Jim D.

Miriam, Have you posted this question on The Chocolate Life forum/classifieds? If you don't know that site, it's https://foodmaven.io/thechocolatelife/. It's moderated by Clay Gordon, who (along with others on that forum) knows a great deal about equipment related to chocolate. If you don't get the information you seek on eG, you might try that. Jim

Good idea. I would have to see whether it masks the maple flavor, which is surprisingly (to me) "fragile."

And that is with no added sugar beyond the maple syrup and what is in the milk chocolate.

For the record (about maple ganache): I just tasted three variations, all involving a milk chocolate ganache with maple syrup (all were molded in 72% Arriba dark): (1) the maple ganache alone, (2) the maple ganache paired with a fairly thin layer of a ganache made with Arriba and cream (in a ratio of 1.5:1--chocolate to cream), and (3) the maple ganache paired with a thin layer of the same Arriba ganache plus habañero oil. Result: As far as (1) goes, the dark chocolate definitely tempers the sweetness of the maple. In (2) there is an added punch of dark chocolate that counteracts the maple sweetness somewhat better. I really like (3), but the habañero distracts a bit from the maple--it doesn't conflict with it, just makes it less obvious. And since the goal was to make a maple bonbon that had obvious maple flavor, I will use (2). The Aw reading of the maple ganache was 0.55--which both surprised and pleased me.

@teonzo, thanks for all those great ideas. I hadn't thought of something peppery/hot. I don't really care for jalapeño--it seems to taste too much of green peppers to me and the degree of heat in fresh ones is impossible to predict--but I do have some habañero oil on hand that I can try in a dark chocolate ganache. I also have some bitter almond oil from Germany that is really strong and some cocoa nibs, so I should have a fun day experimenting.

There is already a little in it (Notter's recipe calls for it), but I can try adding more. I have only a day or so to experiment since I have to inform the restaurant and the wine shop whether or not I can provide maple bonbons, so I'll be trying the suggestions offered so far. I forgot to mention initially that I also need to taste the ganache molded in dark chocolate (Felchlin Arriba 72%, the darkest I have) to see how much that helps. I've also got to test the Aw to see what omitting the invert sugar has done to the water activity.

Sounds like it's worth a try. I thought of using dark chocolate instead of milk, and that would eliminate some sweetness, but I think it would make the other problem (maple taste) worse. I even thought of using completely unsweetened chocolate, but don't have any to try.

I have been asked by a customer to make a maple ganache using local maple syrup. A friend went to a maple festival in the Allegheny Mountains and brought me a bottle of the darkest one they had (these supposedly have the most flavor). I used Notter's recipe for maple pecan ganache, but used walnuts instead. The first attempt was far too sweet and had a weak maple flavor. So I eliminated the invert sugar completely, substituted cocoa butter for some of the milk chocolate called for, and tried again. At first taste, it's very good and quite maple-y, but after a few seconds, the excessive sweetness hits the palate. I bought some Amoretti natural maple flavor to bump up the flavor (haven't added it yet), but the sweetness is a barrier. Any ideas on what to do? If it were a fruit flavor, adding some citric acid would probably do the trick, but it seems questionable in this case.

Greweling's coconut filling is very soft (in my unsuccessful attempt, too soft to cut), so it would pipe very well. But you would have to grind up the coconut a lot to get it through a piping bag.

As Tri2Cook stated, it must be oil-based flavoring. Although I have not tried them, the Boyajian oils get fantastic reviews; the company is famous for its flavors. Here is a link to the orange oil.

Which model of FoodSaver do you have? There are so many.

I have found the "Artisan" natural line very good. I have tried the strawberry, raspberry (great for flavoring caramel), apricot, passion fruit, mango, pineapple (again, great for caramel since adding fresh pineapple, which takes more, makes the caramel too fluid). I recently got some green apple, and I have just smelled it so far and am not impressed, but I have found that apple is one of the most difficult flavors to emulate. I like that these flavorings are based on the real fruit (even though, of course, they do have other ingredients, such as various sugars). If you are not averse to using fruit "compounds," their strawberry and raspberry are very powerful; it doesn't take much to get a strong flavor.

That's interesting because the Callebaut Gold also says "Canada only," but they shipped it to me without comment.

Want to report that I contacted Peter Greweling about his directions on freezing chocolates. For the record, here is what I wrote him today: And here, a couple of hours later (!), is his response: First, once again I am impressed with how down to earth Peter Greweling is: a Foodsaver?! I was fully expecting a reference to some gigantic chamber vac that would require a garage to store and at least a DC power supply. Second, I guess I overthought a vacuum sealer when I bought the Weston and went for the one that had very good reviews and seemed sturdier than a Foodsaver (costs more too). The recent reviews of the latter are not kind, many people writing of leaking bags due to inadequate sealing, poor vacuum resulting in freezer burn, etc. I know, by the way, that the Weston's vacuuming cycle can be interrupted, but not before 5 seconds have passed (which is enough to cause chocolates to implode--if you have made your shells right and so they are on the thinner side 😋) and it is very difficult to know just when to stop the vacuuming.

I am not clear on the meaning. Are you saying Chocolat Chocolat cannot ship chocolate to the U.S.? I ask because I just received a bag of Callebaut Gold from them, a product I wanted to try for a Savour recipe (it was more expensive from the one U.S. source I could find).

