minas6907

I second the refractometer. Once you get one you'll wonder why you didnt go for it sooner!

Thank you so much Darienne! Id love to go to France, but we've settled on Cabo! Kerry, ill definitely do that, ill send you a pm then. The reason I assumed a sugar syrup is because in one of the videos I thought I heard them say something about a sugar syrup in French. Again, my French is rusty, but I can make things out sometimes. I think in one of the videos the syrup looked clear, like a normal sugar syrup, and in the other it had a strong caramel color. Gum Arabic is not something I considered, thats interesting. I have some gum arabic but have no idea what to use it for, I got it a while back with a large order from chef rubber. Thanks for the replies!

Hi All I had a question about if anyone has any information on making hard candies and panning them after. I've seen this in a number of videos, confectionerys boiling sugar, flavoring and coloring it, feeding the sugar through rollers (as with making lozenges) and afterwards, panning the candies in a sort of cage to remove the excess bits of broken candy. Once you got all your nice looking drops, a sort of sugar syrup (I believe its a sugar syrup, but I dont speak French, so perhaps someone can help my out with the videos down below) is applied. The candies are panned some more, sugar is added, and you then have your newly made hard candies with a sugary exterior, sort of like an old timey candy. The reason I'm interested in this is purely for shelf life reasons. I love the gorgeous glossy look of newly pulled hard candies, but even when stored in an air tight container, in evidently (over a period of 10 days or so) they start sticking together and as they sort of rub up against each other, they get damaged, which is easy to see since they originally started off smooth and shiny. Its not a problem with lollipops, since they are wrapped individually, but I'm looking for a way to greatly extend the shelf life of hard candies. I've seen this done is quite a few videos, all from European confectioners. Anyone have any insight on this? I guess I'm just wondering what the syrup is that they are lightly applying to the hard candies. Then I assume just add some regular granulated sugar? I have not read anything about this way of finishing up hard candies, just seen it in videos. But I just wanted to put it out there if anyone else had seen it or anything. Even though the sugar on the exterior would take away the beautiful finish of pulled sugar, I wouldn't mind for the sake of a long shelf life. And, perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong, the sugar is added to the outside of the candies to crystallize it, right? The boiled sugar candies themselves are not crystallized, and thus are extremely hygroscopic. But by adding a coating that crystallizes the candy, you'd get a candy that will not be so sustainable to humidity. And that would explain why those old timey candy drops you find in stores that look like they have been sitting on the shelf forever dont stick together in the package, but something like a candy cane has to be individually wrapped, otherwise it'll get crazy sticky. Anywho, I've probably over analyzed everything, but just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone had any info. You can see what I'm talking about in the two videos posted below. The first, skip to 1:30, and the second video they show it at 3:40

Hey thanks so much, bother of you! The wedding planning is going good, but so many details! My soon to be wife is very organized, so shes taking care of many of the little details. Im doing a few things, and mostly designing the chocolate/candy table and the items on it.

Regretfully, im not able to post as much as I used to, but operations will begin again when im in my new home! For now, I got some time today to make a few chocolates. I was seeing a comparison of the different luster dusts I have, and which ones will best enhance the chocolates im making for my wedding. These hearts are just solid pieces, I just wanted something to color, as well as their being used in our engagement photos tomorrow.

Somehow I ended up watching that whole video, interesting stuff.

I read a few reviews on amazon for the unit....one stated that it got hotter and hotter with each use, then the bottom of the glass cups chipped. Im not going to bother, back to the microwave for me!

I dont think they added anything....ive seen that same picture of the yogurt and fruit filled cups on chef rubber for the 'cocoa butter warmer.' And ive wondered why on earth there is fruit and yogurt in the cups of a device designed to warm cocoa butter. Well thats dissapointing...I would have expected different from them. Maybe its worth getting a unit cheaper to see. Anywho, thanks for your replies all!

Hey everyone. I was wonderingnif someone could comment of this. Im moving in a few months, then marrying my bride about a month after that. Our new place has a kitchen far smaller then im used to, so its going to take some planning, but its going to work one way or another. Im going to be assembling the chocolates for our wedding, so I have all the cocoa butter colors made up already. But I wanted peoples opinion on chef rubbers cocoa butter warmer. http://www.shopchefrubber.com/Cocoa-Butter-Warmer/ It seems quite clever. When I reheat my cocoa butters in the microwave, I do it in small increments, but each time im sort of paranoid about over heating them and throwing them out of temper. The cocoa butter warmer caught my eye, id love to put my colors in there an hour before and forget about them. Does anyone have one of these units? Also, what caught my eye is the price. Somehow I would have expected it to be more expensive then $50. Any thoughts?

The local breakfast eateries are going to be hating life when I show up during breakfast service - Im ordering my eggs deviled.

The next time I go out for breakfast, ill order my eggs in a quiche.

This thread has inspired me to order my eggs in the style of souffle the next time I go get breakfast.

I used to make the alcohol cordials in starch beds...but im really tired of the mess, im really over handing all that starch. Just like the above poster said, be absolutely sure that your cornstarch is dry. Put it in a 200f oven for a few hours, after that, sift it, make your cavities, and when you deposit your alcohol syrup, the liquid will not soak into the starch bed. When I do liquor cordials now, i always use a mold. Its way faster, and I love the clean look of the molded bonbon (and hand dipping is really not my thing!) Make your chocolate shells in your mold as usual. Boil your syrup and let it cool down to 75f. Deposit into the cavaties, and set aside for 24hr. Provided the syrup was made properly, itll crystallize and you'll be able to easily close the bonbons. Post a few pics when your done. Again, after making the cordials in the molds, I stopped using starch. For me, its alot easier and much faster.

I believe g pectin was developed by Andrew Shotts, you can find it on chef rubber. Its easier to use, but you have (in me opinion) less control over the whole batch. Plus its much more expensive per ounce when you factor in how much g pectin you need to make a batch of pate de fruit vs how much apple pectin you need to make a same sized batch.

I dont think they need to add acod in this case, the first post said they are using g pectin, thats has the acid already in the mixture. You pretty much mix with puree and boil for a few minutes.

Hey Thanks so much! Whats the demo about? Will it be filmed?

Life has been incredibly busy lately, so I haven't been able to do much. Im in the midst of wedding planning as well as moving soon, but today I got a little time to play with sugar...so I made bacon ribbon candy :-).

Can someone say mor about the gummie with marshmallow backing? Those looked cool! And they released easy from the silicone mold? Were the molds lightly oiled or anything before depositing? What did the gummie and marshmallow formulas look like? And they adhered together pretty well? Sorry for all the questions, I just havent seen that before, very cool, I wish I went!

That is very interesting. Was that piece being used to crimp the hard candies? Over the years I've thought of different ways to do that for hard candies, but alas, I am not skilled with metal! Any pics of the other tool that got custom made?

Does anyone know where a device to crimp the hard candies can be found, like the one in Curls picture? Ive been looking for something like that for a while now!

That is one sexy piece of chocolate

Macarons or marzipan.

I got a chance to play with some sugar a few days ago, just made some simple berlingots.

Tempering chocolate just takes time and practice, but once you get it down, your golden. What exactly are you having trouble with? Have you tempered chocolate before? What kind of chocolate are you using? Is it safe to assume that since you want that sheen on your bonbons, your molding the chocolates rather then hand dipping them? What references have you consulted for tempering? I honestly dont mean to just throw all those questions out there. It can be overwhelming if your new to working with the stuff, but the more info you provide the easier it is for everyone to pitch in for a solution.

Hey Jim! For those ones I just added some luster dust to the bonbon after they were unmolded, I was just keeping it simple