Jim D.

Speaking for myself only, I would not be very concerned about a "best by" date. Chocolate doesn't spoil (in the sense of being dangerous to eat). It's the cocoa butter in it that can go rancid, so look for that taste. If the chocolate still tastes good and doesn't have any off odors or tastes, I would use it without any qualms. White chocolate isn't that popular in many circles, so I sympathize with your struggle to find recipes that will attract customers--and use up the chocolate. Given the possibility that the cocoa butter can go rancid, I would seal the Valrhona bag in a larger plastic bag (vacuum-seal if possible, otherwise use an impulse sealer) and freeze them all. Even if you have no way of sealing the chocolate, I think Valrhona bags are close to air-tight. I've frozen large quantities of chocolate with no ill effects. It's a noble thought to give it away to those in need, but you would have to find a way to package the fèves in manageable amounts. I suspect a bakery would see this as a gift from the gods.

What about adding powdered vanilla (like Valrhona's Waina) and/or powdered caramel (like Cacao Barry's Zéphyr Caramel)? Interesting for your purposes, Valrhona states that, besides vanilla, Waina has notes of milk and cream. And a new line at Felchlin emphasizes the taste of milk (in this case, from cows in the Swiss Alps!).

I came across a (to me) very useful bit of information on the issue of unmolding chocolates and finding chocolate along the bottom edge of the bonbon outside the colored cocoa butter (mentioned in this thread and in many other places). It is possible to scrape off this thin bit of chocolate and reveal the intact cocoa butter beneath it. I follow a Facebook group on decorating chocolates and saw this post: And the poster's solution: This explanation (which has been mentioned previously on eGullet) makes sense. The obvious, but not very practical, solution is to fill and cap the chocolates immediately after making the shells. This would be disruptive to production. I plan to try the "solution" mentioned above (heating the filled chocolates before sealing them) to see if it works.

When I mentioned pistachio and cherry, I meant to say "pistachio praline gianduja." I use Morello cherry purée in the PdF (that was the only kind available from my supplier). To decrease the Aw of my PdFs, I supplement the purée with some dried fruit (if a dried fruit exists for the fruit in question). Adding those solids lowers the Aw significantly. For dried cherries I use some Montmorency ones from Michigan, which are quite tart. I am not sure how sweet amarena cherries are, but I don't see why they wouldn't work with pistachio. And i think raspberry and red currant would be fine. I have some red currant purée, so will give that try (though I doubt that I will find dried red currants for my Aw concerns). I also found that adding a significant amount of sea salt to the pistachio praline gianduja really brings out its flavor. What type of chocolate are you using with the pistachio? As I said, I mix the pistachio with white chocolate, but generally I make the shells with dark in my continuing efforts to reduce bonbon sweetness..

I already had some pistachio paste (plain, no caramel), so simply ground some caramel with the paste. If I were to start with pistachios, I would toast them very slightly, just until they smell fragrant. I have used a Notter recipe for pistachio ganache, which I thought was OK but did not have sufficient pistachio taste for me. I now make pistachio praline gianduja and obtain much more nut flavor. I tasted all types of chocolate and found that white worked best for me (the others overwhelmed the pistachio taste, which my experiments taught me is quite delicate). I also found that adding a few toasted and chopped pistachios to each cavity before piping the gianduja improved the taste (and yes, I realize that it is completely counter-intuitive to make a smooth paste and then add nuts). My favorite way to use the gianduja is to pipe a layer of PdF (usually cherry) and then pistachio gianduja on top.

@curls wrote: "Got lots of good advice from the workshop attendees on how they made their cheesecake bon bons and cookie bases." I am interested in learning if there was a consensus on the subject of using whole cookies (surrounded by some sort of moisture barrier) vs. crushing cookies, combining them with cocoa butter/chocolate, and then piping them as a cookie layer. I have always used whole cookies, but it is a pain to fit them into the molds and keep them below the top edge of each cavity. I took one of Kalle Jungstedt's online courses, and he always uses a cookie layer--which, of course, he makes look effortless. My experiments with doing it both ways suggest a whole cookie can be crisper than a layer of crushed cookies, but there is no question that a piped layer is easier. Nearly all of the ultra-neat halved bonbons one sees online (such as those from Jessica Washburn's Bliss Chocolatier) appear to have used a piped layer.

Sorry, didn't see your post. I know it's been a long time, but I still have some of those molds available.

Glad you were able to benefit from Rodney's melanger expertise. So have you yourself succumbed to the melanger allure? It's difficult to resist.

I notice that the additional part (what I referred to as a splash guard) is not installed on the melanger. Was there a reason for that?

It's none of my business since I won't be at the workshop, but my experiments so far indicate that (to my taste) including ground caramel adds a lot to the flavor. This was especially true for pistachio (salt and caramel brought it to life). You will have Rodney there; he told me how to make caramel without having it get gummy (basically begin with glucose, then add the sugar). Of course this adds a lot to the complexity and you may not wish to deal with making caramel in an "alien" kitchen. Rumor has it that some confectioners add plain sugar to make nut pralinés--much simpler.

