Darienne

Thanks for the help, all. Kerry, that Belcolade section was helpful and I saved it for further reference, although I think I am starting to get the picture. Who knew? The problem with what I was doing, coating caramel, is that the caramel is very thick and solid in its presentation and needs a thicker coating than say a truffle. Or it needs a thicker coating in chocolate in my perception of how it should be and taste. I'll have my DH try one this morning and get his opinion on the coating...and then probably recoat the caramels. (Of course, he'll say that they should be rolled in nuts also. But then they are not for him. ) Later: Report on caramel taste test. DH ate half a caramel and thought they were delicious but could benefit from a re-coating. I ate one of the little extra side bits that I cut off to square the slab. It was much thinner than a regular caramel and coated in the same way. Thus the proportion of chocolate to caramel is greater. I think, while it all tastes delicious, the caramel overwhelms the chocolate and can't see any real point to dipping caramels into chocolate. ...but it was what my friend ordered. Even later while out walking: Of course, she probably meant a soft caramel filling and I used a denser, chewier filling. I see Greweling has a couple of softer caramel fillings I could try. Also, is there a way to change the recipe that Kerry gave me to make it softer? More cream? Just random thoughts as I learn and learn and learn... Last thought: I'll go back and read that caramel thread on eG.

Thanks Emmalish. I'll just wait until I return to Canada and then get a few.

Thanks for the information. It would probably be less expensive to have them shipped to Utah where we are going for a while, than across the border to Canada where we live.

I knew about the little drops after our discussions on this thread back a week or so. But when I asked at the store where I bought the Callebaut what viscosity it was they couldn't tell me. Callebaut lists two liquidities in their dark chocolate section, one with 5 drops and one with 3. I have to assume my chocolate was the 5 drop variety. None of the milk chocolates have more than 4 drops and most of them have fewer. Is milk chocolate generally more viscous? Then I looked on the Bakers C&C website from which I will order E. Guittard while in Utah. They don't mention anything about various viscosities. I'll phone them on Monday and see if they can tell me over the phone. They list only one high percentage dark 63%, so perhaps that will just be it. They don't carry 70% chocolate...there is almost no call for it and if you want some, you have to buy an entire case. You mention that 5 drop variety is only for dipping, and yet today my dipped caramels have too thin a coating. Is this the chocolate or me? Thanks for all the answers.

I feel as if I should apologize for asking so many questions. The show off student with her hand in the air all the time. As for polycarbonate molds... We are about to cross much of the USA and wonder if there is somewhere in one of the relevant cities: Indianpolis, St. Louis, Kansas, Denver, Grand Junction, ...basically I-70...where I can stop and buy some molds. Or should I just order them online?

Today I dipped some caramels (Kerry's recipe...delicious) into 70% chocolate Callebaut as a gift for a friend. She actually wanted 85% chocolate, but I have no idea of where to get it. As soon as I started to work with the chocolate I realized that it was of a very low viscosity...I got it everywhere...and the coating on the caramels is not thick enough. I'll have to redip them. Do I understand that if you are using 70% chocolate you are likely to have to redip your "dipper"? I see that there are different viscosities of chocolate, but most of the 70% ones have very low viscosities. Very confusing, the word 'viscosity'. Low viscosity means thin. I see that Callebaut uses the word 'liquidity'...not confusing. Is 70% chocolate necessarily of high liquidity? Delicious, but thin? Just what do you normally use the various liquidities for? Low for coating? And high for molding? Sorry, it's all quite confusing when one is starting out.

I don't know why, but I had this sudden image of the heroine in the movie 'Chocolat' All best to you!

Thanks for the words, Lior. It's great fun. Everything is a first for me. My partner, Barbara, was raised in a cake-decorating, candy-making family, but I have always avoided cooking any more than I had to. Now, in my dotage, something has snapped and I am a kitchen devotee.

Thanks for the words, Lior. It's great fun. Everything is a first for me. My partner, Barbara, was raised in a cake-decorating, candy-making family, but I have always avoided cooking anymore than I had to. Now, in my dotage, something has snapped and I am a kitchen devotee.

