Jim D.

Thank you so much for that reply. I was hoping you would chime in. So perhaps I should add some baking soda? I like this caramel because it seems virtually foolproof--no crystallizing sugar (though I shouldn't tempt the sugar gods by saying that), but it does take a long time to cook. And I was not prepared for how much it expands during cooking, so had to switch pots halfway through.

Yet another caramel question: I just made Greweling's Soft Caramels (all-dairy version). I've made it before but maybe only once. I cooked it to a temp I thought would work for piping it and it is fairly thick, but it remains rather pale. I checked Greweling's recipe, and the photo there shows a rather pale caramel, just about like mine. Mine has a light caramel taste. Maybe I'm just used to the other kind (cooking sugar first to a dark brown, then adding cream), which gives that "bowl-you-over" caramel taste? But I have seen cut caramels considerably darker in color. I could not cook mine any longer or it would never pipe. Does this kind of caramel (a Maillard caramel, as @Chocolot refers to it) ever get darker? If I need to thin mine out to pipe it, should I add some cream and reheat slightly? I wish I had some way to bump up the caramel flavor.

Those are beautiful. You are so right about that mold. Same with half-spheres and cocoa pods. I suppose it's because they are so shallow, but although it means they are very easy to unmold with almost no sticking, they are very tricky to seal. In her videos Kirsten Tibballs of Savour points out that you really have to examine them at eye level to catch the tilt.

Very nice. Did you use white chocolate or white cocoa butter? My first attempt was not nearly so successful. In an experiment, a dark green (cocoa butter only) dendrite showed up fine against milk chocolate behind it, but in real production, the dendrite gets mostly lost. I think there has to be a background contrasting with the dendrite color (as in your case) for this to be successful, and I should have realized that.

Is adding a little extra EZtemper silk to cocoa butter an easy way to get an overtempered condition? If so, what percentage would you recommend?

That's what I make quite often and add some chopped pistachios to the shell to get some crunch and more flavor. Pistachio ganaches, in my opinion, don't have a lot of pistachio flavor. The gianduja also pairs well with other fillings, especially something with cherries.

Truly disgusting...in a beautiful way, of course.

Not completely sure what you mean. The bags go to the customer (still sealed), so they are not reusable by me. I suppose they can be used again by the buyer, depending how they open them. But these are sous vide bags and have no closure of their own (unlike a Ziploc bag, for example) and therefore would have a limited use without a heat sealer. I also use them to seal ingredients for freezer storage when those ingredients are in containers unsuitable for my vacuum sealer--for instance, kilo containers of fruit purée or nut paste. With the air still in the bag when I seal it, the purées acquire a minimal amount of ice crystals, but far less than if they have no protection. Leftover ganaches I vacuum seal, and they are like freshly made when I take them out of the freezer. The vacuum bags I reuse because they are considerably more expensive than the sous vide bags. Let me know if that's not what you meant.

Yes, the business selling the molds is in Vancouver. I assume the stated price of $10 is in U.S. dollars.

I like the look of the heart, but it's smaller than I like--I'm now between 10 and 15 grams. I deviated recently and got a cocoa pod and quenelle as I needed them for the Dubovik course, but they are too confining for me. But thanks for thinking of me. 😜 Seriously, these molds and the others from a Canadian source are amazing bargains.

I still use the method developed from the thread to which you linked and do more or less what you said you might do. I don't find Ziplocs or similar bags offer a very reliable seal in the freezer. If you can get the air out of the bag, that is an advantage, but reviews of hand-held vacuum sealers (does Ziploc still make one?) have been mixed at best. I got a big impulse sealer (16" wide) and bags to hold the three sizes of boxes I use, and I seal each bag individually with a double seal. I put the bags in the refrigerator for a day, then into the freezer. When I take them out to deliver to vendors or sell directly to customers, I move them from freezer to fridge for a day or so, then deliver them still sealed. Vendors all have coolers into which they put the chocolates for sale, and I provide (free) one box they can leave out on the counter (covered in plastic wrap) to entice customers. I enclose an easily visible note on each box that suggests the buyer let the chocolates come to room temp before cutting open the bag. So far, to the best of my knowledge, this has worked without fail--no spoilage, no sweating from humidity. It's a compromise for sure, but I don't see how real vacuum-sealing would work for my boxes (though if you read Greweling and others, they discuss doing so).

Yes, I was sorry I came across those listings. Even though I had a firm resolution not to buy any more molds, I saw a CW cube that I couldn't resist, especially for $10 each. But I was saved by the fact that the mold was listed incorrectly and wasn't what it said. The other seller had the same mold, but by then I had overcome my temptation...at least for now. It's a sickness, you know.

