Jim D.

This is a puzzle. The Ghiradelli wafers appear to be real chocolate (as opposed to "coating chocolate"). From the spec sheet, they seem more like milk than dark chocolate (they contain 41-50% cacao, plus sugar, milk fat, and vanilla), but that does not matter a great deal in terms of tempering. I don't see any reason to heat the chocolate all the way to 120F, but again, that does not do any harm, just means the process of cooling down takes longer. You are using the seed method to temper, so there is no reason to lower the temp down to 85F, then warm it back up. The only issue that might apply is how much of the seed is completely melted as you get below 95F. If you have studied the science behind tempering, you know that you are seeking to eliminate all crystals in the chocolate by heating it up, then trying to obtain a predominance of Type V crystals by introducing already-tempered seed chocolate. But if all the seed is melting as the temp gets down to around 93F, then you probably don't have Type V crystals remaining. In other words, you must have some unmelted seed as the chocolate gets below 93F. When it is around 90F, you can fish out any unmelted seed (because there won't be much melting below 90F). Assuming it in fact dark chocolate, you can take it down to 89F, then test to see whether it is in temper. Webstaurant Store also carries Guittard, another reasonably priced chocolate; there is more variety to choose from in that brand. As for the differences between using the same product and doing the same thing as in the past but getting different results, welcome to the fickle world of chocolate. Room temperature and humidity can affect chocolate. Photos would definitely help diagnose the issue further.

You might try the proportions of the original recipe you posted but omit the cocoa butter, so: 100g of milk chocolate, 10g of honey, 50g of cream. That provides a ratio of 2:1 chocolate to liquefier. I start with chocolate from the bag (so, we assume, still in temper), melt the chocolate until there are a few pieces left, take it off the heat, then stir to melt all of it, which (unless you have overheated it by a lot over 90F/32C) should still be in temper. Meanwhile heat the cream and honey to 105F/40.5C. Use just a spatula to emulsify the chocolate and cream mixture. Sometimes an immersion blender can be too much. If I see bits of unmelted chocolate, I place the pot on heat for a few seconds. If the ganache still separates, add liquid (skim milk, liquor, even water, but NOT cream) a few drops at a time, still stirring. At the right point you should see that texture that successful ganache has; I describe it as like chocolate pudding, a bit spongy, glossy in appearance. I found this video on fixing broken ganache that might be of help.

Actually that ganache does not look curdled/broken/split to me. Here is an image of such a ganache: If I'm misinterpreting your photo, then the fix is to add warm liquid (skim milk, purée, liquor, water, NOT cream).

Good luck on your venture. As expensive as it may be, a humidity-controlled case is the way to go (IMHO). Especially if you decorate the chocolates with colored cocoa butter, they will lose their shine and have a matte look when humidity hits them. This does not affect the taste but certainly makes them less appealing to the eye (which is, of course, what you want for the sake of sales). I get around this issue in the shops where my chocolates are sold by, first, insisting they have refrigeration available and, second, by sealing each box in a plastic bag to protect from humidity (requiring an investment in an impulse sealer and appropriately sized bags). I suggest reading the various threads on shelf life on eGullet and obtaining one of the standard books on chocolate (two are mentioned in the post by Altay.Oro). It is a very important issue. If you can afford it, get an Aw (water activity) meter to test each filling. Otherwise you can get Jean-Pierre Wybauw's Fine Chocolates Gold, where he provides water activity readings for the recipes. If you don't wish to make either of these (not inexpensive) purchases, you can stick with caramel (and all its variations) and gianduja. My Aw readings for caramel are in the 0.55 neighborhood, meaning it is predicted to last 15-30 weeks (according to Melissa Coppel). My reading for hazelnut gianduja is around 0.60 (12-20 weeks according to Coppel, 15-30 weeks according to Wybauw--you can see that Aw readings are an estimate). When you get into ganache, however, the addition of cream and other perishable ingredients creates a different story altogether. On the other hand, if you stick with butter ganache, you will have a shelf life comparable to the safe numbers mentioned previously.

Some people do it that way, but most (as far as I have seen) spread some chocolate on top of the mold, apply a transfer sheet (with a design pre-printed on it) or plain guitar sheet, then spread the chocolate with a scraper. After the chocolate has crystallized, the acetate sheet can be removed easily. Unless one is an expert, this makes a mess, with chocolate flowing down the sides of the mold. And it is also difficult to remove the chocolate between the cavities with the scraper, but not doing so means they can be very difficult to get out of the mold. Perhaps you can detect that I speak from some unhappy experience. When it works, however, this technique produces an attractive bonbon, and a transfer sheet adds a nice design touch to the bottom of the bonbon--something I have learned, to my surprise, that customers notice and really like.

