A Patric

Dear all, The demo is basically done. The chocolate is made and molded in 4 ounce bar form. I am waiting until tomorrow for one more photo, and then I'll post everything. The demo is pretty darn long, and there are a lot of photos (all but one of which are even in focus), so hopefully everyone will like it. Sincerely, Alan

So it took a little longer than I anticipated: 15 hours But all is well, and off to bed I go. Tomorrow is tempering and mold filling day, and the last day of active chocolate making. I'll keep you updated, Alan

Dear all, The chocolate is now at 7 hours of refining. All the photos are turning out very well. I'll update one more time when the refining is done for the night. I don't know how long it will be (my tongue will be the judge of that), but I am guessing 9-11 hours or so. Sincerely, Alan

Hello all, The chocolate is in the Santha wet/dry mixer right now, having already been processed with the Champion. The Santha looks like a small "melangeur," which is what the French discovered for mixing, refining, and conching chocolate all at once. It is built the same too, with heavy black granite rollers and a black granite bed on bottom that spins pulling chocolate between the two. The photos are turning out well so far, so you'll see what I mean soon. I'm writing up part of the demo now. Sincerely, Alan

Well, I wouldn't even be doing one if it weren't for some of the help that you gave me, so you have you to thank for it. Alan

Roasting completed. I wish I could transfer smell through the internet. Alan

Dear all, Alright, will do. Tonight I roast the beans, tomorrow is the refining/conching, and Friday is the tempering and molding. Saturday the tablets will be de-molded, so I imagine that I will get the demo up Monday or Tuesday. Luckily I do have someone who can take photos. Let's hope this person can take GOOD photos though. I'll try to document every little step. Sincerely, Alan

Dear all, As an afterthought, I am going to be making a four lb. batch of 65% chocolate starting today. It will take a few days, but I am wondering if anyone would be interested in a demo-type-thing. It wouldn't be a demo in the sense that it won't be showing the perfect way to do it, but only will be showing how I am doing it. It may give some other people ideas though, and this would be good. Is there any interest in me documenting the process with words and photos? Sincerely, Alan

Thank you. It will probably be progress like a snail for a while, but you know what they say about "slow and steady." Alan

Dear All, As some of you may know from a recent thread I started, I am interested in making my own chocolate, from bean to bar. As some of you also might know, this isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. However, it isn't impossible. In fact there is a new (only a week old) online forum devoted to making chocolate at home: "Chocolate Alchemy," and I, being a member, have written an introduction for that forum. I would like to post it below for two reasons. 1) It may remind you of yourself in some way, and if this is so, then that might attract you to come and visit the forum here: The Chocolate Alchemy Forum, and/or the related siteThe Chocolate Alchemy Site and it might open up conversation in this eGullet thread about home chocolate making. 2) There are some useful resources scattered about in my introduction that may also be of interest to those who want to know more about chocolate production from the planting of the Theobroma Cacao tree to the aging of the chocolate bar. If you have any questions about chocolate making after reading the below intro., and/or looking at the various resources mentioned below, then please feel free to ask in this eGullet thread. I am by no means an expert, but maybe I can give you a general idea about something. My introduction: As I mentioned, if you have any questions about chocolate making, I can try to answer some things, but I am by no means an expert yet. Be ready for a lot of "I am not quite sure"s. Sincerely, Alan

Dear all, I received the Zyliss "Jumbo" garlic press today. I pressed 4 small cloves of garlic (skin on) in under 30 seconds (three the first time, and then the fourth one) and had it cleaned and drying in another 30 seconds. To those who said it is hard to clean, the Zyliss now comes with a plastic cleaning tool that stores with the press itself. Not only does it clean the holes in the press effortlessly, but it allows one to free the garlic skins in the pressing "well" in a matter of 1 or 2 seconds. No garlic is squeezed back up along the sides of the press (the wrong way) as happens with many presses. Everything worked just great. Thanks for the help. I would recommend this to anyone (unless you have no fore arm strength) Sincerely, Alan

