Jim D.

Thanks for all those tips. I had read Eddy's method previously but had forgotten about it. I have cocoa butter in the form of small chips. I would think they would work as well as grating it. What do you think? I like the fact that using cocoa butter is so foolproof. If it turns out that my block of milk chocolate (which is now quite small since I am switching to an E. Guittard product) is ruined, then I have to rethink what I am going to do with my supply of chocolate during the coming Virginia summer. It seems extravagant to run the air conditioning night and day just to save my chocolate, but .... Thanks again for your help. One unsettling thought: What is to prevent cocoa butter from going out of temper just like the milk chocolate appears to have done? It does melt at a higher temperature, so I would guess it would be safer longer.

Then something is clearly different about the Notter mint recipe. Of course the typical cream ganache recipe does not call for tempering the chocolate but for pouring hot cream over chopped chocolate.

Excellent idea. I will give it a try tomorrow and report back. If it turns out to be the explanation, then I will know that chocolate is more temperamental in terms of storage temperature than I previously believed.

I have a block of Callebaut milk chocolate that I used this past Christmas, when there were no problems with it at all. Recently I used it to mold chocolates, and it was a failure--had a grayish color and streaks and unmolded with great difficulty or not at all--symptoms of dirty molds and/or untempered chocolate. It got quite warm that day before I turned on the air conditioning, and I thought that might be a factor. I should add that along with the milk choc. I used dark and white in other confections, without incident. Today I decided to experiment with that same milk chocolate to try to get to the bottom of what was wrong. I tempered the choc. in a Chocovision machine (same as previously). I tested it at the end of the process, and it looked tempered to me. I had prepared molds in three different ways: some plain, some "greased" with cocoa butter, some ungreased but decorated with colored cocoa butter. I had cleaned them repeatedly and polished them with cotton balls (no signs of previous use came off on the cotton). I filled the prepared molds, and everything looked fine--no streaks in the chocolate. But when I unmolded the chocolates (or tried to), I encountered all the previous problems--sides and bottom had a grayish color, top had developed a marbled effect. As far as the greasing of the molds experiment went, the ones with (plain) cocoa butter unmolded significantly more easily than the ungreased ones, whereas those with colored cocoa butter were the most difficult, and the cocoa butter stayed in the mold. But all had the gray and streaked appearance. As far as the possible heat factor goes, today isn't that warm (the room is about 72 F.--which I know is a bit too warm for chocolate work, but I have done it before without incident). I'm beginning to conclude that there is something wrong with this milk chocolate. I used previously melted and hardened pieces for the procedure, but I'm assuming that doesn't matter since they are melted (with all crystals) in the tempering process. For seeding I used a fresh piece from the Callebaut block. In other words, I did everything in the tempering process as I always do. Can a block of chocolate go bad? Can chocolate be untemperable? Is the chocolate cursed? Any suggestions would be most welcome. These experiences have shaken my confidence; I guess I was just enjoying beginner's luck in all my previous chocolate work.

Yes, I was stirring the ganache as it cooled. I cooled it to around 78-80 F. Notter calls for 88 F., Greweling for 77. When I filled the cavities, the ganache poured out in a completely liquid form.

Thanks for all the ideas.Usually when a recipe calls for adding melted cocoa butter later, I have just melted it together with the chocolate and haven't ever had an issue (I didn't do that this time since I had had problems with the recipe before and so was cautious). Ordinarily I start the cocoa butter first, then add whatever chocolate is called for. I'm gentler with white since I have had some bad experiences with it. I too was beginning to question the proportions in this recipe. I checked Notter's book, and his general formula for molded cream ganache is 1.5 parts (white) chocolate to 1 part cream. Since the mint recipe has 300 g cream, it should have 450 g chocolate; it actually has 483 g chocolate + cocoa butter, so it is close. But as others pointed out, that is a lot of cream. Greweling, on the other hand, recommends proportions of 2.5 parts white chocolate to 1 part cream. I think the proportions are the problem. But, to complicate matters further, other Notter recipes have worked for me. His wonderful recipe for raspberry and orange filling (highly recommended) has, for the orange-dark chocolate ganache, 100 g cream + 165 g orange juice (so 265 g liquefier), which would call for 265 g chocolate (his proportions for dark choc. are 1 choc. to 1 cream). Instead he calls for 175 g choc. That is a significant difference, but the ganache turned out beautifully. By the way, in researching this proportion matter, I found that both Greweling and Notter ignore their own general ratios much of the time. Back to the mint ganache: I did stir it while it was cooling, and that did not seem to help. I think making it more like a butter ganache, where the chocolate is tempered, would help; my suspicion is that pouring the almost-boiling cream onto the white chocolate may be too much of a shock. I've never quite understood why it is OK to take choc. so far out of temper with hot cream. It's just a nuisance to take the time to temper chocolate for ganache, or is that just me? It's also a trick to get the choc. and the liquefiers at more or less the same temperature to combine them. Again, thanks for the suggestions. No matter what technique one uses for this mint ganache, I do think the proportions need to be adjusted (more choc. or less cream).

