pastrygirl

The drop from 35 to 30 is where the magic happens, but remember, tempering is not only about temperature, it's about crystallization. Just because it's at 30C doesn't mean stable crystals have formed, you may need to stir/agitate it more and/or drop the temp another degree. Taking the pan of chocolate out of the melter can help it cool more quickly.

Welcome to eGullet. I have more questions than answers 🙃 Is your seasoning sugar-based and it needs the extra heat to melt it? Can you add it to stove-top popcorn in the cooking pot? Will it work on microwave popcorn? I'd be more interested in a savory seasoning than a sweet one. I think the extra step could be a barrier for some people, and focusing only on air-popped popcorn is really limiting. Think of what else would this seasoning be good on - toast, pasta, fruit, vegetables, steak? What happens if you put it on something wet? Also, microwaves and bowls of popcorn vary. 1 minute for a small batch might get burned - how can you fool-proof it? i.e. microwave in 30 second increments, stirring each time until X happens. In terms of trying to sell a product, something you put only on air-popped popcorn once a month is a tiny niche. You want people to put it on more stuff, use it faster, and buy more!

chef rubber has a glucose powder, you could inquire about DE https://shop.chefrubber.com/item/501214S/Glucose-Powder/

That stinks. But you've used the tape successfully before? Masking tape can be hard to get off of things after several days, maybe sitting overnight was the problem and the adhesive cured or hardened.

It's ok, at least it's fresh ... and my EZ Temper will never be empty again!

My supplier decided that cocoa butter is now special order so I had to buy a case. And now I have an excessive amount of cocoa butter, anyone need any? Cacao Barry cocoa butter pistoles with a best by date of April 2021 $66 for the 3 kg tub or $22 per kg plus shipping.

Buy the yakisoba for the flavor packets and save the noodles for household repairs

I do as @curls does. Heck, even if I'm just pausing and doing something else for an hour I turn the melter up a few degrees to prevent excessive crystallization. You can't expect to temper once a week or even once a day and just keep the chocolate warm & ready, it takes constant maintenance.

I think of syrup as sticky and sugar based, do you really just need chili oil?

Sounds like the same concept of freeze dried fruit blended into cocoa butter, but this must be more liquid if they're recommending it for decoration rather than molding.

Assuming the firmer brick type, it's pretty melty so how about a fondue or rarebit? Bump up the seasonings since mozz is milder than gruyere or cheddar and/or add a small amount of something extra strong like Parmesan or blue. Cold smoke some for variety if you're crafty that way. Dog treats?

I think finding the antique machines might be the hardest part. This guy has several and makes nice videos. I suppose the key is cooling the candy just the right amount.

I don't know. It would have to be pretty intense to get flavor from a thin layer of decoration. On one hand, freeze dried fruit can pack a punch, on the other, they can't be adding so much that the product is too thick. They're selling it as cocoa butter, not couverture so I'd expect it to be very fluid. The PCB Creations site also shows it mixed with I'm guessing white chocolate in various dosages. Here is their brochure https://www.calameo.com/books/005802807fd1cdaab6c9b

Yes, they contain freeze dried fruit powder, some have sugar and milk. Ingredients are listed on AUI's site, here's the strawberry I'm not sure about the pectin claim either, I thought you needed water for pectin to have effect. But why not add flavor? Why settle for just pretty when you can have pretty and delicious?

This looks interesting - I know some of us have lamented the lack of flavor or off flavors of additives to colored cocoa butter - anyone seen or tried these? Looks like they can be used either to mix into chocolate as a fat-based flavor or to decorate molds as usual with colored CB ... More expensive than Valrhona Inspiration or regular colored CB, I wonder how they compare in flavor intensity, the Valrhonas I've tried were fairly intense. I also wonder what flavors brown, black, and amber are ... https://www.pcb-creation.com/pure-emotion-colour-by-pcb-creation/?lang=en Edited to add: the black/ brown flavors are chocolate, of course! 🙃

I've never had a slow cooker or a rice cooker, instead make do with a pot on the stove but agree that a lack of repair or replacement parts is frustrating and wasteful. Instead of throwing small appliances in the landfill, are there any electronics recyclers in your area? Or even Salvation Army/Goodwill, I believe they sort through donations and recycle materials. A church down the street from me hosts these folks with a couple of large trucks a few times a year - https://www.1greenplanet.com/recycle.html - I still don't know what to do with my dead chest freezer but I was able to drop off my leaky old espresso maker that I'd had since college.

Ice cream?

Aha! Thank you.

Here’s an easy one, I hope ... which manufacturer is it that has the little whale symbol? Pavoni, martellato, or another Italian company?

Thanks @teonzo I guess I wasn’t very thorough looking through Valrhona’s info. I had attended a Felchlin demo with Susan Notter last week and asked her; she just emailed me their statement on being non-gmo so this is looking good!

There are two local grocery stores here who I'd like to try to sell chocolate to but they have policies forbidding GMO soy, Soy lecithin is allowed only if organic or certified non-GMO. I use a lot of Felchlin, some Valrhona, a little Cacao Barry. The only mention of GMOs I've found from Felchlin is this note in a brochure: GMO absence: Felchlin fulfills current legislative requirements regarding GMO absence. All Felchlin products comply with the Swiss Regulation and the European Council Regulation related to genetically modified organisms in food and feed. Does anybody know what those requirements are? Is anything European going to be GMO-free? Or labeled above some %?

Keeping it simple & bringing over take-out fried chicken.

Indeed! It just fits inside a 24 qt pot I already had so I’m thinking 20 qt. Can make lots of either caramel sauce or ice cream!

Went back for more ... 3 display stands for $1 each snd a 10” stainless skillet that just needed a scrub for $3

My neighborhood has an annual garage sale weekend with hundreds of sales. You can have one of your own any time, but this one is mapped and draws people from all over. https://westseattleblog.com/wsgaragesaledaymap I strolled around the neighborhood for a while and this is what I came home with: A colander for 25 cents and a bag of cookie cutters for $1 and a 12" diameter heavy bottom stainless stockpot for $10