sote23

I just got back from Hawaii and wanted to make some fruit puree on my own. has anyone made their own home made fruit puree? any tips or suggestions? Luis

vanessa, I think it goes well with citrus fruits. Luis

I have seen it at the grocery store , but I buy mine at my local health store ( like vitamine cottage , whole foods ) ← vanessa, do you use the butter or the oil or both? luis ← Is the same thing the coconut "fat" will be in liquid form over a certain temperature, since has a low melting point. Says around 77 and higher becomes liquid ,stays solid under 76 and lower. ← I understand. thanks for clearing that up.

I have seen it at the grocery store , but I buy mine at my local health store ( like vitamine cottage , whole foods ) ← vanessa, do you use the butter or the oil or both? luis

vanessa, very interesting. I've not heard of anyone using coconut butter or oil. so it doesn't effect the flavor too much? Where do you buy it? Luis

Hi Alana, There is leakage sometimes but usually, any leakage snaps off cleanly and the chocolates look pretty good. I thought it’d be a big problem with the Arabesque structure sheet, but actually I have more problems with the Braid (tresse) one. As with all molded chocolates, good temper is key. By the way, as in the demo with transfer sheets I am painting-in the chocolate for structure sheets so I minimize bubbles and get maximim detail from the pattern. In another thread, folks were talking about having problems with the transfer sheets not transferring. I was getting this problem on and off, too, and finally I decided to warm up my chocolate just a tiny bit more than I would consider “safe” i.e. still in temper - 34°C. Voila! Good solid transfers every time now. Hope this answers your question. (let me know, if not) ← thanks john, perfect answer! i was the one with the issues with the transfer sheets and ultimately, that was my conclusion as well. just work with the chocolate a bit warmer than usual. haven't had any problems since. i was afraid you'd say that about the arabesques...too much work. i guess i was hoping there was some magical trick that you'd figured out . but you can still use it for special occasions. i'm too impatient to even contemplate doing something like that! ← I agree it looks great.

yes, I was wondering the same thing about the colored cocoa butter as well as any leakage issues. Luis

any update on the gastrovac? great link do you know the machine called a gastrovac? it looks very similar to me and I am getting one next week i will contact the distributor it is of course much smaller great thread wg ←

hi nina, I didn't know amazon had tempering machines.

hi nina, i will certainly take a look at it. this is what responses i've gotten so far: for chocolat-chocolat they said that they are wholesalers and cater to professional chocolatiers, cooking schools, chefs, etc. they do not offer a wedding registry. Sorry for chef rubber: they said they certainly will do a registry, but don't have the capability to do an electronic one, the guests could call and see what is still available off of a list i provide. for bakedeco, the same as chef rubber for pastrychef: they don't have a registry.

thanks for the kind words. yes, might as well get something i can use instead of another toaster lol

that's an excellent idea.

hi kerry thanks for the info, i wil look into it and let you know what i find. Luis '

I'm getting married and was wondering if anyone knew of any places we could register that carries products for making chocolate, like tempering machines, molds etc

i'm also curious on the benefits of a vaccum mixer. once the ganache is made in the mixer, is it stored in a vaccum as well? what is the process?

I'm sorry, but, as far as I can tell, the article doesn't explain it at all. Since all flavors are perceived by the brain/are a result of brain chemical 'alterations,' I fail to see what makes msg different. If you're trying to say that there's some safety issue with MSG, I think that the article clearly explains that- with the exclusion of a trace amount of the population, MSG is perfectly safe. ← I disagree, It is not safe. it doesn't belong in chocolate or in food for that matter. the article states all products containing msg, must clearly label it, that is wrong, manufactures hide it under different names to disguise it. Now let me ask you, if it's safe, why are manufactures trying to hide it? there are even some products that state no msg on the label, that do have msg. I say keep it away from chocolate, it's already in too many foods as it is. ← I used to feel the same way and then I read Steingarten's book. Although there are a lot of people who doubt MSGs safety, this sentiment draws less from fact and more from xenophobia. It's cultural bias, plain, pure and simple. Other cultures utilize MSG like it's going out of style with no adverse health impact whatsoever. It must be hard not to be able to eat tomatoes/tomato products, soy sauce and parmesan. If you don't want to eat tomatoes, hey, that's your deal, but personally, I love 'em. ← I can eat tomatoes, or parmesan, or anything where it's naturally occuring. what i have problems with is the foods they add it to. the naturally occuring msg in food is not the same as what they add. what about issues of it's addictive qualities, which many feel is a big contributor to the obesity problem in the US. even the website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG admits that it makes people eat more. http://www.msgfacts.com/facts/msgfact12.html The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. I've also read it has been scientifically proven that msg causes obesity. go to www.pubmed.com and enter msg obese in the search. ← Truly respectfully, your research is flawed by your the contents of your results, the links you've provided are sites and studies with an agenda. Not balanced. Anyhow, junk food is junk food, of course it makes people fat, it also tastes good and has lots of salt and fat and other yummies that make people...addicted? I've yet to hear about people beign weened slowly from their dangerous msg addictions. ←

