Forum Activity for @Hassan Al Mallah

Dear Bart

Thank you so much for your reply and for supported information , yes, I am looking to make the molds in house , for qty 2 kg min for each design , you is it the handmade forming wooden box giving a good result or, to invest in a thermoforming machine ? and which PET thickness can use to get a good result .

and about the 3d mold , you prefer to use CNC router , or there is another solution for that .

Thank you again for your kind of collaboration

Kind Regards

Hassan

Hello Hassan,

Maybe you can expand a bit on your requirements?

I'm not entirely sure if you want to make the mould yourself, or if you want to order them? Is it a complicated pattern you want to make, how many moulds, how many products per mould?

If you want to make something yourself, I'd look into vacuforming thermoplastics. It's not a very complicated process and doesn't need special machines: with basic woodworking skills, some tools and time it's quite feasible to do yourself. I find that PET-G plastic sheet is cheap, easy to work with and produces excellent moulds: they're definetely clean and clear ;-) Be aware that vacuforming has some limitations: it's not suited for every shape and the quality of the mould will depend on the quality of the pattern (e.g. any roughness in the pattern will show on the chocolate) and the quality of your vacuform table (better vacuum gives better reproduction of the pattern).

There are lots of videos on Youtube about vacuforming and building a basic vacuform table, those should give you an impression of the process. Just let me know if this is what you're looking for?

Cheers, Bart

Hello every body ,I am looking to know the best way to make personalized chocolate mold,with clean and clearresult .10xin advance for your help"

Yes. One person told me about a possible different agitator if my inclusions either sink or float. Couldn't remember which way he said. When it was brought up to another person, he basically said we have the only agitator. It is a dark whey chocolate with whey crisp. I was able to to get the chocolate thicker for depositing and which allowed it to grab the crisp through. But my next problem was my chocolate bloomed. Trying to find the happy medium in this machine has been a nightmare.

Diane:

Have you contacted Savage?

What's the inclusion? What's the chocolate?

:: Clay

I have a savage unit. I am using an inclusion for my chocolate. However, in my dark chocolate this particular inclusion only floats to the top and will not dispense out. My chocolate does seem a little to liquid. Any recommendations?

I am from Serbia, little country in Europe. I am 32 and I worked in factory of chocolate dragee. I d like to continue working in chocolate industry(generally confectionery).

Could you tell me what do you work?

May I ask where you are, and what your experience is?

Dear,
I m looking for a job in the confectionery industry.
Please If you can help me send your contact.

Thanks a lot!

How do you find a job in your country?

Predrae, elim vam srene novogodinje praznike!

Poslao sam vam poruku na navedenu e-mail adresu, nadam se da vam je stigla poruka?!

Pozdrav

Zdravo Gorane!Molim te ako imas malo vremena posalji mi na mail Pmiladinovic@yahoo.com malo o tebista I kako radis.mozes mi poslati I telefon I kada mogu da te nazovem.pozdrav I sretna nova godina I bozic.PS Mozes malo pogledati na mom members stranici.

Do you say how I can to find a job in confectionery industry, special chocolate industry?

Hello,

I am trying to do a chocolate recipe which requires a cool spray. Am a bit of a novice at making chocolate and struggling a bit to find one in the UK (london in particular). Any suggestions?

Thank you very much in advance,

Valerie

Miguel:

What equipment you can (and can't get away with) will depend on the amount of production you want to do and what the end product is.

Roasting - you can use any oven, and a comal (a flat steel plate over a fire) is traditional.

Cracking - I've never heard of anyone using a frying pan to crack. If you're making small amounts you can hand peel the whole beans while they are still warm.

Winnow - you can use a hair dryer or you can winnow traditionally by putting the nib/shell into a something that look likes a wok and toss.

You can pre-grind (sort of) in a food processor or coffee grinder. You cannot refine or conche in either of those devices. What you will end up with is a very coarse paste.

You can use the microwave to melt the chocolate, but you will need to know how to hand-temper the chocolate (on a slab).

All in all, you might be able to make chocolate balls for drinking on a small scale this way but you won't be able to make a smooth, creamy, chocolate without investing more in equipment.

Hi Miguel,

Here is also my email

ahenson222@gmail.com

What do you do for a living and how did you get interested in chocolate

I really like bars from the DR and would like to be able to try more bars from there

that I can't get in the states

Thank you so much Adriennne, will look into that.

I know that tempering also plays a part

I make chocolate at home for fun,just melting and then putting in the molds

and at times needs to be near a freg for my tempering is not good but for me that's OK for

I am going to eat any way.

Look up Direct Cacao website for they are having a conference in DR and this will be a good education for you as you are going into this and you will meet the different people in the industry

who deal with this end.If I had the extra money would go just for the education.

Thank you for your interest Adriennne, I will absolutely be happy to let you try my final product after I learn a little bit from practice

Btw, I have some friends in NY, were exactly are you at?

Hi Miguel,

I am on the other end a consumer who has a passion for chocolate and good tasting bars.

