Forum Activity for @Ben Rasmussen

Thanks Annmarie!

That's what I thought. Love you and Potomac! Let me know when you have a new funding venture.

When I'm doing it, I'm aging it untempered in a block. In the discussions, others say they're aging tempered bars, though.

Hmmm. I may need a $1000 mummified alpaca skin wrapped bar. You know, for the sake of saying I spent the money on it...

Thanks, Ben. I value your opinion. I've only heard of Schaffenberger claiming one of their bars was better with age and there was some debate about that.

Question. The chocolate that is being aged, is it tempered, molded and in bar form and then aged or made into chocolate and aged - obviously two different things.

We dont have to do anything except point out the truth. Eventually the reality of what they are doing will trickle down to the consumer.This IS NOKA all over again. They didnt last long either.

BUT....my mummified alapaca skin wrapped bars for $1000 each will be available soon....well....as soon as we can get the shaman down out of his ayahuasca induced trance....bugger is too high to be blessing anything right now...

Hi Annmarie,

I haven't had To'ak or looked too closely into any of their claims. That being said, there are several discussions on these forums, as well as elsewhere, debating the benefits (or lack thereof) to aging chocolate. Personally, I age one of my chocolates and feel that it results in a much better flavor (the other two don't really benefit from aging). I've also spoken with another maker, who makes some of my favorite chocolate, who mentioned that one of their chocolates is aged for over a year before it is ready.

All this is to say that the claim that their bars gets better with age is not necessarily an outrageous claim.

-Ben

p.s. I agree that the bar in the photo does appear to have some tempering issues.

Okay my chocolate experts, what to do about To'ak Chocolate ( https://toakchocolate.com ). It has finally happened where someone is claiming to be something they are not in the bean to bar world. Never mind their terrible website, the questionably information on their website, the fact their website is slow and hard to navigate, and a $260 chocolate bar for your first time out is beyond insane.

I've heard through the grapevine from a handful of people at exclusive chocolate tastings that the bar is average at best. Yes, there are people who may like sub-par chocolate, so it may all be in the person tasting. However, keep in mind these are chocolate people who regularly do tastings.

I was tweeting with someone who was doing a wine tasting with the bar. I've attached a photo. Keep in mind this is NOT raw chocolate. No shine, so it obviously wasn't tempered correctly.

The wine guy I got this photo from says To'ak claims that chocolate bars get better as they age. As far as I know, bars are good for up to a year if stored properly. To claim this is absolutely ridiculous!

Now, I've been in the chocolate business for 12 years. I've read all of the books. I'm a professional chocolatier through study at Ecole Chocolat. I studied pastry at the French Pastry School with some of the best pastry and chocolate chefs in the WORLD. I've blogged and written books about chocolate. Has something changed that I don't know about?

What can we do about these guys? They are misinforming and down right lying and taking advantage. I don't like it one bit. Do we take to our blogs? A few of my chocolate expert blogging friends are all laughing at the precise things I've mentioned. Marketing only gets you so far with a bad product and misinformation.

You're feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks Brad, do you know how it is processed(sprayed or roller)? I just placed a sample order from Vern Dale Products in Michigan, they specialize in the dry rolled technique.

Reason for the change is the dried milk I was getting from Dairy America in Fresno left an acidic aftertaste almost rancid. I'm guessing that it's because I didn't clarify that their dried whole milk was "low heat".

Parmalat, but I think you can only get it in Canada.

Hey everyone I'm looking to test out some new whole milk powders!

I was sourcing some from a farm in Fresno, CA but now I'm looking for some other recommendations...

Any suggestions on the tastiest???

Thaaaannksss

Hi, we do co-packing. If interested let me know and I will tell you more.

I was about to ship out some samples and I saw this on my raspberry filling, and my honey almond....

please see attached pic

1st issue

chocolate, callebaut c811 with 5% coco butter

filling, oragnic rasp, glucose, vodka, waxy maize and carrageenan.

2nd issue

honey almond filling, its a sugar sweating through...why?

Im thinking the shell thickness was to thin....

thoughts?

cheers!

