. One scenario is to run one chocolate for an entire day, clean the machine at the end of the day, and then let it dry out over night. In most of the workshops I have visited, they have dedicated machines for dark, milk, and white. They size their machines to the amount of each chocolate they need. They might have a 25kg machine for dark, a 12kg machine for milk, and a 4kg for white.

When they have a flavored chocolate they use their continuous tempering machines in a semi-batch mode, taking off the tempered chocolate they need in small batches and flavoring only what they need.

One question I have is about the size of the average batch you are making. Is it a couple of kilos at a time or is it more like 5-10kg per hour or more?

updated by @Clay Gordon: 11/18/15 13:59:08

Rapadura sugar? Unrefined, evaporated cane juice?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I have been using Rapidura sugar and prefer it over other sugars that I've tried. Mainly for the flavor and the fact that it's organic. I did have an occasion where it seemed too moist so I put it on cookie sheets and heated it in the oven just long enough to remove the moisture. That sugar was from a small package I bought. I always put it in a vegi blender to make it finer before it goes into the melanger. I started buying it in small quantities and just recently purchased a 33 lb. bag from a co-op here in the states. It's actual origin is Brasil. The state side co-op is called Bulk Natural Foods , Tennessee. I can give you the name of the Brazilian manufacturer if you like. Let me know.

Rev Delta baffle sensor repair

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Okay I threw something temporary together for the Premier gear/belt replacement - feedback welcome! I would like to know if there's a better thread to post this so please let me know. Thanks!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Premier-Wonder-Grinder-Repair-Belts-and-Gears/

Rapadura sugar? Unrefined, evaporated cane juice?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

 We've spent the last year trying every cacao bean we can get our hands on, and it's just about time that we're starting to look at which sugar to use. We're currently using C&H Organic unrefined cane sugar for all our evaluation batches, though I'm curious to try Rapadura (sold as Rapunzel in the US). My question before buying it - has anyone used it in bean to bar chocolate? Does it have a low moisture content? I was interested in Zulka but we were having tempering issues (which may or may not have had anything to do with the slightly higher moisture content) - so we've stopped using Zulka and are back to C&H unrefined for now.

If anyone has a sugar recommendation (the less processed, the better!) that has a low moisture content and have experience with it, please let me know - thanks!

updated by @David Menkes: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Change Log

Posted in: FORUM FAQs

Updates and changes to features and functionality

 

February 1

• Completed a module-by-module check of the quota configurations. Some features that were turned off for some quotas that should have been turned on, were turned on.
• Did an integrity check of embedded YouTube videos. No videos were deleted, but there are 23 videos (out of 231) that may no longer be playable because their owners have made them private. Investigating what to do about those 23.
• Changed the CSS formatting of links to make them more obvious.

January 31

• Created a new profile quota that enables an organizational account to have multiple profiles and to link the accounts of other members of the organization to a shared profile. Turned on Profile Tweaks, FAQs, Profile Forums, Profile Groups, File Uploads, and Profile Pages for this quota. Visit @FBM-srl to see what this looks like. The features in this quota are going to be available to any member for a one-time setup cost of $50. For an annual fee of $50, Organizations will also be able to map a domain name to their ChocolateLife.com profile enabling them to use and brand all of the community features of TheChocolateLife.

January 23

• Added the text of Group Discussions to site-wide search and modified the Search Results pages to display them more effectively. This slows the actual search down but speeds up finding what you're looking for when the results are displayed.Overall it's a very positive improvement.
• Worked with the developers to improve the Tag Cloud module user experience. Added links to the entire tag cloud in the top nav as well to the title bar of the tag cloud block on the home page.

updated by @Clay Gordon: 06/29/23 16:55:17

How to inhibit sugar crystalization?

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Cream of tartar is a buffered acid, be carefull what effect your added level has to pH.  Keep well above 4.6.  Adding corn syrup is easiest.  How much you need depends on 3 factors as they control crystallization.

- What is your final moisture level.  One percent moisture will increase or decrease the syrup phase by 3%. 

- What is the ratio of sucrose to other sugars.  From the milk (lactose) and any added corn syrup solids.

- What is the final viscosity.  More viscous requires less other sugars to doctor.

Also the colder it's stored the less sugar can stay in solution.

A traditional dulce de leche is just sugar and milk.  The cooking time is long, which continues to invert some of the sugar.  Same thing the cream of tartar does but much slower.  High moisture versions (pudding or flan like) are kept refrigerated as their Aw is too high for good shelf life.  Versions with lower moisture can be grained unless they have additional sugars (invert, corn syrup) added to increase the total solids the moisture can hold at ambient temperatures.

Whole Bean Chocolate, Raw Chocolate, etc and the law

Posted in: Opinion

Clay - yeah we've been talking to Dandelion about getting testing done, especially with cacao from our farm in Guatemala as it hasn't yet been imported to the US before in any quantity.

Whole Bean Chocolate, Raw Chocolate, etc and the law

Posted in: Opinion

David -

These are all very good questions.

Legally, Sacred Chocolate should not be able to call what they make chocolate because it's outside of the standard of identity for chocolate with respect to shell content.

When it comes to "raw" chocolate there is an increased risk of getting sick because pathogens that would normally be killed during roasting aren't.

Practically, the FDA is not going to do anything until a whole lot of people get sick. At that point the FDA will take a look at these chocolates and may or may not issue guidelines. I don't think that "Big Chocolate" is going to lobby for regulation as the market is too small for them to bother with. Instead they will used theit advanced manufacturing skills to create neutriceutical chocolates "improved" using extracts, as Mars does now.

One thing that many small chocolate makers may not know (but it's something I tell all my consulting clients) is that they are required to register with the FDA as a food manufacturing facility - and there are some specific things they must do, such as having a written, documented, procedure for cleaning beans and removing any metal objects before roasting. By registering with the FDA you give consent to have them inspect your facility and they can fine you or shut you down if they find things they don't like. While you might not want to invest in a formal HACCP plan, having a documented set of procedures that show that you are aware of the issues and that you have processes in place is a very good idea.

Anyone making chocolate should get their chocolate tested at a lab. Plate test, maybe heavy metals. You can specifically test for salmonella and e coli. If you are NOT doing this, you should. Contact your insurance company and see what doing this might do to reduce the cost of your general and product liability policy premiums.