Things like this take time and practice.There is much that goes into making bar in the process like the beans

you use,the roasting,etc. but that is not my area. I do like chocolate from the Dominican Republic.

I have tasted many bars along the way and when you are ready later on would be interested in trying yours.

I am emailing from the NYC area.

Thank you for your response Clay.I understand that I could do the different steps like this, correct me if I'm wrong or could use something better.

Roasting: Just any oven.

Cracking: With a frying pan.

Winnowing: Hair Dryer.

Grinding, Refining and Conching: Any Food Processor or even Coffee Grinder.

Tempering: Microwave Oven.

Miquel -

If you look around the site, I think you will find the answers you are looking for. They are not in any one post or in any one category however.

For a more focused description of process and equipment, you might want to take a look over at Chocolate Alchemy - www.chocolatealchemy.com .

The steps for making chocolate (from beans, Hispaniola or Sanchez) include:

- Roasting
- Cracking
- Winnowing
- Grinding
- Refining
- Conching
- Tempering

You will need some sort of equipment for each one of these steps (though most people starting out use a single machine for grinding/refining/conching).

:: Clay

Hello, I'm pretty interested in becoming a Chocolatier and already tried to do some stuff from raw beans (I did brownies and a few chocolate bars that never became solid, I guess because I didn't even know I have to temper chocolate).

I would like you to please let me know what are the basic tools I might need to do chocolate from home, if there's anything that is just optional will appreciate if is clarified on the post. Also If you have links to any YouTube Video or WebPage with tutorials I can follow, please post 'em.

BTW I am in Dominican Republic which makes it easier for me to get cocoa beans and I wish to eventually plant some cocoa, so probably in the future we can do business.

I really appreciate your help guys and I'm glad that I found a forum like this.

John -

Some people focus on price, others size, others fit and finish, and others on the chocolate that is used to make the shells. Another thing to consider is availability - does the company you're buying them from have them in stock all the time? You'd hate to have a big production run in front of you only to learn that the dealer was out of stock for 30-60 days.

In the end, you want the product that works best for what you are trying to achieve. Personally, I focus on fit and finish (e.g., what are the seams like), and how even and how thick is the chocolate shell itself? I tend to prefer thinner shells (as I don't have any control over the taste of the chocolate).

Also take into account production considerations. Broken/sticking shells are another thing to consider and the thinner the shell the more delicate it is and the more vulnerable to breakage it will be in shipping.

My suggestion - try them all and pick the one that works best for you. The investment in starting up is not that huge, all things considered.

My objection to truffle shells already made is that they are (for my tastes) small. I think most if not all are 1" in diameter, and I like a larger piece than that. I actually bought a double mold for making truffle shells, not realizing they would turn out the same small size. Using it was quite an adventure--no instructions came with it, the vendor's online "help" left a lot to be desired, and other directions I found were contradictory. I experimented a few times, had a couple of successes, but it was too undependable for me, and the mold now sits unused.

I too would be interested in the brands recommended by others. I've heard good things about Valrhona. I would be particularly interested if anyone has found a shell larger than 1".

Ibought a few cases of Keller shells to try out. One problem with these is they tend to get stuck in the bottom of the trays, soafter you've filled them and try to pop them out, someget punctured, cracked or completely broken, which sucks big time whentheir filled with liquid caramel. I suppose the solution is to cool thetray andpop them out before filling them, but if that doesn't work, thenI probably won't use them anymore...

Hey everyone!

I plan on buying pre-made truffle shells for my truffles. I'm not sure which ones to get since everyone I talk to has different brands.

What do you guys think about Chocoduc truffle shells?

Also, I seen Keller, Callebaut, and Pastry 1 (Paris Gourment brand) ----> any thoughts on these as well?

Is there really a difference and does it matter which one to get? Do people typically focus just on price?

Sorry if this is a very basic question for you professional chocolatiers out there : )

Thank You!

There have been discussions of this issue on the eGullet forum, such as this one: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/87881-chocolate-champagne/?hl=%2Bchampagne+%2Btruffle#entry1775172

The conclusion was that using champagne itself is rather difficult, and most people use marc de champagne, which according to one writer on that site is a very concentrated flavoring "gel" which pours and smells very strongly of wine.

But according to another link, Jacques Torres makes a champagne truffle, with the following description: "Jacques' Champagne Truffles, filled with Champagne Taittinger, are a mouth-watering combination of milk chocolate, fresh cream and Taittinger Brut La Franaise champagne. These champagne truffles rise above the rest due to their inclusion of real champagne. These are one of the few champagne truffles to do so."

Thanks for your trouble Ashley. I don't have any cocoa butter here, but I'll try this next time.

But hopefully things are under contol again, the first batches look promising: dropping right out of the mould and nice shine. It's probably a combination of things that causes problems:

-I washed the moulds with NaOH, great tip I found on this forum.

-Maybe I was overheating the moulds, I do a more gentle preheat at lower temperature.

-Keeping an even tighter check on the temper of the white chocolate. I guess it was overcrystallizing when I got to the last moulds.

