Jim D.

Thanks for the examples. There are lot of non-bonbon items, and whereas I find them interesting, that's not what I am looking for. So I guess my last question to you is whether the percentage of bonbon material is enough to make it worthwhile.

I did not know they offered online learning. I guess when I saw "Australia," I immediately gave up. So you think the lessons are worth the money and time? Can one follow at his or her own pace, or how does it work?

From what I have seen on eGullet, the school's graduates learned impressive skills there. Too bad there is not a U.S. branch.

I'll look forward to hearing about your reaction to the Grex. I forget where I read that the 0.7 nozzle would be better; maybe I just assumed it would when I realized the nozzle of the Paasche external mix airbrush was over a mm wide and feared I would never get cocoa butter through the 0.5. I believe @pastrygirl has the 0.5 with her Grex and has been successful with that. Sorry, but I don't know any way to take photos or videos while using the airbrush (I am a one-person shop). Besides, I'm still getting used to the Grex and the results are embarrassingly messy at this point. Have you seen the Grex videos with Lisa Berczel? They are very helpful, and she is supremely confident in her work (there are also some creepy ones showing her spraying the body of a human being, but I try not to think of that when I'm spraying). My only advice so far is to keep the cocoa butter flowing with a heat gun and a stirrer because it will tend to solidify in the bottom of the cup. Otherwise it has been a pleasure to use. As I get used to changing colors, I hope the mess will diminish. One other thought: I found it essential to find a place to "park" the airbrush when I pause. Grex does make a holder, but I didn't get it; instead, I used a heavy flower vase with a wide top, and the airbrush rests nicely in there and seems a bit more secure to me than the holder would be--obviously it's necessary to keep the brush close to vertical to avoid a bigger mess.

@dhardy123, Thanks for the compliment. The assortment shows some successes and one "failure"--I use quotes because even that one turned out good enough to use (IMHO). First, the failure: I speak of the red and yellow piece near the bottom of the photo. For that one, using a gloved finger, I swirled red cocoa butter around the circumference of the cavity, and then, before the red was fully set, did the same with gold c.b. In a mold with steep sides (like the geodesic dome I used), it is difficult to do the swirling and impossible to keep the two colors from mixing. Thus the pseudo-marbling effect on that one. Thanks to @RWood, I learned that waiting for the first color to dry is crucial. Then the colors stay separate. This is all much easier to do in a more "spread-out" dome, like the demisphere I used for the others (the dark green + copper piece in the 1:00 position in the photo and the purple + gold in the 9:00 position). For those two, I used a somewhat easier technique of swirling one color (green and purple respectively), letting that dry, and then spraying the whole mold with copper or gold c.b. The end effect is marbling. I think in any marbling, it is necessary to spray a color behind the rest (that is, on top of the swirled colors); otherwise the chocolate shell shows through, which may fit the color scheme you have in mind, but likely won't. I have used a technique similar to the one you describe, as in the case of having several different chocolates (white, dark) tempered in separate bowls and pouring them together into a mold, then mixing them a little in the cavities to achieve marbling. I found that very difficult--keeping two chocolates in temper, pouring them just right, and not over-mixing them. I'm just not coordinated enough to make that work in a consistent way. In that method you are not decorating the shell; you are creating it with a marbled effect, and the result is a beautiful bonbon. There is a thread discussing this technique as developed at Savour School in Australia.

That was the problem I had when I tried this option. You have to get it just right, or it's practically impossible to cut, especially on a guitar. I know lots of recipes for marshmallow say how easy they are to make, but I have not found that to be the case.

