Jim D.
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Posts posted by Jim D.
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19 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:
A standard dew point Aw meter without special filters doesn't recognize the Aw lowering effect of alcohol. From the Aqua Lab manual - ‟Samples with a high amount of volatiles condense on the mirror during the reading process, but do not evaporate from the mirror as water does. As a result the reading on samples with volatiles may not be accurate with the dew point technique.”
I wrote to Aqua Lab asking about this issue and got this reply: "The statement was quoted from the 4TE manual that used the chilled mirror sensor. I've attached the link to the maual, this statement is on page 51 section 8.4."
I replied to them, asking specifically: "But does the statement also apply to the Pawkit, meaning that it too may not give accurate readings with high amounts of volatiles in the sample?"
And the reply to that was: "Not at all James. Pawkit uses the capacitance sensor, there is not a chilled mirror on the Pawkit. Our Series 4TEV instrument uses the same sensor as the Pawkit."
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2 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:
I think it's 18% of the free water - so 250 g of cream has 162.5 g water - 18% of which is a little over 29 g of pure alcohol. If you use lower proof you need to account for it.
I was quoting what Wybauw says about the 15% figure; he does not mention "free water."
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3 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:
If this is indeed the case, it gives me a small sense of relief in a way. Not because the alcohol doesn't make a substantial difference, it's a nice tool to have available if it did. My relief comes from the idea that if adding it doesn't make much difference, than neither does leaving it out.Jean-Pierre Wybauw states that extending shelf life with alcohol requires adding 15% alcohol to the amount of other liquids in the ganache. This means that a ganache using 500g of chocolate and 250g of cream would require 37.5g of alcohol. That's not a huge amount, but it's not nothing.
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On 9/20/2016 at 11:47 AM, Jim D. said:
I would also like to have the recipes that you offered. At first I found the idea totally repulsive, but Stilton and port in dark chocolate is intriguing. If you post that recipe, I'll give it a try and see what the water activity is (although the port will make a difference in shelf life that is, as far as I know, not measurable).
I thought I should follow up with what I have learned in regard to this Stilton and port filling. I posted the basic issues about shelf life on The Chocolate Life forum, and Sebastian, who appears to be very knowledgeable about all things chocolate, replied first with information about the impact of alcohol on water activity: "The impact of the alcohol you add will be factored into any Aw reading you take." And in another post: "...an Aw meter will give a reading of the overall Aw of the food system being tested, and will be agnostic of individual ingredients. It considers the system as a whole, and if that system contains alcohol, that will be considered as well as part of that system. As Clay notes, port, while relatively high alcohol for a wine, is still relatively low in overall alcohol content, and as such the contribution of alcohol to the overall formula will be nominal at your likely use level. While it may be measurable, it's not likely to be meaningful in terms of its ability to provide extended microbiology shelf life." So the good news for those with Aw meters is that those devices do take into account any alcohol; the bad news is that it takes a lot of alcohol to make a substantial difference in shelf life.
Then there is the cheese in this bonbon. On that issue Sebastian wrote: "Perhaps consider grating the cheese, putting it in a sous vide bag, and then into a pressure cooker - sort of a DIY HPP process to reduce the micro load of the cheese? I've no data on it, but theoretically it should work pretty well. Better yet, grate the cheese, add it AND the port to the bag and pressure treat them both - that way you get the impact of heat, pressure, and alcohol working on micro load reduction."
I don't have the equipment to perform that experiment, and frankly the mention of "micro load reduction" would keep me from making this filling in situations where the seller of the chocolate has no control over how long or under what conditions the buyer keeps it. I might make it for guests who I knew were going to eat it right away.
So, long story short, I might experiment with this in the coming summer months and, if it tastes good, make some Stilton and port chocolates for Christmas for friends, but, because of the issues with the cheese, I would not see adding it to the list of items I regularly make for sale.
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Before you go to a great of work, possibly with a disappointing outcome: If you have a little bit of ganache left over from another project or can throw one together quickly and also have a little bit of chocolate you can temper, you can experiment with a small number of the shells and see what happens. If after watching them for a while, they are OK, then you can (with guarded confidence) use the rest, with the usual caveat that chocolate behaves differently from day to day (or so I have found).
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@ChocoMom, Thanks for those ideas. I'm glad to hear that the pineapple oil tasted "true," since I have had some unsuccessful purchases of similar products. Once when I was working on apple flavor, I bought 3-4 products (all of which tasted like the chemicals they were probably made from) until I found a French green apple "essence," which really works.
