pastrygirl

I don't know, but I've been tasked with bringing a gluten, dairy, and egg free dessert. Maybe a vegan chocolate mousse or water ganache type thing, or marzipan eggs & bunnies. The other dessert will be lemon pot de creme, which I'm not making, and I believe lamb for dinner.

Ahh, shelf life, the chocolatier's other nemesis besides packaging! I agree, farmers markets can be unpredictable. They weren't really worth it for me the last couple of summers - if it's cool enough for chocolate, attendance is lower, and if the sun is out at all, everyone is eating ice cream and their car will be hot. You can mess around with dry ice or ice packs but to me it's not worth the struggle, I'm better off doing wedding catering on summer weekends. But back to shelf life. I have a couple of wholesale accounts and a couple of consignment accounts. The little independent stores and boutiques are going to be more likely to trust your judgement but they also don't always have refrigeration. So I stick to bars and caramels for wholesale and save the more perishable stuff for events. Some stores will have their own requirements; I've heard Whole Foods asks for a 6 month shelf life. You have to figure that the product might sit on the shelf for a month, then some people actually have self control and hide their candy and don't eat it for another month or two ... So I'm going with better safe than sorry. I recently got a quote for an aW meter because it would be super useful and I'd love to have that extra confidence but I opted for other tools and toys instead. People do get excited by bonbons but they're not my top priority. Yes, I sometimes have returns from consignment stores, if I have a lot I might donate it if it's still good, otherwise I give them to friends & family or occasionally throw things away. My brothers are totally willing to eat a chocolate Santa Claus in February And I figure since other stores want net 30 terms, I get paid just as fast with consignment.

When in Canada, do as the Canadians do, be very polite and say “sorry” a lot

Fiddling with paper candy cups is tedious, but they probably do offer more protection to the candy. Especially if the pieces are packed snugly into the box so they don’t move around and get scuffed in transit, vs a tray that’s not an exact fit. Packaging takes time, no matter what!

I’d be interested to know how Dulcey and zephyr caramel compare side by side. I haven’t tried the zephyr caramel yet. I did try some Felchlin Bionda blond but found it much sweeter than Dulcey

Yes, that sums it up nicely

No. Sigh. If only .... Are you using molds too? For bonbons, I started out using shallow boxes and some really small molds - the low profile or artisan depth from Glerup-Revere. http://glerup.com/clear-gold-shallow-sm-gold-bottom-6-1-16-x-1-1-4-x-3-4.html Now I'm using more domed molds (the CW 2295 that is popular) and these: https://www.papermart.com/set-up-view-top-gold-candy-p-e-t-box-with-inserts/id=38551 But they still need extra padding to keep things in place, and the cavities are too small for some heart and elongated molds I have. I don't think I've tried dipped pieces in these. Are you launching a full-time commercial venture or more hobbyist quantities? Custom is expensive, and you may change your mind, so I'd definitely get some samples and see if something off-the-rack will work before going custom. Do you want to sell chocolate or do you want to sell packaging? Yes, the packaging has to fit and look great but ...

Anytime I would encourage you to consider packaging, I think many of us find it frustrating trying to find the best combo of height, width, price, material, etc. if you’re doing a lot of fork dipping, the 25mm might be easier than the 22.5, they’re a liiiittle small. I got my guitar 7 or 8 years ago, I don’t recall if the 5 mm base was an option or if I chose the 7.5 for a reason. I will say it was a good investment, at least for me. I’ve cut tens of thousands of truffles, mostly with ease!

I think it's only to keep it "one bowl" One bowl and two bags, that is.