Made a second batch of caramel-coated chocolate-dipped pretzel rods yesterday and the process went much more smoothly than the first effort. Again used Kerry's delicious recipe. This is my lo-tech pretzel setting up booth: a plastic milk box crate from a former life, welding rods laid across and clamped to steady them, metal stringing beads used as spacers so that the pretzels cannot touch each other...and they try, they try...and clothespegs to hold them up. A silicone sheet below to catch the drips. Perfecto. Funny, but effective!

Yesterday confectionary partner Barbara and I made chocolate dipped caramels as a gift for a chocolate deprived friend. With the leftovers, we made a few turtles. Is this timing a co-incidence? I think not...

A wonderful tribute by Lebovitz.

(deleted the wrong quotey thingies...) Here's a pic of how mine turned out... You can barely see a little bit of green in the upper right side of the sliced one. The finished ganache is a very pale yellowy-green, almost white. Hi Emmalish. You're right. Yours look lovely. The other strange thing about ours is that we used far less mint then Greweling called for. The mint was fresh. It was strained out. What more can I say? It was a gruesome color. We are it anyway. I'll try it again...

Has anyone made Greweling's Lemon Mint Ganache, p.122, and how did it turn out? Looking through Greweling today I saw that nowhere in this recipe does it say to remove the mint, 'chopped very finely', from the ganache. The photo shows these lovely creamy white fillings dipped in a dark chocolate. Friends had a truffle making session Christmas 07, and we made a mint flavored ganache, also in white chocolate. The mint chopper chopped the mint very finely. We steeped, etc...however, we strained out the mint as best we could. The resulting ganache was a green color which I hesitate to describe. It was not appealing. We reluctantly all agreed it looked exactly like something quite familiar and very unappealing. Tasted great! How did Greweling get that beautiful color in his ganache with all that finely chopped mint?

I did not know that. I have a Cuisinart. I phoned the local specialty kitchen place (Ontario, Canada) and they had not even heard of them. Thanks. They are listed in the About.com article at $39.99 US.

Thanks so much Dougal. You are amazing!!! I quote a line from that series of posts:...."Think about it if these paddle attachments were so good don't you think that kitchen-aid would already have them on their mixers. " Gives one pause....

I have done my best to look through this thread and the archives and hope I am not repeating an already dismissed topic. I heard just a few days ago about a new beater for stand mixers called the "Beater Blade" by New Metro Design LLC. Does anyone know anything about it? It is supposed to have the same action as a car window wiper blade and scrape the side of the bowl continuously. It is made for KA and Cuisinart and I can't remember what other machines. The information came from About.com. Thanks

I can't do links yet and today is not the day I am going to learn , but it is in the eG recipe section under 'ginger'.

Hello all preserving types, Would anyone know of a good recipe for Ginger Marmelade. I think I am seguing into a 'ginger' mode. Thanks

While we are on the delicious topic of ginger...I told a friend about this thread and she said that years ago she had made the most wonderful ginger marmelade and then lost the recipe. She said she has never found another recipe for the ginger marmelade and I said I would enquire. I would happily make this...although my husband wouldn't eat it.

Thanks for the encouragement and the information. I will try it for certain. The air where we are going is very dry and that should help with the drying process. Last Christmas I made lovely batches of truffles, nougats and other goodies, and chocolate dipped ginger. Guess what went first?

Hello andiesenji, Because I will have more time and 'mind' space than usual when we are in Utah, I thought it might be a good time to delve into all those things which often get left behind for the ease of the familiar, including now the candying of ginger. However there are no Asian markets where I am going and the ginger will be only what is available in a Kroger's. Would you say that I should forget the idea for the time being? Thanks.

I just downloaded the recipe and it seems like a worthy challenge for me to try over the next while. Maybe Ruth and I could share tips on making our own ginger while I am in Utah!

Consider it done! Toasted pecan bits go into the next batch. Anything to keep my husband happy.... He does bring me coffee in bed every morning.

You are not pulling our collective legs...you mean chocolate bark with succotash ingredients in it? Makes me think of the first time I tell someone that yes, the piccadillo really does contain olives, raisins, almonds, bananas, pineapple, chocolate, etc,...and meat.