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Very funny, Kerry, but you are the one who seems to enjoy endless experiments. I was looking for examples from the experience of others who add flavorings at the end.
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A question on flavored caramel filling for chocolates: How much liquid (fruit purée or liquor, for example) can one "get away with" adding at the end of the process? Liquid needs to be boiled away for caramel to reach the proper temperature, and obviously there would be no chance for that to happen with added liquid.
As I discussed previously in making Wybauw's pineapple caramel, the pineapple flavor is best when some fresh purée is added at the end, but more than a little, and the caramel is too runny. I would also like to add some dark rum to this caramel. I have experimented with this recipe to the point where it works satisfactorily: I add simmering cream to the hot caramel, heat it to at around 250F/121C, then add the simmering pineapple purée, which causes the temp to drop to around 220F/104C, but it doesn't take too long to get it back up to the desired final temp (around 234F/112C). This two-step process keeps the pineapple flavor from cooking away too much and doesn't give the fruit long enough to scorch. Today, in order to be able to add some extra liquid at the end, I went to a final temp around 238F/114C, then when the mixture had cooled, added a few teaspoons of fresh pineapple (I didn't try rum today). The caramel has now cooled and is at a perfect consistency, but I am looking for any suggestions on how far I can take these additions--or how high I can take the caramel/cream mixture before adding the pineapple (since it's not possible to eliminate the temperature drop when the purée is added). The recipe has 280g sugar, 70g glucose, 160g cream, 185g pineapple, 65g butter. I doubt that there is a mathematical calculation that would give an exact answer, but would be happy with a ballpark figure which would keep me from having to do endless experiments to find out.
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@Bentley, thanks for that suggestion. I will give it a try.
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@ChocoMom, Thanks for all that helpful information. I have a Paasche airbrush, which is very similar to the Badger. To use that, you must have sprayed very briefly in each cavity, correct? Otherwise I find that the cocoa butter starts to spread rather quickly (usually that is what one wants, to get full coverage, but not in this case).
Jim
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@ChocoMom, welcome back to chocolate production. It's obvious you have not forgotten, in the course of your terrible ordeal, how to make beautiful bonbons. Do you mind telling how you got those nice white dots on the black and white piece? I don't have one of those airbrushes that are adjustable and are good for this sort of decoration, so using various hand-held brushes, I get more splotches and drips and dribbles than dots. I need to find a "brush shop" (like the Container Store) somewhere and keep experimenting.
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11 hours ago, teonzo said:
But you don't have time to add essential oil, taste (your tongue is not happy to taste something at 105-107°C), adjust and so on. You have just time to add it and pour the pâte de fruit. So you need to know beforehand how much essential oil you need to add.
@ChristysConfections, if you want to give yourself a little more time to taste the pâte de fruit (before it starts to jell), you could look into using a low-ester pectin (Pomona's is an easily found brand in the U.S.) rather than the pectin employed in the usual pâte de fruit. With a pectin like Pomona's you have more "wiggle room" at the end of the process: you stop when the mixture has returned to a boil after adding the pectin and some sugar, and at that point you can remove the mixture from the heat, cool a spoonful, taste it, add more flavoring, heat it again if you need to. The downside is that it is more difficult to judge just how firm the pâte de fruit is going to be, but you can test it by putting a dab on a plate and refrigerating it for a while. There was a discussion of using Pomona's for pâte de fruit in molded chocolates on eGullet. With Pomona's one does not use quite as much sugar, so water activity (and resulting shelf life) can be a concern, but in that other thread I dealt with that issue and have continued working on it since then. If you were to make a rose pâte using Pomona's, you would need to add more pectin than in the recipe I gave in the earlier thread.
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Not to get off the track about infusing, but you mentioned your final goal is to make ganache for filling chocolates. From my experience (and as others have suggested above) the only way to know how much flavor you will get, regardless of method, is to try it. Orange peel, for instance, has a very strong flavor that shows up even in a dark chocolate ganache. Surprisingly it is stronger even than grapefruit, which comes out as more subtle than one might expect. A little cinnamon goes a long way. Lavender can get too strong very fast, but it fades somewhat in a ganache. Ginger is quite subtle (unless you leave it in the ganache). Earl Grey tea is strong in an infusion, but fades in a ganache to the point where I have discovered some people can't taste it (unless they know it's there). I thought lemon verbena sounded promising, but the finished ganache had very little of the flavor, even though I used a lot of leaves.