I recently purchased the Grex Tritium airbrush (fitted with the 0.5mm nozzle) and wish to report on it. I think most people use an external mix airbrush, where the cocoa butter does not pass through the body of the airbrush but is mixed with compressed air externally. I have used a Badger, and recently used as my regular airbrush a Paasche; both of these are external mix. The Tritium is an internal mix device, and I was nervous about clogging up the brush constantly with cocoa butter passing through it. In actuality that is not the case at all. I purchased a 0.7mm replacement nozzle to provide the largest available needle/nozzle for the cocoa butter to pass through. Replacing the 0.5 with the 0.7 was fairly easy. An internal mix airbrush requires more compressed air, so I knew my little Iwata Smartjet Pro (1/8 HP motor with top pressure of 35 PSI) was not going to be adequate. Grex sells a compressor for the Tritium (it is rebranded from another company, California Air Tools). They were phasing out the 1 HP model and so sold me a 2 HP one at the same price. A 2 HP compressor is an entirely different beast from the Iwata; its increased power is impressive--and a little scary for a mechanical-challenged user like me. But fortunately my nephew showed me that it was not as frightening as it looked, and my first time using it alone went without a hitch. This compressor is very quiet, as these things go. In these comments I am using space on the compressor because my conclusion is that the compressor makes all the difference in using an airbrush for cocoa butter. The good thing about Grex is that they are aware of the food decorating crowd out there; they have a whole series of videos on various decorating techniques, mostly for cakes. Their tech support people are so responsive and I consulted them so often that Gmail now doesn't show the whole thread with my questions and their replies unless I specifically request it. Grex never failed to be responsive (usually within a few minutes) and to be sympathetic to the special needs of chocolate making. In explaining to me how to add a moisture trap between the compressor and the airbrush, one technician even took the time to set up the whole system (hoses, attachments, adapters, everything) and take a photo of it with every part labeled. I have never encountered tech support this good. The Tritium setup I used had the cocoa butter in a container attached above the airbrush (not in little jars with siphons as I had been using with the Paasche--although the Grex can be adapted to use siphon-feed jars). This setup provides the most direct flow of cocoa butter to airbrush but does require a whole new system of preparation for airbrushing. I had the cocoa butter in temper in a Pyrex container (which can be microwaved and heated or cooled over water) and spooned it into the metal cup on top of the airbrush (I purchased larger cups than the ones that come with the airbrush so that I wouldn't have to waste valuable time refilling the cup so often). This process can get messy! But it really worked. The cocoa butter stays liquid much longer than it does when it is in an attached glass container and traveling through a siphon. Yes, a heat gun is still required from time to time to keep the cocoa butter liquid, but I could spray several molds without stopping. I learned a lot from this first session and now know to get a little stirrer to keep the cocoa butter from hardening in the bottom of the cup. But it does work much better than any external mix airbrush I have used. Changing colors is easier than I anticipated: You simply turn the cup (still attached to the airbrush) upside down above the cocoa butter container, drain out as much as possible, then wipe with a paper towel (again, this idea came from Grex tech support). I had mistakenly thought the Tritium could be used on its own to splatter a mold. I saw a video featuring Salvatore Martone using a Grex Tritium to splatter, but when I mentioned this to Grex support, they pointed out what I did not notice in the video--that the chef is spraying the cocoa butter onto a little spatula or stick, and from there onto the mold. I tried this and had some success, though I will need a lot of practice to get it right. I think a spray gun (such as the Fuji or a Wagner) can do splatter without further equipment, but an airbrush cannot (though an airbrush can splatter with regular paint). Final comment on customer service: Grex does not sell its products directly. I found everything I needed with Jerry Carter Airtools, and Jerry also provides excellent service and guidance. He even asked to see photos of the work I have done with chocolates. Prices: Grex equipment appears to have the same prices everywhere. The airbrush was $209, the 0.7 nozzle $68, the larger cups $19 each, the compressor $299. Yes, it's appreciably more expensive than something like the Paasche I have. It does, however, do a better job in a shorter time and with less aggravation than any external airbrush I have used. It does not do all a Fuji can do, but with my limited space and the number of chocolates I produce in a batch (so far the most is 900 pieces), I think it is the most satisfactory and the cost is less than for the Fuji system, which even companies that sell paint gun types of sprayers have told me would be overkill. Final verdict: I am very pleased with the Grex Tritium and would certainly buy it again. The added power of the compressor makes airbrushing almost (!) a pleasure. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

The chocolates I made for Thanksgiving 2017. I wish to thank two eG people who helped with the technique of swirling colored cocoa butter in molds: @Lisa Shock (in the thread on how certain decorations are achieved) and @RWood, who was very generous with her expertise on the same technique and how she created the beautiful piece that is her "avatar." Success at this decorating method has eluded me for longer than I care to admit. The marbling effect turned out better than any previous attempt, and in my new demisphere molds (custom made through Tomric), any decorating method seems easy. This was also the first batch decorated with my new Grex airbrush (when I have time, I will post some comments on that in the airbrush thread). Clockwise starting with the yellow piece at the top: banana & passion fruit caramel, yuzu with ginger, Meyer lemon, apricot pâte de fruit & almond gianduja, chocolate chip cookie truffle, strawberry-flavored marshmallow & kalamansi, coffee ganache & hazelnut gianduja, eggnog with dark rum, spiced pumpkin, plum with port, coconut cream, apple caramel

I have now used pipeable marshmallow in a batch of chocolates. Pastryani asked how much air was incorporated. I cut a piece in half to observe, and there were very few bubbles--it's similar to the swmsweets photo above, but even fewer real bubbles. That may be my lack of skill, but I think it's primarily a function of cramming the marshmallow into a plastic bag and squeezing it into many cavities--how many bubbles could stand up to that? The taste and texture, on the other hand, are very marshmallowy, so I am pleased with this recipe. I did discover that any flavoring (I used strawberry) becomes weaker than anticipated. I paired the strawberry marshmallow layer with a kalamansi ganache, in which I deliberately removed some kalamansi, replacing it with cream so as to decrease the citrus flavor, but the strawberry was still mostly overpowered. I am concluding that marshmallow needs to stand on its own and think I will next try passion fruit, with no second layer.

