pastrygirl

I've always assumed that the fruit gets leathery and weird and the chocolatiers are ok with that. You'd have to fully enrobe the pieces in chocolate to keep them crispy.

Use an ice pick or chisel to make smaller chunks, then suck on them. Pretend it's Bhutanese dried yak cheese, if you like.

I wonder if the rapeseed oil is to blame. I believe both Chef Rubber and Roxy & Rich colors are cocoa butter only, no other oils. Is the CW color solid at room temp like cocoa butter should be?

Here is what I have, not sure how it was chosen.

I'll try to remember to look at my grease trap tomorrow and see if there are details. Probably one of those things where its better to err on the side of larger? I don't currently have a dishwasher, I have a ginormous 3 compartment sink that is awesome because a full sheet pan will fit flat in each basin. Takes more space but much lower cost. Things to consider in dishwashers - does it sanitize by heat or chemicals and what will that do to your molds? Will it fit all your equipment - sheet pans, hotel pans, melanger drums, etc? Do they require a service contract and/or charge per cycle? Restaurants I've worked in have used Auto-Chor, it's nice to have that regular service and one less thing to worry about but may be costly. But how much volume are you washing? You don't need to keep up with dinner service.just clean after a production run. A high temp dishwasher is going to be hot and steamy and should be in a well ventilated area away from chocolate. A low temp one might use chemicals that degrade your molds.

just a 12 quart cuisinart stock pot. I also have a 16 quart that I use on my stock burner, the larger ring of flames helps sugar cook evenly.

That's tiny. Since caramel needs so much room to expand and foam as it cooks, that seems impractical for all but the smallest batch. I recommend a stainless steel stock pot with a heavy bottom, this 12 quart will hold at least 2 kg of caramel. https://www.wayfair.com/kitchen-tabletop/pdp/cuisinart-stock-pot-with-lid-cui2499.html?piid=13675208

Apparently that's the 'bone notch' https://images.app.goo.gl/rsXeewVHahifb6eN9

No, might be radiant such as this https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-30-in-Radiant-Electric-Cooktop-in-Black-with-4-Elements-including-2-Power-Boil-Elements-JP3030DJBB/205951510 Radiant should work with any material pots and pans and heat without anything being on the burner. Induction will only work with conductive metal pans and the burner itself won't heat without a pan on it.

Do you have the Harvest Right? How long does it take and how could the results be better? I'm slightly interested in one for freeze drying fruits to be blended into chocolate. It would be cool to be able to use local fruit. If you're serious about selling it, what part of the world are you in?

Meh. It's easy to say what other people should or shouldn't have done.

There's a local fish wholesaler who has opened to the public. My production kitchen is in kind of a food desert so I've been debating getting some bulk things to re-pack and sell to the neighborhood but it's hard to get motivated when there is little foot traffic and probably not a lot of money to be made on dry beans/rice/pasta.

Nope

What is so special about it?

chef's choice! no no, not if it came out cleanly If chocolate or color has stuck to the mold, it may be easier at some point to just wash it. You don't want residual fat, you want a clean mold. Polishing with cotton will remove any fat, but if your chocolate came out cleanly there should not be much or any residual fat to begin with.

my 2 cents is: Try a little more egg, more chocolate if you can stand it, and bake them hotter for shorter, like 325-350F, check after 20-30 minutes depending on size of batch.

If you want the personal challenge of having your own place and the satisfaction of creating your vision, then you may very well succeed. Financially, that's harder ... https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-chef-host-tom-colicchio-warns-coronavirus-could-kill-75-percent-of-restaurants?ref=scroll

Quite a while. My bottle is at least 5 or 6 years old.

Then carry on. At least now the labor pool is much larger. But seriously, I would expect consumer spending to be down. Unemployment has skyrocketed, a lot of people don't know where their next dollar is coming from. People still want affordable comfort food, but can you do that at a high enough margin? What is the clientele, does business rely on tourism? On one hand, I worry my summer retail sales will be down due to the cruise ships not coming, on the other, maybe people will take road trips and do more regional travel. (Not sure what the cruise ship equivalent is in VT, leaf-peeper season?)

a few to consider https://dicktaylorchocolate.com/ https://www.somachocolate.com/ https://www.mapchocolate.com/

Was it ever a good idea?

Antique malls will have a better selection - stuff that people bought at garage & estate sales knowing they can re-sell it vs. the crap from the back of the cupboard that gets donated to Goodwill.

I think whether your dough sticks or slips has more to do with the dough than the board.

Really great work! I am happy with Easter sales, too. LOTS of gifts. I sold all my bonbons and caramel eggs, lots of bunnies.

Quite pleased with these - shells are a blend of valrhona strawberry & zephyr, sprayed red & purple. Filled w/ white chocolate passion fruit ganache.