And as someone else stated, there is no getting around heating the medium (usually cream), and that causes some flavor loss, even some change in the flavor. I would also add that you need to try the infused cream in an actual ganache and then in an actual shell. I have given up on some flavors because they mostly disappear in a finished bonbon. White chocolate in the ganache causes the least loss of flavor, but you might be surprised (if you haven't already tried this) at how it overwhelms many flavors that seemed strong at first. Substituting a small amount of cocoa butter for some of the chocolate helps somewhat. A more dramatic way of flavoring a ganache is to use fruit purée instead of cream as the liquid; I have had success with that method using black currant and blackberry. There is another thread that is helpful about flavored ganaches.
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This inconsistency in the outcome is not at all unusual. Sometimes some pieces will fall out of the mold immediately, while others stick. Sometimes some pieces are nice and shiny, while others are dull. Sometimes, IMHO, there is no explanation for this situation (and we just have to guess why it happened). But I have found that since I started putting the shells in the refrigerator for a few minutes after they have been formed (after they have crystallized at room temperature), I have had far fewer cases of dull or sticking shells. This has to do with the "latent heat of crystallization" given off as chocolate crystallizes. To give credit where it's due, I learned this technique from Kerry Beal.
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@teonzo, I can't wrap my head around the sweet ingredients in the panicio (such as the wonderful-sounding candied pumpkin) and the slight bitterness of radicchio in a single item. Can you describe the taste? How much vegetable bitterness comes through?
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Just wanted to post an update on this issue. After one rather snippy response ("...we've provided the answer Breville is offering, there is no other answer which will be provided....I understand a supervisor has already offered to assist you in a very generous way to ensure you have the best experience possible. I imagine that will suffice.") I finally got a clear-cut answer from Breville: The noise is in fact "the way it is" and has to do with the fact that the blades connect to the motor with the spindle. In the 16-cup model (which seems to be what most people have and therefore they have not experienced the noise) the blades connect directly to the motor, and there is no knocking sound when the motor starts and stops. I am now returning the Breville to Williams-Sonoma and (since it is a design issue, not a flaw in the particular machine I received, there is no point in getting a replacement) am purchasing a Cuisinart instead.
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36 minutes ago, lindag said:
JimD,
Is it possible you can just return it for a replacement?
That's what nice about Costco and Amazon (with Amazon, though, I think it has to be within 30 days.
That's what I plan to do, but I expect some resistance since the rep I spoke to said the machine located in the room with him made the same noise. My deduction at this point is that it's not an issue with the motor but rather with how the blade and the spindle (which links the blade and the bowl) fit together as the noise doesn't occur with just the spindle in place (no blade) and also doesn't occur with the spindle plus one of the grating/slicing disks in place or with the small bowl (which has its own blade and does not use the spindle) in place. The larger 16-cup Breville model does not use the spindle to connect the blades. Thanks again to those who gave this issue some thought.
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Thanks for the replies. I have spent a lot of time researching this issue. With the exception of one response on Amazon (that person experienced the same sound but it did not bother him/her), no one else has reported any unusual noise. Today I managed to find several videos demonstrating the machine (unfortunately the 16-cup rather than the 12-cup one I have) and in those videos there was no sound other than the usual food processor sound. I have read every online review I could find. It just seems very unlikely that no one else noticed this sound and failed to report on it. I have used a FP for probably 40 years, so I know the noise one normally makes. Now I just have to convince Breville that there is some defect in my machine, as I have come to believe there is.
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For anyone who has the 12-cup (or the 16-cup) Breville machine: Does yours make an unusual "knocking" sound? I just got a new 12-cup FP, and every time it starts and stops, it makes a rather loud sound. The closest I can get to describing it is that it sounds as if someone is hitting a heavy spoon against the side of the bowl. I called Breville, and the person checked a nearby machine and said it made that sound, but he was unable to allow me to listen to the sound on his end, so I don't know if we were thinking about the same thing. I posted a question on Amazon, and someone from Breville wrote: "The induction motor produces a significant sound as it engages and disengages, as no moving gears or parts are responsible, but rather magnetics with great strength to process a range of ingredients most effectively." I know nothing about motors, inductive or otherwise, so I don't fully grasp the point. All I could think of was a very noisy experience in an MRI machine.
