cmflick

Thanks. That's quite a machine.

Do you have a link to the videos with Wybauw demonstrating the thermonix? I haven't found it.

I agree. Probably too acid for the cream. I make jamaica sorbet and it is very excellent.

I warm it up slightly in the microwave and then use 2 spoons like John. I keep it stored at 60-65F, and I'm sure that I'm not warming it beyond about 80F. It's always messy, though. I was under the impression that atomized glucose and dextrose are two different things and can't be substituted for glucose syrup, but I could be wrong. I seem to recall reading about this very topic somewhere in an EG Forum, but I can't find it.

I think that this is the book being discussed: Chocolate Designs

Here is a link to one on e-bay. It's the one for honey that you want. ← When you get a refractometer, I would also get the reference block and oil. The one that I bought on ebay was way out of calibration when I received it. With the reference block and oil you can easily recalibrate it.

I routinely use the Boiron "apple juice" recipes with the pectin increased to between 1 and 1.1%. The consistency is excellent. I also broke down and bought a refractometer. With the refractometer, I discovered that I was cooking to only about 106C, i.e., my thermometer was off by a degree C. I think that it's important to make sure that you get to 75 brix, whether by temperature or refractometer. With increased pectin and using a refractometer, the Boiron "apple juice" recipes consistently come out well. I'm also using slow-set pectin. After trying this, I would never go back to regular apple pectin for making PdF. The slow-set pectin gives plenty of time to pour a slab or use a mold. I couldn't use my mold before I started using slow-set pectin. The PdF just started to set too fast.

Boiron has recipes on their web site for using kalamansi to make mousse, sorbet, a filling for chocolates, pate de fruits, ice cream and probably other things that I have forgotten. I just learned recently that kalamansi and calamondin oranges are the same thing. I have had a calamondin orange tree as a house plant for years and get dozens and dozens of oranges every year. Unfortunately, all of the oranges went into the trash in the past. I thought that they were just ornamental! I haven't tried out any of the Boiron recipes yet, but I will.

I make sure that the chocolate that I use for the foot is not tempered. That way it's not so brittle. I also apply as thin a layer of chocolate for the foot as I can. I warm my knife in hot water, then wipe it clean and dry with a paper towel before every cut. My ganache is always at room temperature. I usually have very little problems with breakage while cutting.

Are calamansi the same as calamondin oranges? If they are, could you post your calamansi mousse recipe. I have a calamondin orange tree that makes lots and lots of oranges and I've never known what to do with them.

You can grind regular granulated sugar in a food processor and get something similar to caster sugar. I'm with John and Kerry, though. It's probably not worth the effort, since the sugar will dissolve when you're cooking anyway. I use regular granulated sugar.

I made the invert sugar recipe tonight - it turned brown and bubbled when I added the baking soda solution. Is it supposed to turn color? For the citric acid I'm using "Fruit Fresh" - a fruit preservative. Is this OK? I've never heard of "sour salt". ← I may be mistaken but I think Fruit Fresh is ascorbic acid. If you look in the kosher section of the grocery store you should find sour salt. The invert sugar usually ends up a golden colour. ← I made the PDF with the Banyuls, substituting citric acid and water for tartaric acid solution. The taste is great! "...Mix the 75 grams sugar with pectin. Cook together pear puree for 2 minutes. Add the remaining sugar and glucose and cook to 112ºC. Add 250 grams wine and take to 107º C. Add tartaric solution and 10 grams wine. Pour into a 12 X 12 inch frame." Once I added the banyuls to the mixture I had a hard time getting the mixture to combine - it appeared to gel into some lumps. I whisked it unitl it reached 107C, then added the citric acid solution and wine. At this point, it became much more lumpy and I couldn't whisk the lumps out. I used a stick blender and got rid of some lumps, then strained the pdf into my frame. What caused the lumps to form? I was stirring the mixture continuously. Thanks for the help. ← It sounds to me like your PdF was setting before you got it out of the pot. As soon as you add the acid things can move pretty quickly. I used to have a lot of problems with this. Now I've switched to slow-set pectin which sets at a much lower temperature and haven't had any problems with lumpy PdF since I made the change.

I've made those chocolates using pastis and they are one of my favorites. I must admit that the lime gets kind of lost, though. The pastis flavor overwhelms just about everything.

Wow, as always. Somehow, the things that I make never look quite that nice.

I do warm the cream. I pour into a 9 by 9 silicone pan these days. ← Thanks, Kerry. I'm going to try this out this week.

Do you happen to recall what size slab this made? Also did you warm the cream before adding to the caramel base?

Now I know what you are talking about! I usually use the baffle on my Chocovision which I guess serves about the same purpose.

Maybe you could explain how Chris Hennes wipes the bottoms of his bonbons (as weird as it sounds). I'm intrigued.

Those bowls are beautiful!

I've had a Rev2 for about 4 years now. I had problems with the first Rev2 that I got (motor burned out within the first week), but I received a replacement unit from Chocovision the next day. Chocovision's service people were very responsive to me and immediately replaced the defective unit at no cost to me. This one has been going strong for years now with absolutely no problems. My only issue is capacity since the Rev2 can only temper up to 1.5 pounds of chocolate. I knew that when I bought it though, but just couldn't afford a bigger unit. Capacity is less of an issue (but still an issue) now that I learned that you can just add melted untempered chocolate to the the tempered chocolate in the machine and still maintain the temper. I'm not using the unit in a commercial setting, but I do use it at least two or three times a week for 5-6 hours each time. The unit does a good job tempering and is convenient.

I scrape them one way - then turn them over on the other side. It balances out - they are never thicker on one side. ← I tried letting the shells crystallize while standing the mold on one side today and it worked quite well. If nothing else it's a space saver while the shells are crystallizing. I also think that the shells started pulling away from the mold a little sooner when the molds were standing on edge versus inverted on parchment. I didn't notice any difference in sealing when compared to some that I made by letting the shells crystallize inverted on parchment. I haven't had a problem with the "inverted-on-parchment" collar showing through, though. Thanks for the tip on crystallizing shells while standing the mold on a side, Kerry. I hadn't heard of this before.

I found the same instructions on the Chocovision web site as well. I tried it out today and it worked perfectly. What a time saver! I just melted more chocolate in the microwave, then added it to my chocovision and avoided going through a whole new tempering cycle. Thanks for the tip, Ilana.

Cool. Thanks for the info. I'll definitely give it a try. It would speed things up considerably not having to go through a full tempering cycle over and over.

When you add untempered melted chocolate to your chocovision machine, do you have to wait some time for it to temper or can you use the chocolate in the chocovision right away? I've been going through repeat tempering cycles in my chocovision whenever it gets low. Just adding melted untempered chocolate without going through a whole new tempering cycle would save a lot of time.

These days I put mine all on their sides, being careful the scrape the ones that aren't going to be filled in the molds (ie cups) much more thoroughly than the ones that are. ← I hadn't noticed putting the molds on the sides when I first looked at the pictures. Doesn't the chocolate settle to one side in the mold while it is crystallizing giving you a shell that is thicker on one side than the other? I usually invert mine onto parchment paper to crystallize, but I'll have to give this a try. ← I saw Bernard Callebaut do a demo on TV recently and he inverted his molds but did not put them directly on the parchment rather he elevated each end over whatever was handy! But I imagine you could use caramel rulers for this purpose. ← I used to elevate the molds inverted on a rack until I watched one of the Cacao Barry online course videos where they suggested inverting onto parchment. Their rationale was that this caused a collar to be formed around the shell and you got a better seal. I used to have problems with sealing until I started inverting directly onto parchment.