If by "time factor" you are referring to the time it takes to have a mold delivered, then I completely agree. There is one major vendor that takes weeks to get molds (they don't seem to have very many in stock), but bakedeco.com and chocolat-chocolat.com are fast. And if you want a great price on some brand-name molds, check out The Chocolate Life classifieds, where two companies are selling used molds at $10 apiece. If you are ever interested in somewhat larger half-spheres, I had some custom made and have extras I am selling on the eGullet classifieds forum.

I second everything pastrygirl said and would add that a half-sphere (also referred to as demisphere or hemisphere) is very easy to use and very forgiving (they usually fall out of the shell with little or no coaxing). Or if you want almost unfailing success, try a magnetic mold, for which you will need transfer sheets.

Now I'm really intrigued. Do you have a website yet?

From Andrey Dubovik's latest Instagram posting it would appear that he has managed to get the dendrite effect on a mold that is not smooth. Quite a feat.

@Kerry Beal, those are beautiful. What is the name of the color?

I'm sure you are correct. When, by the way, is your shop opening? I'm anxious to see what you are selling as you have such interesting designs.

I understood what you meant. The only further suggestion I have is that you might want a 1mm nozzle to allow for a little more throughput and a metal cup so that you don't have to be concerned about overheating the cup. But those are minor points and just my opinion. When I first got my gun, I ran some plain cocoa butter through it to make sure there was nothing in the passages.

Yes, I do. Doesn't cost all that much, and you already have a compressor.

You might want a higher PSI than 3 (check the instructions with the paint gun for a range of pressures). As to food safety issues, there are differences of opinion. The only company I know of that sells spray guns advertised as made from food-safe materials is Krea Swiss, and not only are their guns quite expensive, but they are very large and aren't recommended for cocoa butter by itself. Many chocolatiers do use ordinary paint guns and keep them (of course) only for chocolate work. When one thinks about it, there is nothing inherently less food safe about HVLP guns than airbrushes. I have a mini-gun that I have used a few times after becoming frustrated with the difficulties of keeping cocoa butter flowing from an airbrush (and my airbrush has an 0.8mm nozzle), and I have been very pleased with the spray gun. Once you get it heated up (which takes a while), it maintains the fluidity of cocoa butter much longer and really does spray! Overspray can be controlled with some adjustments--and a respirator or mask or spray booth with exhaust.

What I currently do (always subject to change as more information comes in) is to use paper towels moistened with hot water to remove as much chocolate left on the mold edges as I can (yes, I know there shouldn't be any, but... I'm still learning, and I desperately want to keep my drain clear of solidified cocoa butter), then wash the molds with a new sponge using dishwashing liquid (Dawn, to be precise) and hot water, rinse them thoroughly in hot water, soak them a while in a solution of bleach and water (as required by the food safety regulations), and let them air-dry in a drainer. Before use I polish them with a cotton cloth. I freely admit, in view of what others have said about not bothering to polish, this may just be superstition, but I still do it.

I don't mind sharing what I know at all, happy to do so. I just meant that if you want more details, that thread might be of some help, although there are probably as many opinions on achieving shiny chocolates as there are chocolatiers! Melissa Coppel, just to take one example, polishes her molds with alcohol. And at the opposite extreme, Jin Caldwell in Las Vegas doesn't clean her molds between uses at all.

As you can read in the thread on Andrey Dubovik's online course, there is (at least in his opinion--and he makes mirror-like chocolates all the time, even to the point of photographing himself or staff waving and having their image reflected off the shells into the camera) no secret to shiny shells. No polishing with alcohol, no spraying of cocoa butter, no polishing of the mold unless there are visible water spots. Just (!) careful attention to detail--temper the cocoa butter and try to keep it in temper, have the temperature of the room on the cool side (18-20C--though I don't think 18C is necessary because I have seen examples of others who don't work at that temp--and it makes airbrushing an excruciating job requiring near-constant use of a heat gun). My experience has been that even the shiniest bonbons can become dull if they are exposed to humidity or if the filling is something that tends to cause bloom, such as nut oils.

Callebaut includes drops on its packages to indicate viscosity--unless what you have was repackaged by someone else. If the drops are sufficient (you can check the meaning of the drops here), then it's possible humidity has affected your chocolate. Are you in an area that is currently experiencing high humidity (as I am where I live)? If you have good AC, you can get that down, but only so much. As you probably know, the constant movement of the Chocovision tempering machines tends to make chocolate get overtempered sooner rather than later, and there are steps you can take to deal with that, but if the machine has worked satisfactorily before in an equivalent span of time in use, I would look to the humidity as a possible cause.