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Alchemist John

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Everything posted by Alchemist John

  1. A quick search for smoked chocolates indicates a few avant garde chefs smoking finished bars of chocolate but none that I am aware of trying to use smoke in the roasting process. In my mind, smoke and chocolate would seem like a fantastic combination and I was wondering if you were willing to do a bit of experimentation in trying to create a smoked chocolate bar. ← Beans from Papua New Guinea are often dried in wood fired kilns. Oddly enough, a lot of reviews seem to find smoke in chocolate as a fault, but like some have said here, I think it would be a great addition. Especially with a nice peated single malt Not trying to push my stuff, but do keep an eye out at Chocolate Alchemy. I just finished evaluating a PNG Trinatario which was quite smoky. If the distributor has it still, I think I will take a gamble and offer. I want to complete the evaluation of the chocolate it makes before I make a final decision. It is going to be my next test batch of chocolate after the current goat's milk chocolate. If anyone is interested in tasting either of those I would be happy to send out a sample for tasting when they are done. Just drop me a line.
  2. Hello all, I wanted to hop in a introduce myself. I am the Mr. Nanci of Chocolate Alchemy that Alan keeps refering too. I hardly ever go by that, usually it is just John or Alchemist John. First off, Alan, thank you so much for this. I was thinking of doing a demo, but I hardly have anything to add. You have done a great job. Just a few quick notes. Tomric is great. There are where I get most of my molds and were I had my own Logo mold made. The set up fee is around $100 and the molds are around $10 each then. Roasting is not as bad as a lot of people seem to think it is. It is considered a relatively delicate process mainly because of the low temperatures, not really the difficulty. The nibs can burn pretty quick if your oven is hot (over 350 F), but at 250-300, your window is pretty wide. They will not just burn. I actually like to roast the beans whole. The larger size gives you even more of a window due to the thermal gradient that will go on inside the bean. It is mainly how you approach it. Alan is doing a great job answering questions, but if I can answer anything, clear anything up or answer any particular "whys", please ask. I pretty much "discovered" how to make chocolate at home, with nearly every professional I spoke with saying it can't be done. I have really tried to make it approachable. My main goal is to get the information out there and show people that making chocolate at home is VERY doable, and not really that hard. Alchemist John aka Mr. Nanci :-) www.chocolatealchemy.com
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