I can probably learn to put up with this sound if the FP is as good as most reviewers say, but when one is using the pulse mode, the noise could really become obnoxious. Before I go forward, I would like to know if others with this FP have had the same experience. Any input would be very helpful.
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Funny you should ask that about invert. Only recently have I had it separate. I just stir it up a bit, and it seems fine. My assumption is that anything that sweet is pretty safe, but I do refrigerate mine after I open it (anything can eventually mold, right?).
As for fondant, I have never had it separate. It does harden after a while, but it can be softened gently.
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3 minutes ago, andiesenji said:
Here is Frontier's web site, which explains in detail the difference between the various varieties.
Very helpful. Thank you.
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On 1/7/2017 at 2:39 PM, andiesenji said:
I also ordered a pound of Frontier's Organic Vietnamese Cinnamon. (Add-on item) 7.62 And it is EXCELLENT.
@andiesenji, some time ago you posted about real cinnamon vs. cassia and (I think) pointed out that what most of us buy in stores is really the latter. So is this Frontier brand you mention the real thing? My last bottle from the grocery store says it is Vietnamese cinnamon, but I'm not sure how to tell the difference.
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Others beat me to recommending the "lazier" way of obtaining fondant. I get mine from L'Epicerie (they have it in small quantities and at what I consider a very reasonable price). Like Tri2Cook, I don't have a large enough marble/granite slab. Frankly, since fondant always gets flavored with something (to disguise its sweetness/blandness?), I don't see it as worth the effort. Or am I just getting lazy?
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One of my Christmas collections of chocolates:
Top row: (1) layers of pear pâte de fruit and almond cream with pear brandy, molded in dark chocolate, (2) PB&J: layers of raspberry pâte de fruit and peanut butter meltaway, molded in milk chocolate, (3) coconut cream, molded in dark chocolate, (4) apple caramel, molded in milk chocolate
Middle row: (1) gingerbread-flavored ganache, dipped in dark chocolate, (2) layers of hazelnut gianduja and coffee ganache, dipped in milk chocolate, (3) dark caramel with sea salt, molded in dark chocolate, (4) fig ganache with port, molded in dark chocolate
Bottom row: (1) lemon cream, molded in white chocolate, (2) pistachio ganache, molded in milk chocolate, (3) layers of apricot pâte de fruit and mango ganache, molded in white chocolate, (4) banana and passion fruit caramel, molded in white chocolate
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Pâte de Fruits (Fruit Paste/Fruit Jellies) (Part 2)
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Just wanted to report that finally I did purchase a box of Kate Weiser's chocolates. I bought 15 pieces and made a point to include all that had PDF. Those were: grapefruit with cashew praline, cherry with Dulcey almond praline, strawberry with white chocolate and basil, apricot with lavender dark chocolate ganache, raspberry with dark chocolate ganache.
First, the chocolates are beautiful, almost like paintings. I assume the outsides were mostly hand-painted cocoa butter because they didn't look airbrushed and also there were substantial variations between the photos on the enclosed guide and the actual product. They are on the small side, but that statement comes from someone who prefers chocolates on the large side (I like more than one bite). There is no question they are as delicious as they are beautiful. Some flavors are a bit muted and, like many chocolates, the description helps discern the flavor. The key lime bonbon is outstanding--no wonder the website suggests that if the customer wants to order an entire box of those, it's OK--("make a box of all Key Lime Pies - we won't judge you"), although I must confess that the lime ganache is paired with "graham cracker ganache," and I didn't taste graham crackers.
But the PDFs are the point of this post: They are quite good. Aside from the grapefruit, the taste really hits you, and there is no question what the fruit is. The texture is soft but not runny--the PDF layer does not melt into the other layer of the bonbon--but it's not the texture of a fully set PDF. So, as others have deduced, it may be a finished traditional PDF that has been put in a blender or it may use less pectin and therefore not be fully set. Whatever the method, it's delicious and offers a great contrast to the other layer. I would have conducted a water activity test (since shelf life is a question with somewhat liquefied PDFs in a bonbon--what was done to get them soft?), but there was not enough PDF in each piece to run the test.
For the record, the box of 15 cost $35, 2-day shipping was $21 (all from my "research budget," of course!). If you think the price is high, someone just sent me an ad for chocolates from Madison, Wisconsin, that are $2.60 each.