Those are really beautiful. If you don't mind telling, how do you get such subtlety when painting with cocoa butter? Mine is almost always too fluid to stay in place and runs all over the mold. And, in the case of the bonbon on the far right, the blue color had to be painted first to get the gradient effect.

Can you describe what the ganache looked like? And what were the approximate temperatures of the cream and chocolate when you first tried to emulsify them?

Like pastrygirl, I take shelf life very seriously. But I got even more serious about it when I discovered mold inside a bonbon not long ago. I went into a panic, notified people who had bought the chocolate in question, had to take the boxes off the shelves of a retail outlet. They had been stored in an air-conditioned room with temp around 65F. Turns out that's not low enough. Now I am careful to freeze anything that's going to sit around, and during the period when customers are stopping by to pick up chocolates, I keep them in the storage room, but now with the temp set at 60F. For retail outlets, I now give them instructions on how to keep some of the stock frozen and gradually bring it to fridge temp for sales. I wish I had a cooler with humidity control just for chocolates--that would make me feel better. A wine fridge has the right temp range, but you would need one large enough to hold more than you now make because if your chocolates become popular, your sales will increase more than you probably imagine at this point. No matter how much you tell customers about shelf life, there are always going to be some who stretch the consumption into a far longer time span. So even though I have an Aw meter and test every recipe, a decent reading doesn't guarantee long shelf life. In warmer weather and for freezing, I use an impulse sealer to seal all boxes of chocolates in plastic bags, which protects them from humidity.

My Easter 2021 offerings: Eggs: (clockwise from top): strawberry cream with strawberry pâte de fruit, dark caramel with sea salt, coffee ganache & rum buttercream, crispy hazelnut gianduja. Bonbon assortment: "bananas Foster," "caramel macchiato," cherry with kirschwasser, coconut macadamia, pecan praline gianduja with toasted marshmallow, almond praline gianduja with salted caramel & shortbread, orange blossom mousse, cookie butter, hazelnut crunch with chocolate shortbread, lemon cheesecake, and dark caramel with sea salt.

I'll respond to more of your questions when I have a little more time, but you might want to check out the hemisphere/demisphere molds I have for sale in the Classifieds section of the forum. I was not satisfied with the size of the existing ones (too small to provide a real taste of the filling) or too large (would not fit in the trays I use for boxing). My listing provides the dimensions and shows some of the bonbons I have made with them. I agree with pastrygirl that any shallow mold (eggs, hemispheres, the so-called quenelles) have the issue she mentions. BUT bonbons made with them almost always pop out of the molds without banging on the counter and they are very easy to decorate (a simple swirl of colored cocoa butter, then spray or paint with another color, or just splatter some cocoa butter of various colors across the mold). I'll add here that I have been tempted to sell at the local farmers' market and have almost given in multiple times (vendors even offered a free tent and setup), but the weather is just too problematic. And the market continued during this past December, but at that point I was up to my eyeballs making Christmas chocolates.

So what else have you got to do now that the EZ is done? I always thought you were someone who enjoyed a challenge. The "EZspray" airbrush.

I keep my airbrush warm in a dehydrator, and that helps a lot, but the brush does cool off. Yes, that is the Krea product to which I referred. I looked into it, but it would take so much cocoa butter that it would be completely impractical. But they are on the right track.

I use the same equipment and have almost exactly the same experience. I am not sure how the compressed air (which is probably at room temperature) could be a significant factor in cooling the cocoa butter in the cup, but the metal cup certainly is. I am afraid that this is one of those "that's the way things are" situations. The cocoa butter is much warmer than the surrounding air and will cool as time passes. If my room temp is somewhat warmer, then I can do 2-4 molds without stopping, but usually I play it safe and run the heat gun briefly around the cup and the airbrush after each mold. This does not take a lot of time once you get the routine down. Switching to a plastic cup would probably help hold the temperature of the cocoa butter, but I asked Grex about how heat-resistant that cup is, and they recommended against using a heat gun with it. I have also mentioned to Grex that it would be great to have a larger metal cup, with the thought that a larger mass of cocoa butter would take longer to cool off. The person at Grex was polite but noncommittal about developing such a product. I think Grex is not fully aware of how widespread the use of their airbrushes is in the chocolatier community. My dream is that Grex (or someone) will develop an airbrush with something surrounding the cup to keep it warm, something like the Krea hotCHOC. Perhaps this could be the next project of the developer of the EZtemper!

Yes, that's it. And I also got mine from Nashville Wraps. I still had some from a previous order, so was able to compare the two, and there was/is definitely a chemical odor in the newer one. It also looked different, so for this particular color (which was out of stock for quite a while) they must have a different source.