Care of Chefette: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=954972

Dear all, Speaking of (your) pies, which I have to say all look delicious!... I made a pumpkin pudding which was pretty similar to a standard pumpin pie only without the crust, with half the sugar and with a twice the cinnamon. It is sweet enough to be eaten for dessert, but could also pass as a side dish with roasted turkey or other foul. Of course the idea popped into my head as to whether such a thing exists as a chocolate-pumpkin pie? Has anyone ever tried such a thing? Sincerely, Alan

Dear Sebatian, Well, at least one company is going to get the chance to ask what the hell I'm talking about as I have already e-mailed "Fearn." As for others, with the list of names you supplied above I tracked down: http://www.asa-europe.org/Suppliers/lecithin.htm This website lists all(?) of the suppliers of lecithin for the US (and other countries too). I guess I'll be getting busy with some e-mailing come Monday. Thanks again for the help. Sincerely, Alan

Dear WhiteTruffleGirl, Thank you very much for the reference. Are you also familiar with this very expensive tome: Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery : Science and Technology, and can you compare them? Sincerely, Alan

Dear WhiteTruffleGirl, Thank you for your response. I appreciate knowing the minimum % amount for cocoa mass in the EU and the US. I knew that it was strictly regulated in the EU, but wasn't aware of the laws in the US. Sincerely, Alan

Dear Sebastien, Thank you. This answers most of my questions. I find it interesting, though, that people talk about couverture as if it is "quite different" from regular chocolate, when this shouldn't be the case according to what I understand from your writing. In other words, cocoa beans being 55% cocoa butter would mean that, as I stated above, a chocolate from about 60% to 100%, with no added cocoa butter, would qualify for the title "couverture," though the upper percentages wouldn't be quite sweet enough for most. However, since the idea of couverture, as I understood it, is to have a chocolate with a reduced viscosity, would 90% or 100% chocolate, with such a high percentage of cocoa solids, really fit the bill? If what I'm saying is correct, then it even seems that chocolates would meet these guidelines. Any dark over about 60%, all whites, many milks since they are very high in total fat, and eved lower percentage darks with other forms of fat added (milk, nut, etc.). There would be a rare bar that wouldn't make it, maybe something like Hershey's, but it seems that many, at least of the higher quality of chocolates, i.e. Valrhona, Guittard, etc., would. Have I gone off the mark somewhere here in my thinking? Moving on: Thanks for the further info. on emulisfiers and the clarification that it is emulsifiers "total" that mush be kept below 1%. I purchased some liquid emulsifier today and will have some solid on Tuesday. I'm going to experiment a bit to see what effects I get, and I am going to write to the company to find out the HLB (Hydrophillic-lipophillic) value. Your clarification regarding the level of total fat reducing the need for lecithin is very helpful. Is there a site that you would recommend for different grades of liquid lecithin? Finally, yes I am on John's Alchemy list. Thanks again. Sincerely, Alan

Dear Chefette, Yes I mean making chocolate as in buying beans, roasting them, winnowing them, reducing them to cocoa liquor, adding cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla, and lecithin, refining the mixture further, conching it, and tempering it. There are a number of sources for beans online, and in my sig, you'll find a site devoted to making chocolate at home. I am not selling chocolate, but only making it for me. I am interested in couverture to make my own chocolates from start to finish. Why? Because I like to do things myself. Why do I like to do things myself? I don't know, but I imagine a lot of people here are like that. Sincerely, Alan

