Lior

I totally agree with prairiegirl. I never worry about competition, in fact I often admire and enjoy "competitors" products. A good chocolatier is to be appreciated after all! Each one should find their own way, recipes and be unique. I feel I am unique in that I use chocolate that most don't, in my recipes,decorations and my enjoyment. I even feel strange to say that I am a chocolatier... How do we define that?! I usually say that I make chocolate confections when asked what I do. Prairiegirl-it is amazing that you find all these raw materials and tekk about them! It myst be fascinating for a customer! Just lovely!

very fun to watch. "The Reversed Engineered Caramel" by Confiseur Schneich! Focused on excellence!! Ta-dum!! Epitomizes the effort put into making one delicious product!!!

I also think that enrobing dried fruit in chocolate, if doing by hand, is time consuming as well and also artisan handmade confections. Perhaps it is less artistic as it does not involve recipe development, which is what is different. One can beatifully decorate dried fruits and arrange them in an artistic fashion but unless they are filled with something it does not involve recipes. Perhaps you should find a way to emphasize the art and skill involved in this area.

It could have been that moisture got into the chocolate and the sugar formed crystals and then it gets just like that. I seems like these sugar crystals also have some cb fat or milkfat mixed in with them perhaps. They seem to melt when you squish them between your fingers, but not when you mix.

Oh so much fun!! Looks so promising!! Keep us udated and lots, but lots of wishes for your your business to be a huge fun success!!!

thank you!Thank you!

opened up

I have a colleague that was desperately looking for the cocoa pod mold that could go on a stick. Now I know why!!! This is the one I found and like a lot.

Just remembered that there is a cafe here that serves hot chocolate like this: small cup like for tea or a small capp filled with steamed milk. Next to that is another cup-I will go buy a hot chocoalte to see what cup as I can't recall, I think clear glass-filled half way with faves/callets which were obviously callebaut. You could order it in white, milk or dark or any combo. Then the customer does whatever she wants and makes her own as much or as little choc as she chooses. It looked nice. I will go and get pictures.

I guess I could experiment on that-which flame size and pot etc would keep me at that temp. When was the last time I had a romantic dinner?? I guess it is high time....

A chocolate with the flavorings in it and molded into some shape unique to you-all on a good stick. Dip and stir.

wow. amazing . I just love these solutions. SO I need a crock pot and dimmer switch, which can also be useful for making food and eating it with a romantic dim light.

Is it just me that is confused here? I understood that the famous Genin caramels we tried to reverse engineer were with Passion fruit and mango...or did this flavor become secondary to the original fantastic basic caramel recipe? Anyhow, I have powdered sorbitol. I wonder if in other recipes that call for liquid sorbitol can be replaced with powdered -in half the weight of the liquid one. All these ingredients are incredibly hard to get here even in health food stores and there is no speciality store for diabetics! Perhaps a list of replacements would be good. Sorbitol can be replaced with? Powdered vs. liquid? Glucose, corn syrup, inverted etc!!! I know (I hope!) that glucose and corn are interchangeable. Or should we just have all the possibilites available? Just some thoughts as these questions seem to pop up every now and then!

Thank you for the recipe. Does anyone have a brilliant idea of how to keep it at 93C for an hour? Melters don't go that high...

nut butters for gifts?

some great ideas! Thanks guys! The chocolate box is great, but I will first try that on a smaller group! I have to first develop it myself a bit... Bark is great too! I know 16.... I have done it before with 20. Was so nervous I had a stiff back! I always feel I need to learn more before I can do this...Who am I? bla bla bla! But business is slow so I decided to go ahead and leave my confidence issue behind.

I have a workshop of 16 adults in December at a beer factory, who work in this factory. I need to do an hour an a half workshop with them. It is supposed to be more fun than learning. I thought about: 1. A short speech on chocolate 2. Make some solid shapes- 3 people to a mold of 6 shapes- choice of two colors-milk and white(?) 3.In groups of 3 still, have them prepare shells for filling-set aside to crystalize. . Have premade slab of ganache cut into squares for rolling into truffles- set aside balls. 4. Prepare ganache for filling shells. Each group makes their own ganache. 5. Fill shells with ganache-set aside 6. Roll truffles in chocolate and then in various coatings (nuts, c.p etc) 7. Close shells 8. Have them each decorate a pre made chocolate disc with a paintbrush and melted choc. 9. clean up 10. They package up their goods. So, my questions are: 1. Does this sound good? 2. Any organizing tips? 3. Any good ganache recipe that most people would like for truffles and shells? 4. Average amount of cream and choc for around 28 shells-as each group of three will have to measure out the amount they need for a mold of around 28. 5. Any other nice idea? Maybe coating and decoratin cupcake tops instead of circles? Etc Thank you!!

Well I ordered the Swiss Confiseur and will get it by mid December. I always get so impatient once it has been ordered!! Thanks for the advice Confiseur! I wish I could have had the training that would never be poo-pooed by even the best!! Oh if I could be young again I would do everything all differently!

I am also a desperately wanting to!!!!

Yes of course I read the post - a few times. Just thought in comparison to Lenotre maybe both were as good. I looked it up and found one used copy on Amazon for $90. Does anyone know of another source? I guess the price is not too awful compared to other books.Thanks.

I am confused. Is this in response to alanamoana 2007? Or to my request for a book recommndation or both? Is this a book you are recommending me to get? I don't care if it is old or not updated, if it is good then fine. Waiting for an opinion! Thanks

I am ready to buy a new book! I would like recommendations. I thought about Wybauw 2 or Lenotre's 2 books. What do you think? It can be something else as well. I have: Greweling Shotts Recchuiti Wybauw fine chocolates 1 Wybauw decoratons The Chocolate Bible Elaine Gonzales The Science of Chocolate Geerts Candy making Thanks!

That was just an example (always good to look at the whole picture presented), and although you are right about mouthfeel, not everyone tastes the diff between tea with whole milk and tea with whole milk and half a teaspoon or less of cream. Anyhow, it was an example even if not a good one and I did come to the conclusion (as mentioned in that post) that she was not a supertaster (thank goodness). It is really no big deal, just the frustrations of a mom of 4, whereby 3 always eat/ate everything with gusto and one is so picky. We are a family of extreme diverse backgrounds to say the least, and since babyhood all sorts of food was served. I always try to figure out where this came from. It interests me. I must admit I was considered a picky eater as a kid, and my mom's sisters were and some of their daughters are. So I got on to the idea of supertasters being a genetic trait and looked it all up. She is a vegetarian unlike her siblings, and likes broccoli,artichokes,chocolate, camembert and Indian food (when vegetarian) so she is certainly NO supertaster. Just picky/spoiled whatever.

Hmm. Well I used to think she was a "supertaster" as she can tell if I added in someone in minute quantities to her morning tea, for example. I had a drop of cream left so I popped about 1/2 a tsp or so into her tea, which she has with milk. Immediately she said, this is different tea. I like the regular. But then she likes foods that supertasters don't. She likes a mild camembert without the white. Motzeralla,cottage cheese. Well we now have cheddar and parm and I will try the muffins with broccoli. When a recipe says 3 cups ot 1 and a half cup grated cheese, do you measure it loosely? I did.

Ok, I will add mustard cause that "zip is what was missing. Hubby is out now in the rain (YAY!!)looking for parmesan and cheddar. I know Parmesan will be easy to find. I will try the broccoli recipe-she does eat broc! Here is a pic of the muffins. I use silicone muffin cups as in the picture. They work great. "