I'm sorry, but, as far as I can tell, the article doesn't explain it at all. Since all flavors are perceived by the brain/are a result of brain chemical 'alterations,' I fail to see what makes msg different. If you're trying to say that there's some safety issue with MSG, I think that the article clearly explains that- with the exclusion of a trace amount of the population, MSG is perfectly safe. ← I disagree, It is not safe. it doesn't belong in chocolate or in food for that matter. the article states all products containing msg, must clearly label it, that is wrong, manufactures hide it under different names to disguise it. Now let me ask you, if it's safe, why are manufactures trying to hide it? there are even some products that state no msg on the label, that do have msg. I say keep it away from chocolate, it's already in too many foods as it is. ← I used to feel the same way and then I read Steingarten's book. Although there are a lot of people who doubt MSGs safety, this sentiment draws less from fact and more from xenophobia. It's cultural bias, plain, pure and simple. Other cultures utilize MSG like it's going out of style with no adverse health impact whatsoever. It must be hard not to be able to eat tomatoes/tomato products, soy sauce and parmesan. If you don't want to eat tomatoes, hey, that's your deal, but personally, I love 'em. ← I can eat tomatoes, or parmesan, or anything where it's naturally occuring. what i have problems with is the foods they add it to. the naturally occuring msg in food is not the same as what they add. what about issues of it's addictive qualities, which many feel is a big contributor to the obesity problem in the US. even the website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG admits that it makes people eat more. http://www.msgfacts.com/facts/msgfact12.html The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. I've also read it has been scientifically proven that msg causes obesity. go to www.pubmed.com and enter msg obese in the search.

Like I said let people do their own research and come to their own conclusion. people should not listen to either me or you. they have to find out for themselves. and by the way, the vitamin thing is not hog wash. scientists isolate a chemical compound and then manufacture it and say it's the same as in nature, i say that is hogwash. nature has vitamins and minerals in the correct proportion and in the correct form, with all it's other host of other natural compounds. does man know more than nature, I say not.

Well, then! I suppose that you refuse to eat most cheeses(really, ANY dairy at all, it all contains MSG, in varying amounts), anything containing yeast, most beans, including andything SOY, seaweeds, mushrooms, most nuts, ANY eggs or any vegetables from the nightshade family,( i.e.:tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants). You see, almost every food contains MSG naturally, as MSG is a NATURALLY occurring substance in most foods, and occurs in higher concentrations in the aforementioned foods. Oh, and by the way, there are a few other food ingredients with similar chemical reactions to the tongue, which you will be hard pressed to avoid, as well: inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP) and guanosine 5'-monophosphate (GMP)-. However, good luck with that! I'm really surprised when people start up on the evils of MSG without researching exactly WHAT it is, and WHERE it is. It's like being an active member of PETA and wearing leather shoes or make up; or like being the vegan espousing CEO of Whole Foods, and selling dead animal flesh and animal milks in your stores. Not that I find anything wrong with ingesting those products, myself. edited by me:lol, I said andy-thing, jejejej! ← First of all, I have researched it. yes, food does naturally contain msg, but it's not the same as the msg they put in processed food. that's like saying the vitamins in food is the same as what is found in a pill form made by a lab, it's not the same at all. this article explains the difference. http://www.truthinlabeling.org/III.What%20is%20MSG.html I say people do their own research and come to their own conclusions.

i believe it's unsafe and should not be put in food, and them trying to hide it is very deceptive.

I'm sorry, but, as far as I can tell, the article doesn't explain it at all. Since all flavors are perceived by the brain/are a result of brain chemical 'alterations,' I fail to see what makes msg different. If you're trying to say that there's some safety issue with MSG, I think that the article clearly explains that- with the exclusion of a trace amount of the population, MSG is perfectly safe. ← I disagree, It is not safe. it doesn't belong in chocolate or in food for that matter. the article states all products containing msg, must clearly label it, that is wrong, manufactures hide it under different names to disguise it. Now let me ask you, if it's safe, why are manufactures trying to hide it? there are even some products that state no msg on the label, that do have msg. I say keep it away from chocolate, it's already in too many foods as it is.

i've tried one chocolate that was banana flavored by richard donnelly and i don't think it came out very well. let us know what you find.

I disagree, keep msg out of chocolate. It has no business being there.

yes, I too would be intersted in hearing about the wine fridge as well.

right, he is the one with the school in florida right? ← .....who trained at Sprungli......Robert Linxe trained in Basel.... ← i had another thread where i was looking for where robert linxe trained. so your saying he trained at sprungli in basil?