Jim D.

I don't think it is possible to add color without having it in cocoa butter. After the chocolate shell is made, the tempered chocolate in the mold contracts as it crystallizes/cools, and the colored cocoa butter beneath it also contracts, so that they become one and come out of the shell together. This is all assuming that cocoa butter and chocolate are in temper--and that the chocolate gods are smiling that day. That contracting process wouldn't work with just food coloring applied to the shell. The coloring agent must be in an oil-based medium (such as cocoa butter), or the chocolate would seize up when it encountered water-based colorant.

I have some foam-tip tools, but they tend to make rather defined areas of color, not the "fluffiness" of this design You second idea is what Monde du Chocolat ordinarily does. Given the quickness with which cocoa butter hardens, it would take incredible speed--and talent.

These beautiful eggs are from Monde du Chocolat. The creator's work is incomparable. I read somewhere that she does many of her designs by blowing dabs of cocoa butter inside each cavity, but this one looks too "composed" for the randomness of an airbrush. How do you think this design was accomplished? Sponges? A fluffy paint brush (it's difficult to keep a brush fluffy after even a small amount of cocoa butter gets in it)? Finger painting (looks too refined for that, but one never knows)?

If the ingredient is just lime juice, I am still puzzled. "Carthage Lime Praline" is not just the title of the recipe, it is also an ingredient, and I don't see how lime juice could qualify as a praline without some added ingredients. Following up on Kerry's comment that Maison Boudina makes pastes with unusual flavors, a search for "Maison Boudina hazelnut" leads to cremedescremes.com, operated by Faten Boudhina, that does have lots of interesting ingredients, but no Carthage lime anywhere. One of the products, "Gianduia with Osmanthe and Piedmont Hazelnuts" lists among the ingredients: "80% Piedmont hazelnuts (Maison Boudina Paris)." But I cannot find a food-oriented website specifically named "Maison Boudina." I think the recipe will remain a mystery unless you manage to find the author and ask that person. Did Journal du Patissier happen to tell you the name of the author? The magazine's response to you doesn't really answer the central question, what is "Carthage lime praline"?

My initial use of the melanger has gone mostly well. I'm making a 4Kg batch of almond praline paste. The melanger is doing very well--not a morsel has flown out of the bowl, even when the amount was small at the beginning. I "pre-ground" the almonds in a food processor until they were fine and barely beginning to exude their oil. Then I made the caramel, and therein was the issue. The caramel was going well until near the end, when the sugar began to crystallize--which leads to that horrible sinking feeling, "I know where this is going to end." So I added some water and began again. The same thing happened a second time, and then a third time. Now a sensible person would have thrown out that 1.6Kg of sugar and started over, but being sensible is not always a virtue of mine (after all, I do make chocolates). The fourth time I divided the caramel in half and melted each half by itself, using a smaller pot. This time it worked. I have no idea what went wrong earlier. The humidity today is around 30%, and I followed the same procedure I always do (I prefer a wet caramel). In any event, I pre-ground the caramel in my old food processor (the sides of the bowl were already scratched from grinding caramel, so I used it), then added the caramel slowly to the melanger, along with some sea salt, and so far so good. It tastes great, needs some more grinding.

This recipe I found is not like the one to which pjm333 referred, but it does have a similar combination of praline and lime flavors (the latter showing up in Kaffir leaves and in sudachi purée). I am reasonably certain I cannot find sudachi purée [correction: I just located it for sale from AUI Fine Foods, my chocolate supplier] or probably Kaffir lime leaves, but I might give it a try using regular limes. The combination of Dulcey and Opalys in the Carthage lime recipe would probably allow the lime flavor to come through more boldly than the milk and dark chocolates of the recipe I found.

Why is this model more difficult in terms of removing the ice cream? I have the Cuisinart model where the canister has to be frozen first, and it's also fairly difficult to get all the ice cream out. The dashers in the two models don't seem that different to me, but obviously I must be missing something.

Just wanted to report about my melanger in action. The correct spring arrived today, and I ran a batch of just sugar to clean out the machine. The sugar didn't get dirty at all, so perhaps they are cleaning the melanger better before shipping. In addition, the sugar stayed completely in the bowl, no splattering anywhere (though I had it on the kitchen floor in case a hurricane ensued). The new scraper arms (instead of the deflectors) work very well at gathering the material from the sides of the bowl and placing it in the path of the stones. Similarly the new splash guards appeared to do their job as there was a little sugar on their bottoms when the grinding was done. The machine is very easy to clean (yes, I know this was just sugar). The melanger is a little noisier than I anticipated from the comments of others, but nothing I can't put up with, especially if it's in another room. I am very pleased with the workmanship and apparent sturdiness of the melanger and look forward to a large batch of almond praline paste tomorrow. The cost of this model (Premier Tilting Refiner, 10 pounds maximum, with stainless steel stone holder, Model 508) is $450, including shipping. The 8-pound non-tilting version (Model 507) is $400. I didn't intend to write a full review of the Premier melanger, but did want to thank all in this thread who answered my questions and encouraged me to move forward.