How about blowing bubbles with an airbrush, with the tip just under the surface of tempered but liquid chocolate?

it looks like the only real difference is the medium frame, 25 vs 22.5 mm. They both have the 15 and 30 mm, and some larger sizes. What are you making? Do you already have packaging that it needs to fit? I have the 7.5 mm base with 15, 22.5, 30, and 37.5mm frames. I've been cutting truffles 22.5 mm square by 15 mm deep and they fit perfectly into a 2" cube box. But the boxes aren't airtight, so I'm thinking of switching to a flat-bottom bag and cutting them a little smaller, 15 x 22.5. 25 mm squares wouldn't fit in that particular box, but I'm sure there are options. I cut caramels 15 x 37.5, which happens to make an even number from a 9" square pan with only tiny scraps. I also use the wider spaced wires for cutting catering minis like flourless brownies and lemon bars (the crust is pretty soft, it cuts fine). I don't know if 2.5 mm here or there makes that much difference unless one set perfectly fits something you already have.

So the issue is you need to create seed. How about melt, put in fridge til it starts to set around the edges, stir. Do you have any white chocolate that is in reliable temper that you could use for seed?

You obviously need an EZ temper.

I was at Trader Joe's and picked up a bar of Valrhona 85% 'Le Noir Extra Amer' Do y'all think it's the same as the 85% Abinao or would they have multiple different 85% formulations?

Is this mold meant to be used that way? I think you'd have better luck capping both halves then sticking the bottoms together.

more eggs the kale egg again, decorated like I do and filled with kale-covered almonds ... and some chocolate ones, I'm not a total freak! (chicken eggs for scale) Mini truffles inside. bunnies, these are solid Valrhona Bahibe milk chocolate hopefully not all of them have a big ol' thumbprint to the face

I agree that Opalys is probably the best in terms of least sweet, but I’ve switched to Zephyr because of price. I don’t do much shell molding in white, so haven’t encountered the issues Jim has. I use the Zephyr with other flavors - passion fruit, coconut, raspberry - and it doesn’t interfere.

Enough cocoa butter and anything will shine! I might see if they sell online, will def give a few to family & friends.

Bound by cocoa butter and molded in chocolate molds, so confections of a sort ... kale, cashew & cocoa butter egg I've already made pecans enrobed in bacon and finished with pork floss, I could have green eggs with ham Chees-ter bunnies Cheddar cheese powder, cashews, cocoa butter, a little nonfat dry milk & smoked paprika. It’s pretty salty from the cheese powder, I wish I hadn’t dumped the whole bag in. I might try using it to coat unsalted almonds or mix it with something else bland - bread crumbs or whey powder or something.

I have the DR one, the binder clips work fine. I’ve only tried panning a handful of times, turns out that watching the pan spin makes me feel seasick. Yeah, I know ... ridiculous Anyway, I’d be happy to consider offers if anyone would like a slightly used coating pan. PM me.

I know, most people who claim to like dark chocolate are perfectly happy with 60%. But I have one friend who keeps bugging me about something super dark that fits his Keto diet (though he might get the cheese Easter egg instead). Have you had the 88% recently enough that you can recall any tasting notes? Spicy, raisiny, citrusy, etc? What other flavors would you pair it with?

Speaking of crazy schemes, how about an oiled Parisienne scoop? Aka melon melon baller, the tinier the better Could maybe work if the caramel is the right texture ...

What are the best, darkest chocolates you've found in wholesale quantities? Aside from 100%, that is ... I'm thinking in the 75-90% range, available in quantities of 5-20 kg. It's definitely niche, but between the chocolate nerds and the low-carb-ers there's a market. Right now, 72% Felchlin Arriba is the darkest I use, in a bar with candied orange. I have not tried their Elvesia 74% or Sao Palme 75% but it looks like I can get them from AUI. A Felchlin 88% exists, but would be a special order arriving in a few months (their next container shipment?). Valrhona makes the Abinao 85% but that would be another special order. I'm pretty sure I tried it at one point and liked it. Does anyone keep it in stock? How is KaKao Berlin? They have a Brandenberg 75% but I'm not familiar with the brand. Any others? Or I could make my own and have the super dark be my one bean-to bar flavor ... thanks!

How do you keep them from sticking together while tumbling? Aside from stickiness, I wonder if just tumbling them for a while would round off all the corners.

For gluten free brownies, I just make flourless chocolate cake.