I have mentioned this issue previously but am continuing to have problems with ganache not firming up enough to be satisfactory in molded chocolates. Yesterday I made Notter's mint ganache. The recipe uses the standard technique of bringing cream (300 g) and glucose (70 g) to a boil, then pouring these over chopped white chocolate (440 g) and adding melted cocoa butter (43 g). Finally a little mint oil is added. Couldn't be simpler, and the recipe is similar to other formulas for such fillings. But both times I have made it, it has remained so liquid that it has to be poured (not piped) into the molds. A day later its consistency has thickened only very slightly, not enough to support a layer of chocolate on top. The previous time I had some left over and added a boat-load of melted cocoa butter to it, and it did thicken up. This time I committed an act of heresy and put the mold in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. Like all ganaches, it will harden if it gets cold enough, but I was aware that all experts warn against doing what I did. I must report that about half the chocolates unmolded with grayish areas (one refused to unmold at all); the rest were fine. I had a similar problem the day before but am fairly certain it was due to too much warmth in the kitchen and thus bad tempering (did this in the Chocovision and did not test the tempering since it has never failed in the machine). Today, for the mint chocolates, I tested the temper and it was fine. So I don't know if the refrigeration caused this problem or not. Since I needed these chocolates, I applied a little cocoa butter tinted mint-green to the tops to cover up the defects (a technique which works, even though it is unorthodox). In any event, that is another issue aside from the too-thin ganache.. What could be the problem with the ganache? I do find that each ganache I try seems to have a mind of its own. Most of them, however, begin to thicken as I complete mixing them so as to give me faith that they will eventually firm up (and, of course, one does not want them to be too firm too soon or they will not pipe). Greweling's passion fruit, for example, starts thickening fairly soon but can be piped easily, then firms up rather quickly. My "customers" (family and friends) love mint-flavored chocolates, so I want this Notter recipe to work, and since Notter uses cocoa butter in many of his recipes, I assume he would have called for more if he thought it necessary. Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks for all your ideas. I can now report on the result of the peach ganache. Alas, it was not good. I half-filled the molds with cinnamon ganache, then the rest of the way with peach. Upon reflection, I realized that the peach was totally unsuccessful and had to take drastic action to save the pralines. It was really a comedy of errors. First, the frozen peaches had absolutely no taste--wonderful bright yellow color, but no taste. So I started over with canned peaches, which were much better. I used white chocolate plus cocoa butter to thicken the mixture. The result was just too bland. So I added the peach powder. It had no taste whatever (it's a name brand of fruit powder, but it was terrible and I threw it out). Then I began adding the peach compound. I have decided I am not thrilled with fruit compounds. Perhaps if you knew it was peach, you could taste it, but otherwise it just had an artificial taste. Finally I tried peach brandy. That had an alcohol kick, but not much flavor. In any event I left the peach ganache to set overnight, but by morning it had not set thoroughly, and the taste was still bland. I was so angry that I carefully scraped the peach mixture out of the molds, leaving the cinnamon behind. Then I made a recipe of Greweling's passion fruit ganache (fortunately I had some frozen passion fruit in the house). The resulting pralines were a great hit; people noticed the subtle taste of the cinnamon, and no one knew what a disaster the whole thing had almost been. My conclusion: Peaches are just too subtle to use in ganache--and that explains why I have never seen a recipe for peach ganache. Pears are only marginally better. It looks as if one has to have a strongly flavored fruit--passion fruit or apricot or orange, for example. Sad story, but I learned something. And I was only making the chocolates for family and friends, so it wasn't the major issue it might have been.

