Forum Activity for @BartBasi

Our chocolates are shipped in to us from everywhere.  (Passing through some very hot days).  We like them to come in a styrofoam lined box (1.25-1.5" seems to be good).  Gel packs frozen to 30 degrees work really well - that slowly lowers the internal temperature of the package to the low 60's and holds it below 70 for 2 days worth of shipping (the box is lined with gel packs).  

Does that help?

I have agree with Sebastian.  We start with the closest date on anything, our concern is maintaining top quality.  After we produce our first batch we hold that back; keep that in our case and we eat them daily.  Generally we quickly find after 2-3 weeks the flavor has had a noticable drop and that's the date we put on it for ourselves.  From a safety standpoint we measure water movement to get an idea about bacterial growth.  The projections from that let us know it's reasonable that our chocolate is good for months (if not years) - but that's meaningless to us because we can tell a drop in quality much sooner.

So the short answer is we eat it.

YMMV

Hi,

Not sure what else to add, we've got a couple of stores - along with everything else we sell chocolate and do cast solid chocolate figures.  

Bart

Hello,

Subject says it all really.  I need to display chocolate and am looking to purchase a display case (or two).  If anyone has one for sale or knows of one for sale I would really appreciate it.

I have tried to use all manner of deli/refrigerated cases in the past and the results are terrible.  The chocolate display cases I currently use maintain a constant 65 temperature (the temperature of the ambient air is between 65 and 70 degrees year round); the cases we have never seem to vary by more than 1degree off 65 and the humidity stays within 2% of the target.

The chocolates look great and a week or two after we get them they taste and look great.  So I need something similar to what I have.

My problem is that the cases I have are no longer manufactured.  I've seen Federal (FCC6 is one model number) advertised but have no experience with them.  I'd also prefer to purchase used if I can.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Bart

Contact: Text or Call 217-778-8475

help the chioccolate crumbles

I might suggest a savage kettle, and use it's heat controls to maintain temper once it's achieved.  It's a batch system, but if monitored you can keep temper it in all day.  I suspect you're going to have challenges finding a continuous tempering machine to handle what's a relatively small volume.

Thanks Sebastian

I want to mold 50kg of viscous bean to bar chocolate into 70g bars on a daily basis.

I'm happy to fill them by hand, dont need a mould loader but a three cavity dosing head would be handy.

What do you think would be the best solution for this?? A continuous type machine or a batch tempering machine? What is the pro's and cons of each approach?

That's a bit of a complicated question.  It's a combination of how you store and process your raw materials,  how you store your finished goods, and ultimately what the sensory on them looks like at a given date (and what you consider to be acceptable for sensory)...

if anyone has some used coating pans that are sitting in a corner, let me know...  Im interested.

jeremy@decorchocolates.com

PMCA regularly offers a week long chocolate course, one coming up this June. 

I make pralines with an indian blend tea with hibiscus and spices and it is a hit

How do you determine Best By vs Sell By vs Expires on multi-ingredient products? For example, if the milk powder expires on a specific date, does the chocolate bar also expire on that date? And what defines "Best By"?

Beth

I suppose i could also use sorbitol but i don't know if it would be wise to use both glucose and sorbitol and what  quantity of sorbitol...

In fact i use glucose and the ganache stays creamy but i dkn't know inflyence it will have on shelf life. Thank you very much for your help.

Hi I am looking for a course that in Spanish and online?

someone can remomendar me any, I live in Honduras, Central America

Hi I am looking for a course that in Spanish and online?

someone can remomendar me any, I live in Honduras, Central America

Well proportions depend on the type of chocolate and how much cocoa butter it has, what other ingredients you use with water content, shelf life you want and how hard you want it to set.

e.g. For molded bonbons I've used up to 1/1.5 heavy cream to chocolate for milk chocolate 45% with success (and even 1.4 for dark 70%) with 3 weeks shelf life, using invert sugar to lower water activity. Of course for dipped confections It would've been impossible to do the same. You just need to get a very good understanding of the theory behind the ganache system.

If you don't want to add more cream you can indeed use cream with less fat content and try to counter water activity with inver sugar instead of cane partially or even totally (provided its not a lot). Also remember that the texture of the ganache will change too with less dairy fat in it.

Any recommendations oils brand chocolate?

I live in Honduras Central America, can take online courses in Spanish?

Mariano

Thank you for you answer i did not think about what you said but of course you're right. Some of my ganache have a too high fat content and it breaks or there is a deposit if fat at the bottom though i followed the recipe or the proportions of half the weight of the chocolate . And it is specially annoying with my caramel ganache interieur with a pinch of salt. I will appreciate any insight from more experienced chocolatiers thank you

It is technically possible to use a 15% cream, but you have to consider that you are actually using way more water in your ganache and that would impact seriously in the shelf life.

What problem are you experiencing? Maybe there is another way to solve it.

Have you considered starting with powdered milk (NFDM), and adding butter and water to reconstitute it, but to a lower level of moisture than you'd have with your standard fluid milk to reduce the time needed for moisture removal?

What we normally do is put our boxes in ziplock bags and transport them in a cooler. During very hot days we put blue ice bags in the cooler too (but outside the ziplocks obviously).

No, the stand is there to keep the stirrer from acting like a lid. When the stirrer was resting on the cooker, the caramel quickly boiled over. With it raised up a bit, the water evaporates faster and helps prevent boilover.

The spindle is in contact with the pot, however the stirring blades are 1/16" to 1/8" inch from the bottom of the pot. You could sand or machine the tip of the spindle to reduce that distance, but there would still probably be some gap.

I tried adding silicone scrapers to the blades. That experiment failed as the caramel still scorched. I found it more effective to simply use the stirrer til 218 degrees, then stir by hand. No more scorching, but I still saved time over stirring the entire time.