Yet somehow Peter Greweling manages to do it. Perhaps I will email him and see what he says about the method he describes.

I encountered the same result when vacuum-sealing bonbons. I used a Weston sealer, which in theory (but not so much in practice) offers partial vacuuming, meaning that I stopped the pump after a short time, and still the chocolates were destroyed. I have read what Greweling describes but do not know what sort of box he was using and what kind of vacuum device. In another thread where this issue is discussed, someone recommended packing the chocolates tightly in boxes, but frankly I don't think that would work much better. What I have fallen back on is an impulse sealer. I bought bags intended for sous vide and put a box of bonbons inside. I then seal the bag twice, put it in the fridge for a day, then into the freezer. When thawing, I move it from freezer to fridge for a day, then to room temp before cutting open the bag. I use this for extra finished boxes of chocolates and tell customers they must give me a day to get the boxes from freezer to them. As far as I can judge, these chocolates are just like fresh. Last October I had some time and made boxes of 50 pieces of bonbons with the crowd-pleaser fillings like salted caramel, hazelnut praline gianduja, etc. I filled the unoccupied space in the box with crumpled waxed paper, then used the method above to seal the boxes (if using this method, I recommend a very wide impulse sealer to allow for as big a box as possible). When I took these boxes out for Christmas packaging, they were as good as new. I realize there are issues with this method, mainly that while no "new air" gets into the box, there is still air in the bag, but I don't know any way for a small producer without whatever Greweling used to accomplish this. By the way, I have found (on two occasions) that Greweling responds to email questions about things in his books--and in both cases has replied within a day, an impressive response from someone who must be very busy.

You raise valid questions, and I agree with your logical deductions about sugar. I know that I am sometimes surprised at an Aw reading being as high as it is. I was surprised (in a different direction) when I tested my new apple pâte de fruit. It was quite fluid, and I anticipated the worst, but it turned out to be 0.53. When I have some time, I'll test pure fondant and also honey to see what their Aw is.

I can't answer your question about fondant and migration definitively, but Peter Greweling, who appears to be the definitive source on such questions, has this to say: This is from his very helpful (and disturbing) article on layered confections. I say "disturbing" because once I read it, I had to take a new look at the layered bonbons I like to make and make some changes. Greweling recommends a layer of cocoa butter (among other choices) to separate layers that tend to migrate. So now when I put a layer of pâte de fruit (water-based) in a bonbon and want to add a ganache (with its water and fat), I paint a layer of cocoa butter on top of the PdF. I don't know if it helps, but it makes me feel better! If customers would actually eat the chocolates in the time frame suggested (I use 2-3 weeks), migration issues wouldn't be so important, but (this has been discussed repeatedly) they don't. Just last week a customer told me how much she was still enjoying the box of chocolates she had received at Christmas--she had just read the enclosed guide and decided it was time to finish the box! I tried valiantly to hide my 😱

Which, his or mine?

What I would like to know is where he got that white, white cocoa butter. What I get from Cacao Barry is decidedly yellow. Any ideas?

My custom trays were made by FormTight in Denver. Why so far away from Virginia? Because, after extensive searching and inquiring, this was the only company I would find that would manufacture "small" quantities (quotes because I still had to buy more than I will ever use). They were very, very expensive (it's the tooling that will kill you). I count it as a splurge for the sake of the chocolates.

Most manufacturers of molds provide a weight in grams for what a cavity will hold. I read somewhere (can't recall where) that this figure is calculated by molding milk chocolate in the cavity. I think that even if it's dark chocolate, the figure will be approximately the same. Obviously, if you multiply that figure by the number of cavities (in your case, there is just one), you will arrive at roughly how much chocolate the mold will hold. If you were using a mold with more cavities, you would also need to add extra to allow for the chocolate that lands between the cavities (I allow 40g for each mold for that figure). If you don't have the weight, could you just weigh a ml of chocolate and multiply by 4,276?

You have encountered one of the many difficulties with packaging chocolates, the vastly differing sizes and shapes of molds. Many producers stick to one type and size of mold (such as half-spheres or domes), so they eliminate this issue. I have a large variety of molds, including the cacao pod you list, as well as the "quenelle" and recently a small half-egg. I have been using stock trays to hold them, but the cavities in those trays were too small to accommodate my larger molds (such as the Chocolate World pyramid) and too large for the others I listed. Finally I couldn't stand the issue any longer and had custom trays made. The cavities are 1.5" x 1.5", and so every shape I make now fits. The cacao pods and the eggs have to go in diagonally, but they fit. Essentially, except for things like wedding favors, I have stopped using the very small molds (such as the Chocolate World magnetic cube, which I like very much, but which just "bounces around" in a typical cavity). Stock trays seem to have cavities in two sizes: something like 1" or something closer to 1.75" (often labeled for turtles or nut clusters), and most chocolatiers appear to go for the smaller size. Another option is to use foil/paper cups to hold the chocolates plus boxes into which they fit. This option is more flexible, but then there is the issue of making certain chocolate shapes fit into the cups (such as the pyramid mentioned above). And again, cups are made only in certain sizes (the #4 and #5 are the most prevalent).

I always like The Chocolate Lab's work, but I think this egg is spectacular. Any ideas on what sort of brush they might have used for the strokes?