Kerry Beal

LOL - that's hubbies area of expertise and he's he's a little behind on his other projects. I have asked him to do it before!

Picked up a Hotmix Pro Gastro at auction the other day. @Alleguede picked it up after the auction and dropped it on my doorstep - I quickly texted him and got him to take it back to the shop. It's 220 volts and I am not wired for that in my chocolate room and I'm not prepared to use it in hubbies workshop. Need to find a couple of parts for it - the whisk and perhaps the cup that goes in the top (not that I use that in my thermomix. The shipping from Florida for the parts is about twice the cost of the part so I'm hoping that somewhere in Canada sells them.

I feel your pain!

Costco.ca has it for $229 CDN

You aren't a true eG obsessive if you don't try!

What's that thread eG has on degrees of separation - Steve Smith (Red Green) had a big old houseboat he kept at the same place we docked our ketch. He used it to get away from home so he could write uninterrupted - nice guy. I think it's great that you can do your own contracting - "if you want it done right.." I'm sure if you can't find the molding you can set up a router to shape your own. If your hubby is too handsome - perhaps you can do it yourself!

Yup - essentially cream and chocolate - of course it doesn't account for amounts.

Of course I make lots of fillings that have an Aw in the 8's and they still seem to have a wonderfully long shelf life in spite of what the numbers would say. And other's as @pastrygirl says that have a nice low number but sugar bloom or fat bloom make them look like crap in a short time while they are still safe to eat. Here's what I assembled and used in a talk I gave at Tomric years ago. It's not how long things will last - more what things are likely to affect your product. < 0.61 - safe from osmotic yeasts < 0.65 - safe from xerophilic fungi (fungi that grow in low water conditions) < 0.80 - safe from regular fungi < 0.85 - safe from Staphlococci < 0.88 - safe from regular yeasts < 0.94 - safe from non pathogenic bacteria < 0.95 - safe from pathogenic bacteria Then I assembled kind of a general guestimate of shelf life > 0.85 - up to 3 weeks 0.7 - 0.85 - up to 3 months 0.65 - 0.7 - 6 to 9 months < 0.60 - microbiologically stable And here were some examples of various products I put together at the time chocolate and gianduja - aW < 0.3 caramel # - aW < 0.48 marzipan# - aW 0.65 - 0.70 fondant# - aW 0.75 - 0.84 buttercreams# - aW 0.81 - 0.87 ganache no additives - aW 0.9 - 0.95

It's also useful to do a standing study on your pieces - store in different conditions and cut into a piece each week until you determine when they are gone. Not all shelf life is Aw related - sometimes the flavor goes off, sometimes they saponify - still safe to eat but taste like crap. An Aw of 0.75 is theoretically ideal - doesn't take on or lose water to the environment.

You can pick the amount of time?

How long does each reading take?

Interesting - we are kinda all over the place. I'd better retest my 2:1

Also sponge toffee is a great insulator and if you don’t pop it in the fridge for a few minutes after dipping to carry off the latent heat of crystallization the chocolate will throw itself out of temper. Another really good insulator is Rice Krispie squares!

I do my best work with a coarse serrated steak knife. I've got all sorts of lames that I bought and don't find they work as well for me.

I considered testing Miracle Whip - but thought that might cause even more of a divide.

Eggbites! Those suckers freeze well.

I just had a good old read through the earlier thread - I was a bit more loquacious the last time around wasn't I! But quiche was still in there.

Quiche?

I keep mine in the fridge as well - it had warmed to room temperature by the time I tested it

My bottle has been open for a while and it was ‘well aged’ before I opened it - so perhaps not the best example. But I’d be willing to bet that European Heintz is lower in sugars

I’m surprised - when I did similar comparisons with ganaches in the past the numbers were pretty similar

So here's what I got - I didn't calibrate today - I had done so not that long ago. Half as much water as chocolate - Aw 0.88 - Pro-Choc's estimate 0.96 one quarter as much water as chocolate - Aw 0.78 - Pro-Choc's estimate 0.87 Heintz Ketchup - 0.83 Invert (trimoline) - 0.68

here’s the one he’s picking up

Funny I was thinking exactly the same thing - shall send hubby out to get a Lindt 70% Excellence when he gets a chance.

yup - but it is interfering with work! not accustomed to working from home