It is a beautiful dessert. I can't imagine anyone commenting on your desserts except with the most lavish of praise. Having said that, yes, white chocolate can be really sweet. What chocolate are you using? If you haven't tried it, Valrhona's Opalys is a bit less sweet than all the others I have tasted (which at this point is a lot).

I would expect nothing less from Seattle residents! In this neck of the woods, we don't allow health nuts (your words), and soybeans are a big crop--regardless of their origin.

Me over-thinking it? Never! I think of it as a healthy OCD. I'm glad you mentioned the chocolates without lecithin. I'm not keen on using it because a little too much, and it thickens the chocolate. Norman Love and Jin Caldwell (Jinju Chocolates) appear to use Fortunato for bars both plain and with additives. I have not yet found anyone who uses it for shells, which may say a lot. I was leaning toward getting some to use in ganache if not for anything else.

Those of us at the eGullet workshop in Las Vegas this past May were given, among other goodies, a large block of an unidentified milk chocolate. Several of us agreed that it was among the best milks we have tasted, and my own view was that it was the best, no question. Thanks to @Chocolot I learned that the sample came from Chef Rubber and was an example of Fortunato No. 3. For those not aware of this relatively new-to-the-market product, there is a website that explains the remarkable story of its rediscovery. I definitely wanted more and learned that Chef Rubber is the sole distributor of Fortunato in the U.S. I did not want to purchase a huge amount without knowing what it is like to work with (in particular, tempering and making shells), so wrote to one of the two discoverers of the chocolate, who referred me to Chef Rubber, from which I received this information: This was not particularly good news to me since I don't like to tamper with the formulations of couvertures (by adding cocoa butter, for instance). On the other hand, I don't want to temper something that, within a few minutes, turns into a blob of solid chocolate. I do have some liquid lecithin, so might experiment, but with Christmas orders approaching, I don't have time to play around too much. One problem I foresee is what to do with leftover chocolate. I assume I would not add the lecithin again, probably not the cocoa butter, but I would have to keep track of how much of the chocolate is leftover (and thus has been doctored) and how much is new. This alone sounds like a pain. Any suggestions on how to approach this issue? I am puzzled as to why the usual additives would not have been included in the grinding, conching, tempering process (which, by the way, was done by Felchlin in Switzerland, though their name is not officially used on the product). Incidentally I have not tasted the dark chocolate, though Norman Love and Jin Caldwell are excited about it.

Perhaps heat the knife slightly, then cut. You would need to experiment to discover what "slightly" turns out to be.

Is the recipient going to eat the bonbons quickly? If not, I would be concerned with shelf life. You might want to read this thread on the shelf life of bonbons with cheese, especially my quotes from Sebastian from The Chocolate Life. I respect everything he says about the technical aspects of chocolate, and he scared me off trying the Stilton and port filling:

Yes, I watched Melissa meticulously (a word that applies to everything she does) use a little sponge brush to paint an arc in a mold, then paint another arc slightly overlapping it. Beautiful effect, but.... Kate Weiser is a chocolatier who does demanding, meticulous work on a large scale (a sample box suggested that the pieces are hand-painted), but photos show assistants doing this.

To second what Kerry said, if you add the full amount of cocoa butter in the form of silk, it tends to make the ganache too firm, decidedly so for use with a guitar.

@Bentley, I haven't had luck with using tape--the color always seeps behind it. I must have used the wrong kind of tape. A food-safe type of tape supposedly exists (someone on eGullet said he had it, but he never returned to explain what it is and where to get it). I don't think I have ever seen a perfectly round and smooth mold like that. It must have been quite a job to get the tape up the sides--somewhat labor-intensive, to put it mildly. What is the source of the mold?

@Bentley, so are you going to reveal how you got that beautiful stripe? Inquiring minds want to know.

This topic developed from the thread on including marshmallow in bonbons but was not directly related to that discussion. Many people include cookies of some sort in their chocolates, and it seems to be very popular with customers. I would like to try this idea and had some concerns about shelf life and how it might be affected. I (and many others) have long included feuilletine in bonbons, and that is, of course, a form of cookie. I mentioned my concerns in the marshmallow thread but decided to post a question on The Chocolate Life: "Does including something like shortbread or a cookie do anything to lower shelf life or present other problems with safety?" I received the following thought-provoking response from the owner of that forum: The statement on pasteurized milk regulations brings up the issue of sanitation: after milk is repasteurized, what is to prevent it from being recontaminated once it is exposed to air for even a few seconds? Obviously the regulations must envision a zone somewhere between complete absence of contaminants and total disregard for sanitation. Once I make a cookie I hope to include in a bonbon, I will test the aW; I would expect the water activity level of something like shortbread to be quite low, but we will see.