With my fridge I'm not too worried about moisture, this one keeps the humidity low.

Hello all,

I hope I'm not asking something which has been asked before (I did a search), but hopefully someone can help a beginner out. It gets a bit frustrating having to melt back half of your work ;-)

Here is what I'm trying to do:

I made some custom moulds (PETG) of a logo, for casting a tablet. The mould has several shallow cavities (about 2millimeter or 0.1 inch) for different colours of chocolate: small details in dark, and larger area's with white and milk.

First I fill in the small details with dark, then a few larger areas with white and finally milk (using piping bags), tapping the mould each time to get bubbles out and fill the cavities. After filling in the logo, the rest of the tablet is topped off with milk or dark. Total thickness is about 14mm, just over 1/2 inch.

The problem I'm having is a some sticking and 'flaking' of the white chocolate in small spots, ugly! The milk and dark release nice and shiny. I'm a bit stuck: I tried a few things but running out of ideas.

Moulds were cleaned and polished (very thoroughly!) with cotton wool in between.

I believe the temper is ok: the white chocolate sets up nicely. Sometimes it shows some 'cloudiness' or swirls where it comes from the piping bag, maybe it's overcristallised? (Although I try to keep it in control with the heatgun before pouring).

I tried preheating the mould (room temperature is about 19degC), but that doesn't seem to help. Also it takes a lot of time to put all the colours in, so the mould is probably cooled down anyway. Reheating is not really possible as the other colours become fluid again and start mixing when pouring the next colour...

I tried working fast, pouring one colour after another. And I tried working slow, letting one colour solidify before applying the next one (with a quick run of the heatgun in between to make the layers stick together). Fast or slow didn't seem to make much difference in succes rate...

Any tips how to tackle this? Is white chocolate more difficult to work with than milk or dark? And should I work fast, or is it ok to have previous layers semi-solid and then pour a new layer on top?

I'm also not sure anymore what the proper cooling procedure is: should I pop it in the fridge straight away or let it cool down first at room temperature?

Thanks, Bart

Thanks Clay. Much appreciated.

That's my interpretation.

One thing to note is that if you sell (for example) a one-ounce bar and an eight-ounce bar of the exact same chocolate then the eight-ounce bar counts as eight units towards the 10,000 limit.

However, if you use the same chocolate, and make bars with different inclusions or flavorings, then each recipe counts as a unique product, each with its own 10,000 unit limit.

Thanks for the link, Clay. One line says: " If a person isnot an importer, and has fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees, that person does not have to file a notice for any food product with annual sales of fewer than 10,000 total units." Would you interpret that as not needing the exemption if those qualifications are met? Also, I'll check with my insurance agent to see what the savings would be like if I use a batch tracking system. Thanks again for the help.

Here's the link to the FDA page on the small business nutrition labeling exemption.

The batch/lot tracking is a form of insurance if/when it ever comes to having to recall product. Though it does cost money, you may actually lower the cost of the liability premium if you can show your insurer that you have these procedures in place.

Hello Clay. As usual, excellent information. I wasn't aware of the labeling laws exemptions. Do you know how I go about applying for that exemption? Also, do you think batch / lot tracking requirements are close to fruition for small shops? Thanks again. John

Corey -

These are separate things.

You can purchase UPC codes from brokers and then just print them directly on your labels or print UPS labels and stick them on your packaging. You don't need inventory management software to do that.

I am not exactly sure why you are focused on scanners that connect to a PC. You certainly don't need a barcode scanner to track ingredients for recipes. What you do want is lot traceability and the ability to calculate the cost of a recipe based on what is spent for a particular batch of ingredients, not what you last paid.

I was recently introduced to a service from a company called Mobia Solutions ( www.mobiasolutions.com ). I would check them out to see if they can do what you need. There are also some really helpful resources under the Links tab on food safety, labeling, and more.

BTW, you probably qualify for a small-business exemption to the FDA nutrition labeling laws - but you do need to apply for it if you haven't already.

Clay,

We dont really know what we want. We know a bunch of store require bar codes. We would like to get the most bang for the buck. If there are features we don't need yet, eventually we hope we will. We are looking to track our inventory, both finished products and ingredients.

Most of the scanners are PC based, like Wasp. We will use it to sync with Quickbooks, which we are looking to purchase as well. The simpler the better since my wife and I are not accountants. My head spun the first time I saw Quickbooks but it is something we have to bite the bullet and learn. Need it for accounting, payroll and inventory as well.

Thank you for any input. We are very confused. Why can't we just make delicious treats?

Corey

Corey -

There's a lot more to inventory management than just bar codes. Are there any other features you are looking for?

There are several cloud-based solutions (run in a browser) that can do things like track ingredient costs across purchases so know exactly how much a particular recipe costs.

We need some help. We are starting to speak to markets that require bar codes to be on their shelves. We use Macs and would like to stay with them if possible. Seems most products, like Wasp, are PC based only.

Does anyone have anything they use that they like. We have a netbook that we were given but I don't know if it will have enough power to run a program.

Any info would help. Thank you!

Corey