It is not at all crazy to wonder. I think the only recourse is to contact your state reps to get the law changed--or move! Here in Virginia a law removing all restrictions on cottage food production has been introduced for many years but has not passed. I began making chocolates as a cottage food industry but quickly realized that the label I was forced to attach was a negative factor in any sales.. And since online and wholesale sales were forbidden, I caved and requested a state inspection of my kitchen.

@carol langI don't know if you have seen the forrager.com site, which is all about cottage food laws in the U.S. state by state. I am afraid it confirms your information about New York. Here is a quote: A number of food products are allowed to be sold, but New York has specific restrictions that other states do not have. New York is the only state to allow candy without allowing chocolate or chocolate-dipped items. Also, some dry items must use commercially-processed ingredients, like spices, soup mixes, and nut mixes. All of these restrictions are unique to New York and are not found in other states’ cottage food laws.

I have the Q4. I recently took an online course by Kalle Jungstedt, and he was praising the Q5, but it turned out that the advantage of the Q5 (that the pressure of the spray can be regulated on the machine itself) was not important--he said he regulated the pressure on the connection between hose and gun. The filters are about 12" square, so you can cut a lot from a roll. It's difficult to say how fast they need to be replaced as it depends on the color you are spraying, how heavily you spray, and how much overspray the color generates (the Chef Rubber colors differ in viscosity quite a bit). But yesterday I sprayed about 20 molds and used 3 filters. My Grex airbrush generates less overspray than the Fuji, but you pay a price for the speed of the Fuji by using more cocoa butter. The two inner filters are Merv8 and Merv13 (does that help you judge their effectiveness?). The inventor of the product and co-owner of the company answers email questions about technical details, so you could write him. No need to apologize. I did a great deal of research before I purchased. By the way, I have only one box and have never felt the need to add more height or width. Did you see the video of chocolatier Sydney on the CakeSafe site? Her enthusiasm for the product was very convincing, but I was skeptical, so I got her number from the owner of the chocolate shop where she works and had a long conversation with her. She was just as enthusiastic on the phone as she is in the video. She uses very few pre-filters--said something like a couple of them used for a day's work (and the shop appears to be a fairly large one), but she has a double-size booth. I am not on the payroll of CakeSafe, but I really like the product, especially compared to the cardboard box + furnace filter + large fan I was using previously. And I like not having to clean cocoa butter out of an exhaust fan. Incidentally I also use a respirator (mine is made by 3M).

I'm really enjoying the new stainless steel model that Kerry described. It cleans off the sides of the bowl to an impressive degree. I have not had one particle splash out of the bowl during use, and the melanger managed to grind up even the sticky hard caramel I was mixing with ground almonds (the stickiness was my fault--since then the very helpful @Alleguede has explained how to make hard-crack caramel the right way). In addition, customer service is great; the tech guy even called a few days later to see how things were going. Those who already own the previous model should bring their willpower to the workshop as I suspect it will be hard to resist this new version.

It is The Shack (it used to look more like its namesake, but they have gussied it up a bit with their ever-increasing fame--the restaurant was reviewed in the Washington Post, which stirred up D.C. visitors). Here's one course from the current menu: yellow tail – grapefruit – rhubarb – camomile. And another: rabbit – morels – ramps – peas. My chocolates almost made it into the adjoining Staunton Grocery, but there was an issue with having chocolates and pickled vegetable in the same refrigerator! I should add that sometimes the restaurant is a bit too adventurous for me!

What a great idea. Bring a cooler! But you already know that. If you're an adventurous eater, I also have a place to recommend. @Kim Shook decided it was a bit too adventurous for her!

I shipped a box to friends in Nova Scotia once. It took a month to get there and cost a lot of money!

Thank you very much. Even though Kim and her husband live on the other side of the state, they have become good customers.

I see that @liuzhou has already provided information on the name. The restaurant's version is that it is the Native American word for "Shenandoah." Staunton (which, by the way, is pronounced "Stanton") is located in the Shenandoah Valley (between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains). And the recipe for their cornbread (which is fantastic reheated for breakfast) was published in the Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/recipe/zynodoas-bruleed-cast-iron-cornbread

Yes, I do have the CakeSafe spray booth, and I have been very pleased with it. With it, very little cocoa butter gets on me (and presumably into my lungs). Almost no c.b. is expelled by the fan into the air of the room, meaning that the various filters are absorbing it. The one factor that I simply had to accept is that the "pre-filter" (the easily replaceable first filter) gets saturated with c.b. rather quickly and must be replaced after a few molds. I bought a roll of filters, cut the material into pieces of the correct size with a paper cutter, and keep a stack near my spray booth. The side panels also get covered with c.b. and require washing, demonstrating how much c.b. they are stopping from getting into the room. The fan is quite powerful and rather noisy, but then so is a compressor or the Fuji turbine.

