ACJax

Removing the door frame and/or window is not an option. This is a shared retail spot, not my own location. If it was my own location I would just put the money into it and double pane the front glass and boost the AC cooling ability to keep the entire front area cool enough to display without dedicated cooled display case. Couple mini-spit ac units would do wonderful (which they won’t go for, I already tried to go that route). I took a quick look at advanced gourmet, they do chocolate cases, I will get my specs to them and see what they can do. Thanks for the recommendation.

Surprisingly few responses, only three companies have responded from the above list (including vegacases). Vega Cases did respond, they stated they would not be able to meet my requirements, I think it has to do with the depth of the cases, they make theirs 48” and I can only have 30” due to a door to get through. Another that responded, after I talked to the rep, was also kind of hesitant about saying they could do the case, again due to the depth requirements. They were 35”. Maybe its just the place I am currently in, it is an old building, but this has at least taught me one thing, when I can finally move into my own place; make sure that there is a 48” doorway.

Thanks for the recommendation, I have sent them a request for quote on what I am looking for. I have also sent out quote requests to the following other companies I found on the web that appear to make what I am looking for, or do custom work. Is anyone familiar with any of them? Alternative Air Store Fixtures. Cold Core Federal Industries Custom Cool Food Service Solutions Borgen Merchandising Systems Specialty Fabricators, LLC Atlantic Food Bars Creative Merchandising Systems Alternative Air Store Fixtures & Cold Core seem to be the same cases.

I am looking for a new display case for chocolates. My current one was bought used and really is not up to the job, it was not made for chocolates, I modified it to work. I have decided to go new and get exactly what I want. I am in Florida, so refrigeration/humidity control is a must. Anyone have any recommended brands or ones to avoid? I have been searching the internet looking at various brands, they all market nice, but finding any reviews about any is practically non-existent. Even though they are cheap, I am avoiding going with no-name China imports. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you,

Thanks for all your input. The higher cocoa butter chocolate firmed up very well, too well actually, so I made some ratio changes and will get to see the results later tonight. Also working with a warmer temp helped out a bit too, still need to thin it out a bit more, but I could see an improvement. Ok kind of a follow up question for everyone. What do you do with left over ganache that didn’t get used or didn’t turn out right? Or other chocolates that while good, didn’t turn out right? I think it was Wybauw that had one recipe that used “mistakes”. I was planning to take all my test ganaches and just blend down with some cream and make a syrup for my morning coffee. What does everyone else do with their “mistakes”, other than just eat them?

Thanks for the help. I worked with some chocolate last night that had a higher cocoa butter content, I’ll see tonight how if firmed up. I’ll also try working the ganache a bit warmer. I’m finding a lot of the ways I did things when working out of my house are not working in a commercial environment, less time to do more it seems.

Another question, I am finding myself spending too much time leveling out my ganache in my moulded shells. My ganache is not fluid enough to smooth out on its own or by tapping the mould, so I spend a lot of time smoothing it out by hand. I find that if I thin it out by adding cream (or reducing chocolate) to the mixture then the ganache does not set up firm enough. Would adding additional cacao butter help make it more fluid to pour in the shell? But then have it set up firm enough? I use butter in my ganaches, would adding additional butter to the mix help set it up firmer? My working temps for the ganache is around 85F (29C). Thanks,

Somewhat of success with leaving the chocolate in the moulds for an extended period of time. Some came out with a perfect gloss to them; others were more of a satin gloss. This was with a 60% dark, I’ll be demoulding some Milk chocolate tonight to see how they do. I was using some new moulds, so may not have polished/seasoned all of them well enough.

Thanks for everyone’s input, I am going to prep some more moulds tonight and see how they set up and store for 48 hours. The more I think about the issues I had last time I tried this, I think it was more an issue of temperature than keeping the chocolate in the moulds to long. This should be less of an issue now that I am in a proper kitchen. My production set up will be basically this: Day1: Prep the number of moulds I need Day2: Prep ganache and fill Day3: Cap and de-mould. To the comment about freezing the finished chocolates, my issue is more about just producing the chocolates in an efficient manner, not storing for long-term. So far I’ve been able to get a decent storage time by just keeping them around 40F (4C). I have some that I made last November ’14 that have been stored this way for testing and are still good…bit of a quality issue, but safe. As my sales (hopefully) increase, especially around the holiday season, I will look at freezing so I can stock up during slower times and have enough to keep up stock during the busy times.

I have considered going that route or using slab and cut with a guitar cutter, but it’s not what I am looking for as the end result for my chocolates. This is the same reason I have not gone to pre-made truffle balls. I like the final result using PC moulds gives and having different shapes to identify my various truffles, plus I get many compliments on my moulded shaped truffles. I am hoping my current test works out where I can keep the shells in the moulds for at least 24-48 hours will out affecting appearance. If not, then I will have to go back to making the ganache ahead of time and then re-melting it when needed, and deal with the extra time and shortened shelf-life this step adds.

I have recently moved out of my house and into a commercial kitchen and need to be able to increase production. Previously production time really wasn’t a problem, nor was shelf life, orders were made on request and were eaten within days of delivery. Now I am trying to make chocolates that can be pre-made to be sold. I am a one-man shop (with two jobs…got to support the chocolate habit until it can support itself) so I do not have someone around to help nor do I have multiple pieces of equipment, I know I’m not the only one that has been in this position. How are others handling this? Do you make your mould shells first and then make the ganache? How long can shells stay in moulds before they are affected? Do you make the ganache first and then mould the shells? How are you storing the ganache? How are you reheating it? If I make the ganache first I have to re-melt/soften it after it has set up. This adds more air into the ganache and affects shelf-life. So far it hasn’t affected the quality or texture (it doesn’t get grainy). But this takes time to re-prepare the ganache each time. (I got very good at recovering broken emulsions while reheating, and can do it consistently, but it takes time) When I have made the shells first, the shells’ quality/sheen seems to suffer, the shells stay in the mould for 24-48 hours, as I make the shells day 1, and on day 2 I make the ganaches and fill. I only tried this once (and it was a disaster, the shells looked horrible), maybe it was just that time. I’m currently trying again, running an experiment to see if I can pre-make shells. One note on how I make my ganache, I melt/temper the chocolate I use, I do not pour hot cream over un-melted chocolate. For me, I found this to be a more consistent way to make ganache. But due to time constraints I only have time to do one tempering session per day during the week. If I use the same chocolate in the center as the shells this isn’t as much of an issue, but if I use two or more different chocolates for the shells/centers, which many of my recipes call for, then this becomes a problem. Thanks in advance for your help.