Alan

Hi Ben, I congratulate you on your project, I wanted to consult you because you are much more experienced than me. I saw a photo that you use the champion juicer to break the seed and thus separate the shell. as you do for the champion does that work?

Ben, if successful you after I pass the level. soory for my english

H Beni, I really have a plan, I'm doing copying other!

Hi Mariano,

Most of the melangers go around 120-140 rpm, but I'd include speed control if I was building one. How are you making it? Care to share your design?

-Ben

I'm making a melangeur 24 inches and need to know to how many revolutions per minute tour!

I make compound based chocolate,dark chocolate heating at 45c n cooling till 33c..but when I take out the chocolate has patches in polycarbonate moulds.kindly suggest a possible reason for such a happening plz.

Hey Guys,

I have a question regarding flavored oils in chocolate.

Does anyone know the threshold of flavored oils in chocolate? Currently, I am using a vanilla extract in my chocolate but I'm not getting a strong enough vanilla flavor. The ratio I'm using is 1/2 table spoon per pound of chocolate. Can I just up my oil to a tablespoon per pound or will that compromise the chocolate?

Thanks!!!

It's a bittersweet that is one drop (i.e. viscous) so would be better for making ganache than for use in moulding etc.

I just ran across this product.

https://www.qzina.com/content/l6040nv-intense-bitter-sweet-ganache-chocolate-usa-only

Not sure what it is supposed to be used for--is it a ready-made ganache that just needs to be melted and poured into a truffle, or is it the chocolate that you temper and make ganache truffle with?

Thanks!

Thank you very much, Kerry!

You can - as long as you don't somehow manage to throw the chocolate out of temper by using coloured cocoa butter that is too warm.

Alternately you could simply put a dab of coloured cocoa butter on the bottom of the mold.

I just need to add one dab of a color to each piece of white chocolate truffle at the bottom of the mold. Can I just mix colored coacoa butter with my tempered white chocolate and then dab the mixture at the bottom of my mold? I literally just need one little dab but I want to make sure that it's ok to use this mix--and that 1)my tempered white chocolate won't break and 2)the colored dab comes out of the mould together with the rest of the truffle.

Thanks!

Greetings,

Promain Ltd. is a Colombian company ( www.ingesecltda.com ), leader in agro-industrial technology and processes. We are currently working with international cooperation and support jointly with Tetra Tech ARD in developing new technologies for processing coffee and cocoa.

Under the framework of this project we are working with five types of top quality Colombian products:

1. Green Coffee,

2. Roasted whole bean coffee,

3. Roasted ground coffee,

4. Gold fermented dry cocoa. Characterized by technical fermentation and drying processes which applies technology and science in a controlled environment to produce an extremely clean cocoa bean free of fungus and contaminants,

5. Premium cocoa. Selected cocoa fermented and processed in the traditional-artisan way.

We would like to share some samples at no cost of any of the products mentioned above. In return we only ask to return a short questionnaire that should take less than ten minutes to complete. This feedback will be very helpful to producers.

If you are interested, please respond to cacaoycafe@ingesecltda.com and let us know which products you would like to receive and your mailing address. Please keep in mind that samples are limited.

Thanks!

In many places in the world where cocoa is grown, water security is still a major challenge. Small solar purification plants are one solution to the problem but they tend to be very expensive and many can't be used in places where brackish - salty - water is a problem.

There's an Indiegogo campaign going on right now for an innovative small-scale solar water purifier. Called the Desolenator , this award-winning project has been under development for several years and is calling for support to move it from the prototype phase into production.

We can help the campaign in several ways:

1) Tell your friends about the project and ask them to tell their friends and go to the campaign page and pledge a perk.

2) Buy a Desolenator at $650 each (pays for delivery, installation, and training). I don't think that many people reading this need one, and many of the rest of us don't have the resources, especially at this time of year, to go out and buy one to give one away.

3) #1 + #2 - This is where the power of our global community comes in. Tell your friends to tell their friends to help TheChocolateLife purchase at least one

I am happy to collect donations (through PayPal) from members of the community and then purchase a Desolenator on behalf of the worldwide ChocolateLife membership. If I receive enough to purchase two Desolenators then I will purchase two of them for the community. (Any monies below/above evenly divisible multiples of $650 will be donated for other perks in the name of TheChocolateLife community.