Dear all, I am in the process of working on a recipe for couverture so that I can make my own dipped chocolates from my own chocolate. I am running into conflicting statements though. 1) I have read that couverture must have at least 31% cocoa butter. I have also read that it must have at least 32% cocoa butter. Is there a law related to either of these statements, and which is the accurate one? 2) When looking at cocoa butter content I assume that this means 31/32% of the couverture must be "added cocoa butter." Is this correct? The reason I mention this is that cocoa beans have plenty of cocoa butter, about 55% of the total mass, by themselves. Therefore, it would technically be possible for anything from 100% down to about 65% chocolate, with no added cocoa butter, to qualify as couverture if we look at things like this. I don't think this is correct however. This is why I am looking for specification as to whether it must be 31/32% "added" cocoa butter. 3) Regarding lecithin, do couverture chocolates generally have more lecithin (by percentage of the total weight) to reduce viscosity, or do they generally have a bit less (by percentage compared to the total weight) due to the fact that extra added cocoa butter (I'm making an assumption about the answer of the last question) already reduces the viscosity of the couverture? What is the average percentage of the total weight of lecithin in most couvertures? As I understand it, there can be no more than 1% lecithin of the weight of the final product by law (US) or one can no longer call it chocolate. Would couverture be closer to the 1% end of the scale, or would there generally be significantly less? I realize that different makers will have different ways of doing things, but I am looking for rules of thumb here based on what is generally considered to be correct. Thank you for any help that you can provide, I haven't been able to find these answers clearly stated elsewhere. Sincerely, Alan EDITED to correct an incorrect number (I said .5% for the legal limit of lecithin, and it should be 1%)

I second the usage of a Champion for anything with small seeds. It also works well on Pomegranates, and to make things even more enticing, can be used for nut butters, and to make chocolate liquor from roasted cocoa beans. Step #2 for making chocolate. Sincerely, Alan

Dear Scott 123, I know that this thread is long retired, but I am interested to know, after reading the whole thread, how did your oven turn out? Are you happy with your pizzas? Do you have photos of the setup and the pizzas? Sincerely, Alan

Dear all, I have no problem bashing the garlic and then using a chef's knife to mince the garlic, but I want a garlic press specifically because of the difference in the outcome of the garlic preparation between pressing and mincing. When pressing the garlic, far more of its essential oils are released, so one gets a stronger garlic flavor in a dish with fewer cloves of garlic. Otherwise, the garlic keeps much of its flavor to itself, and the broth, sauce, or what-have-you, is not as garlicky in general. So, to me, the press is a way to really speed up preparation time, while at the same time reducing waste. This is useful, in my opinion, when making certain "Mediterranean/Middle-eastern" dishes that can use 10-20 cloves depending upon the taste of the person making it. After having read quite a bit about the Zyliss mentioned above, I am sold on it. They even have a "Jumbo" model that can press three cloves at the same time. It also has a five year warranty that covers the least little problem. It is very nice to say the least. However, I am also sold on a microplane because I would be able to use it with ginger, lemon rind, and I assume with nutmeg, cinnamon, and parmesan as well. Is this your experience Fifi? What else have you used it for? Does it work for chocolate? Thank you to everyone for all of your help. I'll keep reading some more responses before actually purchasing anything, so please keep 'em coming. Sincerely, Alan

Dear all, I know that it may sound like such a simple thing that any press would work, but it hasn't been my experience that this is the case (kind of like vegetable peelers). I find that many garlic presses don't contain the clove in the "pressing compartment" very well and up to half of the garlic can squish out the top without being sufficiently reduced to small bits. I am wondering if there are higher quality presses that might do quite well at capturing the vast majority of the garlic and thereby do well at reducing mess and waste? Does anyone have any suggestions? I hate to spend the money on another faulty design. Sincerely, Alan

Hello all, A few days ago I made some baklava (baklawa). I used a syrup of sugar, water, and rose blossom water, and then added just a bit of honey. It was filled with a full pound of freshly ground walnuts (my favorite nut), and each layer of phyllo (filo) dough was hand brushed with italian butter made from the milk of the same cows used for the best parmigiano (think Jeffrey Steingarten's Parmigiano article in one of his books). I have to say that it was the best baklava that I have ever had, and I was surprised that it actually tastes better when served at room temperature after having rested for some hours. It is not one of those desserts that is great hot. By the way, has anyone experimented with chocolate and baklava. I have been thinking about it a bit and have concluded that, like most things with chocolate, it might be a promising endeavor. Sincerely, Alan