ChocoNM

I got a lot of good info from this thread last year, and am starting my second season at our Downtown Growers Market, so I'll chime in. 1. A Cambro or similar insulated sheet pan carrier is essential. Put a freeze-pak in it and your prodcut will stay cool all day. 2. NO DIRECT SUN - kinda obvious I guess 3. I use shallow hotel pans filled with ice or freeze paks to display my wares, putting the pieces on plates or doilies. 4. Sampling sells like nothing else - get it in their mouths and you probably have a sale. We all have "seconds" - cosmetic blemishes - that you can cut up fo samples. I get 8 pieces from a 0.5 oz truffle. 5. Hawk your wares - talk to the people as they go by - "Good morning - do you like chocolate?" "One piece will give you the energy to carry a whole bag of veggies..." If you just sit/stand there, people will just walk past. 6. Have a helper. Setting up by yourself at 6:30 am is bad enough, Tearing down at 12:00 after 5 hours on your feet is killer. 7. If the weather forecast is for 97F degrees or more, its Officially Too Hot For Chocolate. If they can't even get the product back to their cars, they won't buy, and your sales won't be enough to warrant the work. And you will fry. 8. Market sales are a great way to drive sales at your retail outlets (assuming you wholesale). Every time I do a market I get a number of people say " I saw your product at ......, but had never tried it. Now I will". 9. Give the little kids a price break - you're grooming future customers, and they'll bring their parents back next week. 10. Visit with the other vendors - You can barter chocolate fo all kinds of fresh market produce.

Thanks for all the tips. Any guidelines on how much coffee per pound of chocolate? I'm thinking maybe a 1:8 ratio of coffee to chocolate - 2oz coffee to 1 lb chocolate.

I've got an idea for a chocolate I want to make, but to do it I'll need to flavor tempered chocolate. I want to add espresso to the tempered choclate, but I know I can't add liquid coffee or it will seize. Would instant espresso powder work? Or do I need to get some "espresso flavoring", and if so, what kind? I'm not using any artificial flavorings in my products at this point, so that may be a factor in product selection as well. (Not sure exactly the difference between "natural" and "artificial" flavorings, as both are processed food products...) TIA, Steve

Fantastic - this is exactly the info I was looking for. eG Forum does it again ;^)

Thats some pretty amazing stuff thats mostly way above my head. But now I know that what I'm thinking of is doable (at least by someone ;^) and "bubble chocolate" is the term I should be searching. Thanks for the lead.

I'm thinking about trying to make a "cappachino foam" molded chocolate - something like a foamy cappachino mocha ganache in a molded shell. A cappachino "Aero" bon bon. Has anybody done something like this, or could point me towards a relevent link? I'm not even sure what this would be called to do a search ;^) TIA

I've got a question about caramel making in general. There was a reference here about altitude affecting the cooking process, but it didn't specify what the effect is. I'm at 5,000 ft, and it takes a very long time to get up to the 250 F that I'm aiming for. I"m not trying to cook it real fast, as I have plenty of opportunities to burn it anyway ;^) At my altitude, should I expect to cook longer, should I go for a lower finish temp, or what? TIA, Steve

OK, so Idid some research and found that agave nectar is primarily fructose and glucose, but generally much higher in fructose. So that rephrases the question a bit - Does substituting fructose for glucose work for ganaches? What about caramels? I've never had any confectionary education (just teaching it to myself from books), so I'm ignorant as to how the different types of "sugar" work.

Hello Everyone - I'm new to eGullet - this is my first post. I've been making chocolates for a couple of years at home and have just launched a new business - Choco Canyon Artisan Chocolate. I'm in Albuquerque, NM (elevation 5,000 ft) where its never humid but pretty warm in the summer. I've been lurking around here for a couple of months and have already gleaned a lot of useful information - thanks to all of you for sharing all your experience. My first question is about substituting agave syrup for corn syrup in making ganaches for truffles, dipped chocolates and molded chocolates. I want to get away from using corn syrup due to all the negative publicity about "high fructose corn syrup" and also to make a more "natural" product to appeal to the local Food Coop and also Whole Foods (who plans to phase out corn syrup as an acceptable ingerdient before too long). Also, I can get "local" agave syrup (from southern Colorado)and want to incorporate local ingredients as much as possible in my products. I realize that conventional "corn syrup" and "high fructose corn syrup" are not identical, but the general public tends to not make such distinctions. I've tried substituting agave syrup at equal amount to the corn syrup in my recipies, and so far its worked very well, with no noticable difference, but I'm curious about longer term "keeping' qualities - nothing I've made with the agave syrup has been around longer than 2 weeks before being eaten, so I don't know how it will hold up. Greweling doesn't list it as a "doctor" to promote smoothness and avoid crystalization, and I don't see much reference to it anywhere. So after this rather long-winded introduction, my question is - Does anyone have experience using "light" agave syrup in place of corn syrup in ganaches? Steve Whitman Choco Canyon Artisan Chocolate