I would have thought the oil would make the paste more fluid (i.e., less viscous), so am surprised. I agree about the price of pistachios. I have a large container of already-made pistachio paste from Fiddyment Farms in California, so will begin by grinding that for a while, then gradually adding some caramelized sugar. It may turn out that buying their paste is less expensive than buying pistachios and grinding from scratch. I also agree about toasting only a little. Some people don't approve of toasting them at all. Some recipes (Greweling has one) recommend peeling the nuts, mostly to get a better color. Now that's a task for very patient people.

Do you think the box is necessary with the new splash guards installed? I have looked in vain for a box large enough to hold the whole melanger. My first grinding will be the sugar to clean it, and I suppose that qualifies as a small batch.

Can you tell me the purpose of the pistachio oil? Did the pistachios not have enough on their own?

At last (I think) I will be able to begin using the melanger next week. My first project is almond praline paste. I have usually made it 50-50 almonds and caramelized sugar, but would like to experiment with 60-40 almonds to sugar to help diminish the sweetness. Is there any reason why this would not work in terms of texture? I know that Cacao Barry's pistachio praline paste is 70% pistachios, so the principle seems to suggest it is OK. Since, by the way, that delicious and hard-to-source paste is $128 per kilo, achieving an acceptable pistachio praline at home is the next goal.

It's a fascinating recipe and puzzling as well: Lime praline is mentioned in the ingredients, but lemon praline in the notes at the bottom. A Google search for "Carthage lime" persistently turns up "Carthage limestone" from the U.S.--probably not what the recipe author had in mind. Whereas I don't find lime and praline particularly enticing in combination, I did find a recipe that includes hazelnut and kaffir lime praline.

I knew you would be interested in the resolution of this problem and just received an answer. Turns out the owner is traveling abroad, so connecting with him was difficult. Here's the response: "The spring on your top lock is actually going to be the problem here, it is too tall." I was very curious and so asked how the wrong spring was shipped. The correct spring is going to be shipped to me along with a video showing how to change it (they must know they are dealing with a know-nothing user on this end).

I thought it was fairly obvious that I was kidding.

Congratulations on the huge order.

"Just to make you all jealous" I think it's no exaggeration to say we hate you.

Pastrygirl is using "baking chips." 😲 What's next--coating chocolate? Oh well, Felchlin makes it. Vegan customers are driving you into uncharted territory.

He didn't say. He said he would consult with "his team" and see what the issue was. In the video depicting the model just before the current one, the machine arrives with a short spindle, which the user is directed to replace with a longer one. Now they found a way to ship the melanger with the long spindle. My guess is that the short one got put in my box, even though Jimmy said boxing errors had almost never happened. You know, companies always assume the user is the problem. Since the two spindles do exist, I think this makes the most sense. As long as I don't have to ship the whole melanger back to New Jersey.... It seems to me this machine is under constant development (and improvement, one hopes). In videos the stainless version does seem much sturdier than the one with some plastic parts. There is an interesting video from Manoa chocolate company in Hawaii in which the speaker compares the Premier to another machine. He said (this is hard to believe) they tend to treat these small melangers as throwaway items used for experimenting with new flavors. In particular they use them for a chocolate bar with honey, which, because of the water in honey, they have to make in very small batches--apparently chocolate will tolerate some water but not a lot. With Premier's move to more stainless parts, they seem to be aiming at a somewhat different market; this version certainly costs more.

I managed to reach Jimmy at Premier. He sent a diagram (see below) showing how the parts are supposed to be attached (note that the splash guard goes between the roller holder and the stirring mechanism). I took a video of me trying to attach the knob that holds everything together, and it appears I may have a defective part. It's always comforting to know one is not totally crazy. .

Experiment complete. The paste got much thicker than it had been, and all the crunch and gumminess are gone. Perhaps the texture resulted from cooking off the water the paste had absorbed, and the caramel was melted by the heat? It tastes the same. Still, I'm not going to risk ruining the large batch I plan to make with the melanger--and the sticky amount was not enough to be concerned about.

I realize you live in Seattle, but will you have enough customers to justify this experimentation? (Or maybe you have a Kerry-esque love of experimenting?) At the indoor market in which I am participating for the first time, I have had one potential customer ask if I had anything vegan. I think I looked so unprepared for the request (all I could point to was my solid Felchlin Arriba chocolate tablet) that he gave me a scornful look and walked away. This is my first experience with face-to-face sales, so I'm learning. 😀 My most challenging requests in making chocolates have been from those who, for religious reasons, avoid coffee, tea, and alcohol.

Excellent idea. I will report back on how it turns out.

Another melanger question: I have a batch of almond praline paste I made in the food processor. Of course it retained a certain crunchiness because the caramel doesn't grind up thoroughly. Over time, however, the crunchiness has turned to an unpleasant gumminess. I would like to make a completely new batch using the melanger and then, toward the end of the process, add the gummy batch. The goal is to make everything completely smooth (or as smooth as a tabletop melanger can). Do you think there is any danger of ruining the whole batch with the bad amount, or will the melanger be able to handle everything?

But I can't get the knob with the spring to engage--it seems the spindle is not quite long enough. Without the new splash guards, it's fine, but not with the three layers of stainless (splash guard + holder of the stirring devices + stone holder). Perhaps the longer spindle I mentioned from the video is necessary after all. I guess I will find out when I get a call back.