Looks great, but apparently they don't sell directly to the public/individuals.

Thanks for the helpful replies. The Guanaja Lactée that several have recommended is difficult to locate online. A Google search links mostly to bittersweet Guanaja. One result is Chocolate.com, but that links to Worldwidechocolate.com, and on that site, a search turns up nothing. Other usual chocolate sites don't have it.

I am looking at the various Valrhona milk chocolates and trying to find a comparison of them. I am searching for a milk that is not so sweet as most of them are. If there are opinions on the following chocolates, I would be interested in hearing them: Valrhona Tanariva Lactee Milk Chocolate Milk chocolate, 33% Cocoa, 38% Sugar, Fat Contents 35.5%, Milk 28%. Valrhona Caramelia Milk Chocolate Milk chocolate, 34% Cocoa, 29.5% Sugar, 22% Caramel. Valrhona Equatoriale Lactee Milk Chocolate Milk chocolate, 35% Cocoa, 44% Sugar, Fat Contents 37%, Milk 20%. Valrhona Orizaba Lactee Milk Chocolate Milk chocolate, 39% Cocoa, 34% Sugar, Fat Contents 41%, Milk 26%. Valrhona Andoa Lactee Milk 39% Cocoa - Fair Trade Milk chocolate, 39% Cocoa, 34% Sugar, 26% Milk Content. 41% Fat Content. Valrhona Jivara Lactee Milk Chocolate Milk chocolate, 40% Cocoa, 34% Sugar, Fat Contents 40.5%, Milk 23.5%.

Some time ago, in a thread on fillings for chocolates, DianaM recommended Valrhona's new white chocolate, named Opalys, to me. It is supposed to be better for "fading into the background" in fillings where one wants other flavors to predominate and also better for enrobing. I tried to find it in the U.S. but had no luck. I thought that I would report that it is now available (I found it on Chocosphere, which also has the fairly new Dulcey, which I believe Chocolot from this forum has used and which sounds interesting). I have not tried either of these yet. The price of Opalys is above that of Ivoire, but not by a lot.

Thanks for those suggestions. When I made the Shotts praline the first time, I didn't let the processor run long enough. The result was good (fantastic over vanilla ice cream), but a little crunchy for a filling. The second time I let the machine run (and run some more), and it was a much better product. I made the Greweling hazelnut honey filling today with the paste I bought. The nut bits weren't too big to pass through the pastry bag, but almost. I'm guessing the paste was thinner than what Greweling had in mind since the ganache didn't firm up entirely (I'm still waiting on it). I was surprised that the paste was still liquid in the refrigerator since the Shotts homemade paste got quite thick when chilled. Which brings up a complaint about chocolate recipes: It would be nice to have guidelines in addition to basic directions. You know, the way Julia Child tells you exactly what the consistency of a cheese souffle is supposed to be and exactly how to tell when it's done. Today's recipe could have said helpfully: The praline paste should have a solid consistency; if it is too liquid, use less of it (or add more chocolate).

In making one of Andrew Shotts's recipes for chocolates, I made hazelnut praline paste. It turned out well, but did have some bits of hazelnuts and solid praline (caramelized sugar) in it. For another recipe I decided to get the "real thing," since I read that it is impossible to make completely smooth praline paste with home equipment. So I purchased some from one of the most-recommended online sites. It has substantial bits of nuts and sugar in it, so I may as well have made my own, since I would be assured of the freshness of the hazelnuts. I looked again at the site, and yes, it does say there are nut pieces in it, so it's my fault. Is there a paste that is truly smooth? Any suggestions would be welcome. The nut bits don't matter so much in the recipe I am currently making, but sometimes one wants a completely smooth paste.

After the cautions about water content in chocolates that contain fruit purees, I thought I should ask for any advice (or warnings) about the recipe I have come up with for peach ganache. If anyone has time, could you take a look? I plan a two-layer ganache, one layer of peach, the other of milk chocolate with cinnamon (Notter recipe), then dip in milk chocolate. This is based, somewhat loosely, on Peter Greweling's recipe for slabbed raspberry butter ganache. 80g butter 20g glucose 160g peach puree (reduced from 320g) 15g peach brandy 300g chocolate melted and tempered, divided as follows: 255g white chocolate + 45g cocoa butter I am using a fairly high proportion of cocoa butter in order to reduce the chocolate taste and also encourage the ganache to set up when poured into a frame (tempering helps with this as well). I will also be adding small amounts of additional flavorings to taste: I have Amoretti peach compound and also some freeze-dried peach powder. Frankly neither one of them tastes strongly of peach in themselves, so I'll add carefully. I am making my own peach puree for the simple reason that I don't have more room in the freezer for tubs of fruit puree. From my reading I have learned that butter ganache has better shelf life than cream ganache, and I'm using glucose to help with that issue (and also sweeten the frozen peaches, which have no sugar added). Any input would be welcome.