I piped into empty molds (no chocolate involved) just to see if the process would work, so there is nothing meaningful to photograph yet, but when I actually use the marshmallow in a bonbon, I will cut one in half. Of course, the piping process eliminates some of the air, but there were some holes, and, to my mind, that is a small sacrifice to pay to be able to pipe the mixture into a mold.

I have continued my pipeable marshmallow experiments and want to report what was successful. The recipe below is based on the RecipeGullet one for strawberry marshmallows, with adaptations for piping. I have converted the measurements to grams. Notes: The tricky part of the process is getting the marshmallow to a low enough temperature that it will not melt the chocolate shells but not so low that it starts to set. In practice I found that if you keep piping, that window is wider than it might seem. I suspect the heat of one's hands on the piping bag helps, and one could always give a little boost with a heat gun. A larger amount of marshmallow might present problems; therefore the amounts are half of the RecipeGullet ones. I think the reason my earlier attempts failed is taking the syrup to a higher temperature; with the 235F/113C specified here, the mixture is easily pipeable and does not leave a trail of marshmallow over the top of the mold. It is worth mentioning that the marshmallow loses its pink color as it is beaten. PIPEABLE STRAWBERRY MARSHMALLOW Mix 14g (2 envelopes) unflavored gelatin with 120g strawberry purée (strained to remove any pulpy parts) and (if desired) 1/8 tsp. orange flower water and (if desired) 1 tsp. strawberry compound in a small bowl and place over hot water. Make sure all the gelatin is dissolved. Meanwhile put 300g sugar, 185g glucose, and 100g water in a heavy pot. [Edited 4/20/2018: From a suggestion made by Pastrypastmidnight, I now substitute 100g of strawberry purée for the water--a change that substantially enhances the fruit flavor.] Over low to medium heat stir until the sugar is dissolved, washing down any crystals on the side of the pot. Let the sugar mixture boil until it reaches 235F/113C, then remove from the heat and allow to cool until the temperature is 212F/100C. During this time be sure to keep the gelatin mixture warm. Transfer the gelatin mixture to the large bowl of a mixer with a whisk attachment, turn on the mixer, then slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl. Gradually increase the mixer speed to high. When the marshmallow is very thick, start testing its temperature. For piping into molds, it should fall to around 92F/33C (this assumes further cooling as it is transferred to a piping bag). Beat the mixture at slow speed while waiting for it to cool. [Edited 5/29/2020: I now fill a large plastic bag with ice cubes and hold it against the side of the mixing bowl; it lowers the marshmallow to a pipeable temperature quickly. I have also discovered that waiting to add flavoring (vanilla, purée, etc.) until the end of the beating thins out the marshmallow enough that it pipes easily and even self-levels in the cavities. After a day of standing, it had formed a skin on top that made piping an additional layer easy. When I measured its water activity level, it was 0.78, higher than when adding flavoring earlier but still acceptable for most people.] With an oiled spatula transfer the marshmallow to a piping bag and pipe into molds. The piping should be done as quickly as possible (at 86F/30C the gelatin begins to set). Allow the marshmallow to set at least 12 hours before adding a second layer or closing the mold. Approximately 90-100 cavities (15g size) can be fully filled with this recipe.

@Bentley, are you willing to share the recipe for your Caramel Cookie Monster?

I'm embarrassed to admit that I tried marshmallow cream. It piped beautifully if used as it comes in the jar. But it doesn't have much flavor. When I added some vanilla extract, the texture turned runny and unappetizing.

@pastrygirl, Thanks for the tip about "massaging" the pastry bag with ganache/marshmallow. I knew that granite countertop would come in handy someday. It's funny, I think my reluctance to use cookie-like layers in a bonbon comes from a response from you a couple of years ago when I inquired about using a recipe from Ecole Chocolat using raw chocolate cookie dough. You wrote: "An airy, damp, floury thing is a good medium for yeast and mold growth. You don't need to leave flour and water out too many days before it bubbles, so I think there is too much food for wild nasties in this recipe to keep it at room temp for more than a few days." Of course we were discussing uncooked cookies, but somehow your answer got stuck in my mind, and I have never thought about it until this thread took a turn from marshmallows to cookies. I did see your idea with puff pastry scraps. I have a lot of such scraps in my freezer, but would want to make sure they were thoroughly baked--puff pastry can be fairly moist (and tough when dry). How did your use of it turn out? I think a shortbread layer would be a tasty addition to a bonbon, but I'm not sure, off the top of my head, how I would bake it to be very thin without burning it.