Once I make the pledge we will have a discussion about where to deliver the Desolenator to a location in India and Africa.

To make a donation, please send it via PayPal to paypal@discoverchocolate.com. PLEASE earmark your donation as a donation or personal payment. PayPal does not charge transaction fees for donations. If you want to mail a check, please contact me privately. I will keep track, here on this post, of the amount collected, plus provide updates on the campaign.

There campaign closes on January 14th, so please help me in supporting this extremely worthwhile campaign.

:: Clay

Hi! Just opened a store a couple of months ago. We make caramel apples, chocolate-dipped everything.... We have a Savage Bros. commercial stove and copper kettle top and would like to use it to make fudge. I am having the devil's own time trying to find a basic recipe for chocolate fudge and for white fudge for commercial copper kettles. Does anyone out there have a couple of good ones to share please???

Once we have the two basics we know how to make about 20 different kinds of fudge. Our store manager is used to a Calico Cottage kettle and mix, but I do not want the extra equipment or to use mix, since we make everything else from scratch.... HELP!!! :

Is it possible to get your recipe amounts for the peanut butter meltaways?

Thanks

Thank you so much for helping me with this!

What Ruth said!

There is a eutectic effect of one fat on another. So if you combine chocolate and coconut oil the cocoa butter and the coconut fat interact. Ditto with the peanut butter fat. The melting point of the new fat produced is different from the melting point of the starting fats and it will not necessarily be a temperature half way between the two - it can be higher or lower than either alone.

The tempering allows that fat to crystallize in a stable form.

Meltaways need to be tempered. You may have lucked out in the past. Combine tempered chocolate and cooled coconut oil. stir in peanut butter and place over a bowl of ice. Keep stirring until mixture thickens. Pour into frame. That should get the correct crystals forming. You can always remelt the grainy batch and retemper.

I've been making a peanut butter meltaway using peanut butter, milk chocolate and coconut oil. There are times when that meltaway center develops a...texture. It's not quite gritty, because the little lumps melt away, but it's not as smooth as I'd like it.

I'm not sure if this has something to do with the temps of each item in the meltaway, or the order in which they are put together.

Can anyone shed light on this? Most often they are perfect.

thanks - since water and alcohol turns melted down chocolate into flaky hard mud . ... how could extracts with water or alcohol be used if at all?

We use LorAnn oils.Several stores sell them, or you could get them online. http://shop.lorannoils.com/chocolates/super-strength-flavors/1-dram...

They are much, much cheaper than the "Super Healthy, Super Duper, Super Commissioned" essential oils.

I couldn't speak to if one is better than the other.

Note: some are oils, some are flavors with water & alcohol.

I haven't gotten a level where I am producing the chocolate in my kitchen.... rather my homemade chocolates are just melted down dark chocolate blends.So I am a definite beginner.

My question is how do I add almond or peppermint to my melted chocolate? Most extracts I have seen (clubhouse etc) have water and alcohol. Unfortunately, I already learned what that does to cooking chocolate! I did a search for peppermint oil or almond oil and all I could find is essential oil for aromatherapy! hehe What do I do / buy?

Thank you

Merry Christmas / Joyeux Noel

Even in my very-limited-production chocolatiering, I have an idea of what the Christmas insanity is like for someone who is actually in the business, so I appreciate that you took the time to respond. I will give your suggestions a try. Thanks very much.

Jim

Working with chocolate in small batches (by hand) is like shooting at a moving target; you always have to be making minor adjustments in order to keep the viscosity consistent.

Here are a couple of hints that may help:

1. White chocolate takes longer for the beta crystals to propogate appropriately, as there are more "non-cocoa" particles in it. You need to have more patience.

2. When you see your chocolate start to get thicker than you would ideally like, hit it for a moment or two with a blow dryer, and stir like crazy.

3. Don't wait until the chocolate is unbearably thick (over tempered). Make constant adjustments as you go, but keep in mind that you need to stir it very well.

I'd type more, but I'm on hour 16 of today's version of Christmas insanity and I desperately need food. Hope that helps.

Brad

...PS.... When you think you've stirred enough, Well... You haven't.