Is there a difference between using a puree one has made and a commercial one? I am asking because there are many ganache recipes that call for fruit puree--to take just one example, Greweling's passion fruit ganaches. I think Greweling always calls for reducing the puree by half, but not all recipes do. I hate reducing purees because of the deterioration in flavor that comes from cooking the fruit, but I am also concerned about water content in the finished product.

Thanks for those great suggestions. Obviously having lines already drawn on the bottom piece will be very helpful.

When cutting up transfer sheets to get pieces to be applied to individual dipped chocolates, is there any secret to the process? I soon came to realize how easily the cocoa butter rubs off, so it is difficult to find a place to hold the sheet to cut it up with scissors. An X-acto knife doesn't always cut through the plastic backing successfully. Am I missing something obvious, or is it just a delicate process? I did learn that it is wise to cut the individual pieces considerably larger than the top of the dipped chocolate to allow for "operator error."

I would also like to have the recipe. Thanks.

I need a very small amount of coconut purée and would like to make it myself, but, never having seen the commercial product that is assumed in ganache formulas, I don't know how it is supposed to look. So I would be grateful if someone could describe the texture of the commercial purée. Does it have any pieces of coconut or is it completely smooth? I'm assuming it is somewhat like coconut milk but much thicker. I plan to put pieces of a fresh coconut in the food processor and grind away, but am not sure how much, if any, water I should add to the mix. I know that to make coconut milk, one adds some water to the coconut pieces. Thanks for any help.

It's too bad there isn't an easy way to calculate the volume--for the simple reason that, in three recent cases, from recipes from two expert chocolatiers, the volume of the ganache has not matched the size of the frame specified. That is to say, the author may call for a 12" x 12" x 1/2" frame, and the ganache resulting from the recipe doesn't fill up the frame (it doesn't matter so much when the recipe exceeds the dimensions, but I haven't had that happen). But I don't see any solution except to calculate the volume of the frame and then pour the ganache into a measuring cup. There are conversion calculators on the web--for example, to determine how many fluid ounces it takes to fill up x number of cubic inches/centimeters.

Chris, So I must ask: What lies beneath this zebra-like exterior? Knowing your work, I assume the decoration must be something related to the filling. Jim

To add to this discussion (probably without adding any clarity): I was not happy with the completely solidified condition of invert sugar I had made (using Eddy van Damme's recipe) and yesterday ordered some from L'Epicerie. In the product description are these words: ========= Trimoline is an uncrystallizable sugar that allow freshness and softness to remain for longer period of time. This product should not be submit[ted] to important temperature variations or kept near sunlight. ========= Now I don't know whether the warning is referring merely to storage or to use, but may know more when the product arrives. I did come across another mention of this topic in a thread from 2006 in which Kerry described a demonstration by J.P. Wybauw. She reported that he stated: "Invert sugar should not be heated above 70 C, it will remove its water sequestering effects." So he has said this more than once. Jim

Very nice looking. Can you share any suggestions on how to do this? I get the basic technique, but when I have tried it, the lines have come out broken, especially on the sides of the mold. If you had used a flat dome or hemisphere kind of mold, I would understand how it worked, but you have one with fairly steep sides. I am guessing you held the tip of the piping bag very close to the mold. And perhaps the viscosity of the substance used (dark chocolate?) is also a key. In any event, I have wanted to do this, but every time I have tried, I have ended up with random splotches on the mold. Jim

I have seen Nakazawa (available in the U.S. from Unger Co. in Cleveland) mentioned as a good source for boxes for chocolates, and they certainly have some very nice looking ones. Unfortunately 200 appears to be the smallest lot in which these are sold, and I am looking for smaller amounts of various sizes. Can anyone suggest other sources?