I've toyed with the idea of stacking two stirring machines to increase the power of the stir, and hopefully stir the caramel faster, thus helping prevent scorching, but I haven't sprung for another stirrer to test this.

If you try it out, please let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Larry

Hi Clay. 

Any news on getting the group discussions updated? In my opinion, they're almost useless now, since there's no way to easily see when a thread was last updated.

Also, the search results issue I mentioned in my 3/12/15 post is still happening.

Thanks,
Ben

@larry2 It looks as though you're using a stand to hang the stirrer above your pot.  Does this help with the issue of blades missing the bottom of the pot, (read in Amazon reviews ) or was this constructed for another reason?

Thanks!

Hello again, Kerry.  Someone in another thread recommended Bubble Wrap bags.  What type of insulated bags do you use, and who Brands them for you?  Also, the small ice packs you referred to - not sure what they are.  Thanks again for the help.  John

Thanks Kerry.  I'll try that.  John

Get some little insulated bags with your branding on them - have the really tiny little ice packs available.  

I'm about to have to replace another motor since originally posting this. (I think I have replaced one in between that time)... We since added a Chocovision Revolution 3Z to the shop and it has some design flaws as well... Why would anyone think that plastic is a good material for something in an area (on the machine) where tension, heat, and constant movement are all happening all the time?! We've had to send it back for repair and haven't even had it a year. I sent a letter with some suggestions for fixing the issue. I'm sure they'll assume I'm a smart a$$.

I'm still on the lookout for a replacement motor for the ACMC. It's a small enough temperer for our white chocolate needs, and while I don't mind paying a bit for upkeep/maintenance for the machine; I'd rather have to do it less.

Thanks!

(Oh, thanks Chirag-Bhatia, but I couldn't get the link above to open)

Hi!  New to TCL, but have been digging through the forums for burried treasure for several months.  I'm weeks away from "opening the doors" to a confectionary, with intentions of selling online and to local shops wholesale... for now.

The first retailer I'll be working with owns a candy store, and keeps some chocolates and many novelty candies.  My concern is that while she knows to keep her shop from boiling in the summer, she's also trying to avoid an astronomical electric bill.  This is fine for candies that will be eaten immediately, but I've literally walked a block from store to car and experienced chocolate smudges on the package. No bueno for gifts or savoring, and if I weren't trying to get my foot in the door, I'd say it's inhospitable for my products.

On my side, they'll will be kept at about 55-60 F until I personally deliver them to her shop, weekly.  My question is this:  What can I personally do to give my products the best chance during transport and storage at the retail destination?

I'm thinking of transporting in a cooler with dry ice or similar, and wrapping the kraft boxes in bags to avoid contact.  Inside the kraft box may be a layer with silica packs to help with humidity, and care instructions label outside.  Any other/better ideas on how to keep my precious works from turning into gloop?

Thanks!

https://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/forums/tech-help-tips-tricks-techniques/4705/summer-shipping-tips-tricks

Colin - I love your packaging information page for customers!  If I were to order from you, I'd feel very appreciated, and that you truly care about the quality of your product and my experience.  Well done, Sir!

I've received samples from TCHO that had to travel from the West to the East US coast, and they were packaged in a Uline foil backed bubble bag (5x fast) with 2 cold packs inside.  Are yous guys saying that just the foil bubble bag would have sufficed, no cold packs neccesary?  Any experiences with this?

Oh i know the weaver nut folks very well - small world it is!

I want to thank you all for these extremely useful comments, explanation, tips and remedies. Brad's comment stressing that there is no boiler plate and that "rule of thumb" is the guiding principle is a perfet conclusion. I have reached succes about 50% of the time so far, with better results with fatter beans from Granada and Trinidad in which I do not add cocoa butter. The Dominican beans are rather "dry" and I add up to 8% butter. I do leave the chocolate at 29 degre C for 2 hours before warming it up again and I leave the mould in the open in an A/C room at approx. 22 degres, but not under the fan. That works betes so far. Thank you again

Out towards Lancaster and Litiz?  I buy my chocolate from Weaver Nut in Ephrata.  Look forward to meeting you.

No store for me- but i'm about an hour west of you.  I'll need to stop by sometime!

Hello Sebastian.  It's called Chillings and Chocolate in Upper Darby PA.  What's the name of your store?

I am in Sydney, Australia and this is probably the hottest continent on Earth.  It's also very larg.  I send chocolate around Australia and indeed to New Zealand and other coutries and this is how I do it. 

http://www.captainchocolate.com.au/hot-weather-shipping/

This follows ask-maki's suggestion and it does work very well.  I get VERY few failures and if I do I just replace.

At markets I use the same idea but one really important concept is to keep the cold air from getting out and new hot air getting in.  To achieve that I pop the chocolate in the foil bag and then I heat seal it on the stand.  Then the air simply can't transverse.

I can't actually buy these bags - at least not cheaply. So I buy rolls of metalized of the material (metalized bubble wrap) that I use for shipping and cut bags out of that and make the bags myself at home before going to the markets.  Then I just have to heat-seal the opening on-site.

I DO keep all of my chocolate in polystyrene boxes on my stall to keep them cool.  And I take these nice cold bags to seal for Customers.

Oh - forgot to say. I keep my chocolate as cold as I reasonably can and load my van just as I leave for the day.  Temperture is always around 15-18C.

Hope this helps - taking care of chocolates and Customers at farmers markets becomes a real artr and I am now pretty good at it!

Colin

Captain Chocolate, Sydney, Australia

Here is another option that works. Ive heard of folks mailing in these, without ice packs, mid summer with no problems.

http://www.uline.com/BL_1566/Uline-Glamour-Bubble-Mailers