An odd topic to be sure, but at least it's seasonal: I reordered straw/grass/crinkle-cut paper for Easter baskets from my same supplier last year, and, unlike the previous supply, this batch has a off-smell, something chemical. The supplier said no one else had reported the issue, but I know it's there. What can I do to minimize the odor? Last year I had some powdered vanilla and mixed that with the straw; it helped a little, but vanilla is a rather expensive way to reach the goal. I thought of putting the batch outdoors in the sun for a while, but can't find a container large enough. Yesterday I removed all the remaining straw from the individual bags and left it where it could air out somewhat, but I need an idea that will work more quickly.

I ended up using Brimar Packaging in Ohio and am satisfied with them. There is a thread on packaging that is very useful.

It is available from my website: https://www.santiagochocolates.com/ganache.html

Me too. Often it seems impossible how much they crystallize overnight. Sometimes I am looking for a softer texture, but that is difficult (nearly impossible) to predict. I can attest to the deliciousness of pastrygirl's peanut butter gianduja. I think she has mail order possibilities. 😉

In my experience selecting the ratio of chocolate and nut paste is tricky and varies depending on the consistency of the paste. I buy hazelnut praline paste from Cacao Barry (50% nuts, 50% sugar) and mix it with chocolate (dark or milk) with twice as much paste as chocolate. This is what Peter Greweling recommends. With almond praline paste (which I make myself), however, I find that I have to use 400g chocolate and 500g paste--more chocolate because the almond paste is much more fluid. To be honest, I must say that I no longer worry too much about tempering the gianduja. For one thing, it's impossible to test it for temper. I get the mixture below 93F, then add cocoa butter silk and stir. When it begins to thicken a bit, I use it. When ordinarily I would be piping the gianduja into molds, I instead use a confectionery funnel--which has turned out to be one of the best chocolate-related purchases I have ever made. I can fill the cavities without spilling a drop. But it's crucial not to wait too long for the gianduja to get too viscous. When I want to see in advance how the gianduja will turn out, I do what Chocolot suggested: stir it over cold water (even ice water) and let it get really thick, then put a little in the refrigerator and see how it is going to turn out. Then, of course, I have to reheat it gently to get it back to pouring/piping condition. This next point is probably an obvious one, but I'll include it anyway: I find gianduja an incredibly "forgiving" product. You can reheat it innumerable times, test it (as described above), then add more chocolate or more paste to get the consistency you wish. Another note: it gets considerably more solid as it sits and I usually wait a day before doing anything more with the molds. If you are using a guitar to cut a gianduja slab, it's very tricky to get just the right moment to cut it (bitter experience speaking here). I'm not sure why your gianduja was too fluid. Did you make your own hazelnut praline paste or purchase it? In any case, I would simply add more chocolate to the gianduja and see if it improves. I can almost guarantee that by adding chocolate or paste you will eventually get the consistency you want, but this may require testing. Another option which I have used is to add some coconut oil to the gianduja. But since this keeps its consistency softer, this is obviously not your issue with this particular batch.

As a huge fan of irony, I love this. On a (slightly) more serious note, I have found that "firm" toothbrushes work better. Ever since dentists started recommending soft toothbrushes, the firm ones are more difficult to find. And regarding Colgate: Not long ago I got a batch that shed its bristles. Not something desirable in a chocolate. Doesn't Colgate know its target audience better than that?

Thanks for the information. I'll have to take a look at the distance factor. It also seems that the viscosity of the cocoa butter (which varies from moment to moment) and the amount of cocoa butter on the toothbrush play a role.

Your splatter is very nicely done, more even than most people (including me) get from a toothbrush or a spray gun. What did you use?

I have used peppermint, bitter almond, lemon, lime, and orange. They are especially helpful when you want to add flavor to something without significant water (such as meltaways, gianduja, chocolate).

@EsaK, I just checked the price of the Control Freak induction burner. It's about three times the cost of the Mol d'Art 6kg melter. Yes, it would be great to have around for other purposes, but.... Thanks for the dimensions of the various pieces of equipment. That helps a great deal.

I have seen many comments that the temp control on the Mol d'Art is not very accurate. For my purposes that would not be a huge factor, but it's a disappointing flaw in a device that so many people swear by. There is also the issue that, for what it does, the Mol d'Art is expensive. Thanks for the suggestion of the Control Freak. I like the idea that it would have so many other uses. I would, of course, have to get a large enough container for dumping, and it's always going to be difficult to dump something rectangular into a round bowl. Another issue I would need to look into is how tall the combination of induction cooktop plus container would be; the Mol d'Art has the advantage that it is not as tall. Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know. Have you found the inexact temperature control extremely problematic? What about emptying the Mol d'Art container? Does it have an edge that allows for pouring without making a mess?