pastrygirl

Is it a book about butter? 😀

I’m happy with the shine on these. Shells are a blend of opalys and yuzu, filled with lemon yuzu ganache, sprayed in translucent yellow.

That IS down. Normally I spray around 60 psi.

35-40 i have video proof, will post to insta

I’m not even sure what this means. Just compressor, hose, airbrush.

Jim is stymied too. I did several short puffs per cavity. The silver is a little more viscous and was also closer to the mold while the fine blue was sprayed from maybe 6 inches.

Roxy & Rich colors & sometimes I get lucky ... not sure what else I can say 😊

For @Jim D. I got some good splatter with the Grex this week, 7mm nozzle around 35-40 psi. On the silver ones, I then turned up the pressure and filled in the points.

Felchlin Sao Palme 60% is my 'workhorse' dark chocolate. Solid flavor that doesn't veer too far in any one direction so goes with most things and only $15/kg list (currently on sale 10 or 15% off). Also nice fluidity. It's a 20 kg case though, you'd definitely want to track down a rep and some samples before committing to that. The pricier blends come in 6kg boxes, and AUI is even offering a few couvertures by the 2kg bag.

I do not use the plastic sleeves for bars, I wrap them in confectioners foil then they just happen to fit in a small, off-the-rack envelope. Could be simpler, but that's where I am 😆

Cacao Barry is reasonably priced, haven't looked at TCHO in a while. I'd say use what tastes good to you and figure out the pricing and marketing from there. As long as you're not melting down Askinosie bars or something $$$$$ There are sooo many variables and no one size fits all answer. Things to consider - where are you and what is your competition? If you are the first person in your area selling high-end chocolates, you may get some pushback on price, but if you're the fourth, then the first three have already done some of that consumer education on what good chocolate tastes like and what it costs. Location will also affect your labor cost. In west coast cities, labor cost has taken over food cost as the biggest expense. A sole proprietor can do it for love but when you have to pay someone $20/hr, the picture changes. If you want to ultimately get into stores, your wholesale price is usually half of retail - can you still make a profit at wholesale? If you just want a part time hobby selling directly then charge enough to make it worth your while but you don't have to worry about wholesale margins. Packaging costs can add up and remember packaging takes time too. I spent much of my day "off" yesterday stuffing 5-600 chocolate bars into envelopes at my dining room table. Easy and mindless but still takes time. Inclusions can help or hinder your cost as well. If your chocolate is $8/lb, something cheap like rice krispies or pretzels will lower your per-bar cost while pistachios, macadamias, or dried sour cherries will raise it.

There are chocolatiers, who buy chocolate and make into other things and chocolate makers, who make chocolate from bean to bar. There's room for all of us. Nothing wrong with buying couvertures you like and adding flavors or inclusions. Go for a balance, where you're not 'killing' the flavor but complimenting it so people can taste the quality of your .base chocolate and also your creative additions. What chocolates are you using now?

Ah, I just figured between your remote location and the pandemic you might be shipping this winter. It's not that hard, at least not in cool weather Another bonus of the solid box is being able to include a flavor card or ingredients list without ruining the look. I use a clear top box and put the ingredients label on the bottom, but don't really want people turning boxes over and shaking pieces around. And less plastic, if you or your clientele have strong feelings about plastic. I may eventually move to the solid box for those reasons. I currently use these https://www.papermart.com/p/set-up-view-top-gold-candy-p-e-t-box-with-inserts/38551 I like the inserts that allow me to avoid cupping, but I wish they were 1/4" shallower, and I have plastic guilt.

@Tri2Cook I do like window boxes for display or in a retail setting. However if you are primarily shipping chocolates, the non-window might be better so you can protect the pieces with tissue, candy pads, bubble wrap, etc between the candy and the box.

yes, and yes if room temp is cool and dry - best around 65-68f with less than 50% humidity.

We have quality chocolates and we have lower priced chocolates but not much overlap between the categories

Was the chocolate mixture tempered and allowed to fully crystallize or did you remove the parchment immediately after pressing?

Back to the original question - I use mostly Felchlin and AUI does give a volume discount above $750 (but of course that doesn't apply to sale items). I don't know much about Valrhona's Cercle V but there appear to be perks associated with using a lot of their chocolate - trips, social media, hopefully discounts. I buy Valrhona and Cacao Barry through Peterson (wholesaler here and in NJ), Valrhona Dulcey is around $81/3kg, raspberry Inspiration was about $106, and CB Zephyr is around $88/5kg Caputo's has a good selection of Valrhona, might be worth a wholesale inquiry. https://caputos.com/

Made in January, best by November so they only give it 10 months which is on the short side anyway. I figure if I can sell it in holiday stuff it’ll be eaten by spring, or max 15-18 months from manufacture.

Valrhona US hq is in Brooklyn, I bought directly from them. I can ask my west coast rep for a contact in your area if you like. The Opalys is sell by next month but it’s sealed bags so I’m risking it.

The best news to come out of the pandemic is that chocolate is now on sale. If you have any contacts at Valrhona, ask them about overstock. They have a lot of whites plus some of the inspirations at deep discount due to being close to the sell by date. Shipping from Brooklyn would be much gentler on you east coasters. (I bought 6 assorted bags for approx $400 including $100 second day air shipping. But with cooler weather and shorter distance you could risk ground shipping) AUI also has some Felchlin on sale and I believe they’ve lowered their shipping minimum to $150. The container was already at sea when COVID started, then they lost all their summer hotel & cruise ship customers.

Following up, I had put in a query to Roxy & Rich, this is their response on creating your own jewel colors: I ordered their fat soluble colors and a couple of the sparkle dusts (not the pearl), and already have some Chef Rubber pearl powders, will play around.

Room temp of 23C/73F is on the warm side for chocolate, especially if humidity is high. I prefer 18-20C/64-68F, ideally with humidity below 50% so the chocolate can cool and crystallize rapidly. If you have a melter, you can leave your chocolate melted overnight at 40-50C/and re-temper it the next day, or you can let the excess solidify then re-melt and re-temper. You can't really hold melted but tempered chocolate for long amounts of time, once the crystallization has started the chocolate will continue to thicken and solidify.

@Muscadelle thank you! I don't use a lot of pink but will def get some black. Is the first photo CB with only sparkle powder and no additional color? Do you have the 'snow white' titanium dioxide or the plain white? https://www.chocolat-chocolat.com/home/c210060/c378157873/c378157875/index.html

I was going to stock up on colored cocoa butter for holiday bonbons then remembered I have way too much plain cocoa butter on hand and should use it up, so I think I'm going to make the leap to powder color. Between Power Flowers, Chef Rubber, and Roxy & Rich, Roxy & Rich are priced best and I've been happy with their already-mixed colors so will probably go with them. Couple questions for powder color users before I order: Do you find the primary colors (red, blue, yellow) sufficient for mixing all the other colors you might like, or should I go ahead and get purple and green for convenience? How much extra white is needed for opaque colors? And have we figured out how to make jewel colors - do the dry sparkly powders still sparkle and how large of an airbrush nozzle is needed to spray them? thanks!