Great success with the melanger today. I had a large container of plain pistachio paste but wanted to have it "pralined" and have been unable to obtain the Cacao Barry paste. My issue with the previously mentioned almond praline paste was that the caramel bits became gummy and never totally dissolved. Thanks to @Kerry Beal's friend @Alleguede, I have conquered that problem. For hard-crack caramel I have always made a wet caramel, and he immediately diagnosed the water as the problem. He made a suggestion I have never heard anywhere else: Start by bringing some glucose to a boil, then add granulated sugar (so it is mostly a dry caramel), stir until it caramelizes, then pour onto a Silpat and, after it has cooled, grind into powder. So I powered up the melanger, added the already ground (but not by any means smooth) pistachio paste, then the caramel bits gradually, plus sea salt. Within a few hours it had become a completely smooth and deliciously caramelized pistachio paste (I used @Rajala's suggestion of 60% pistachio, 40% sugar). Now I'm searching for what I can grind up next!

But as in the traditional method of tempering chocolate (without seed), if you let the cocoa butter cool down to the point where all the crystals re-form, then reheat it to the point where everything but the Type V melt, couldn't it be used in the EZtemper?

This is exactly the experience I have had with inspection. We fall through the cracks--and that can be a good thing. I tell customers (on an insert and on my website) to keep the chocolates below 68F and state that shelf life is approximately two weeks--unless they get the chocolates (from me) sealed in plastic, in which case they can refrigerate or even freeze them for a very long shelf life. A shop that sells them also keeps some in a case under refrigeration and the rest in a freezer. As discussed on this forum many times, there isn't much you can do once the customer takes the chocolates from your hands. Over the years I find myself (and I think pastrygirl does the same) making more caramels and giandujas, which have a long shelf life. Ganache and pâte de fruit can mold--that's just a fact. If making a fruit-based filling that has some acid, I have recently begun adding a little sorbic acid, which deters mold. I also have found that inspectors are most concerned with ingredient lists, especially their beloved list of allergens (the supervisor said to me, "Yes, I know pinenuts aren't nuts, but you have to list them"). They also care about such things as being able to trace the source of your ingredients (I take photos of the pertinent labels). And each time mine comes, there is a different emphasis. A friend gave up her license when the inspector told her she had to cover her fluorescent lights completely with plastic "in case any of them breaks."

As Kerry said, yes, the gianduja has to be tempered. In my opinion, it's not exactly the same as tempering chocolate. You can't test the temper of gianduja. Why not start with tempered chocolate and melt it carefully so as not to go too much over 93F? When you deal with chocolate already in temper, remember that it's OK for the chocolate to go to a slightly higher temp as long as some of it is still unmelted (that "seed" will temper whatever may have gone higher). Then add the other ingredients (warm but not over the temp of the chocolate) and heat carefully. When everything is melted, keep stirring as the gianduja cools. When it's down to working temp, it should be in temper.

I'm not sure if you are using the term "ganache" as a synonym for "filling," or you want to end up with an actual ganache. If the latter, then you need to add a liquid (ordinarily cream) and mix it with the gianduja. If you want a pipeable gianduja, then you have to experiment with adding more nut paste and/or coconut oil to soften the final product. I'm a bit confused by the ingredient list. Gianduja is a mixture of ground nuts and chocolate. Praliné as Wybauw uses it is a nut paste with ground caramel. In the example of hazelnuts, I make what I call hazelnut praline gianduja by mixing hazelnut praline paste (approx. 50-50 hazelnuts and caramel) with chocolate. I assume the 120g milk chocolate is extra chocolate (beyond what the gianduja already includes). As I wrote in my earlier post to which you referred, it is difficult to predict the texture of a gianduja. The Cacao Barry hazelnut praline paste is quite thick and so doesn't need as much chocolate to make it firm enough. On the other hand, the almond praline paste I made in my new melanger is rather fluid and requires much more chocolate mixed with it. A Canadian professional chocolatier I consulted recently said he has suspicions that some commercial praline pastes contain sugar in some form rather than hard-crack caramel that has been ground up, and that explains their viscosity. The only method I know for predicting the final viscosity of a gianduja is to test it by cooling a bit of it. Then go back and add what you need (more chocolate or more nut paste) and heat it again. As I said previously, gianduja appears to be very forgiving. As for tempering it, if you have or are able to purchase an EZtemper, that is the foolproof way. You add a bit of "silk" (it doesn't take much), then stir. You will notice the gianduja thicken almost immediately. There is no way I have ever heard of to test whether it is in temper. Before I had an EZtemper, I stirred the gianduja over cool water until it began to thicken. The tried-and-true way is to table it, but I have never done that. Chocolate expert Michael Laiskonis writes: "Tempering is still important, and all of the typical methods can be used for traditional gianduja. I also temper the softer spread, typically on marble as indicated, or with 1% stable cocoa butter crystals from our EZ-Temper unit." Since tempering is for the benefit of cacao butter (so to speak), I assume that using tempered chocolate and keeping the gianduja mixture below the melting point of Type V crystals would serve the purpose. If I have misunderstood your question, please clarify.