felipetruji

I have some recipes starting with cocoa liquor, it's ok but if you use too much it starts to harden.

Also thinking in doing some candied coconut shreds covered truffles...

I expect the assistants to be the wives of cocoa farmers mostly, that have curiosity about chocolate and want to copy the creations they look on instagram or what they have seen in bigger cities... The idea of the workshop is to showcase what the chocolate they produce can be used for, and if they are serious about it maybe it's an opportunity for an extra income. There are some traditional desserts and that's gonna be me starting point, trying to use chocolate to add an extra layer of flavor and identity... However that's gonna be an on the go, there isn't much I can prepare about that... I plan to give them some recipes, like a master class format introducing something new they can make at home, that's where fudge can come handy... But same as you I'm not fond on that one.... Nutella is widely sold in local supermarkets, so spreads I think it's gonna nail it.

I will definitely work on spreads. Nougat and fudge are not very popular here, but I think it's something worth teaching as well.

Great idea, what enclosed items would you think of? I'd prefer to stay away of items that need an oven, as most people won't have one.

Thanks for the answers. Yes you can refine into chocolate, there are some entrepreneur with melangers, some do it the traditional way using another mill wich gives them a paste (around 80-100 microns) wich is mostly used for hot beverages.

Hi folks. I'm doing some workshops about chocolate and cocoa quality for a community located close to cocoa plantations. It's common to see locals trying on making chocolate and confectionery items, but they have problems as the chocolate just melts during daytime with average temperatures over 30C. So I'm wondering what kind of chocolate items would you propose for folks that live in a neverending summer and have close to unlimited chocolate supply?

After filling, they go into the vibrating surface and immediately into the fridge

Update, things are going better but I'm still not at the right spot just yet. Got my fridge fixed and that helped a lot (thank Kelly), however today I got this result when tempering 1kg block of 70% dark chocolate. Got mixed results from the pure cocoa liquor I was tempering last time, some good ones, some not so good and a crack in the back. Currently working with my silk at 33,6C

Kerry, what's the temp range where I should only have type V crystals for pure CB?

That's what I thought, letting crystals to develop now

Fan switch was on

Report: after 12+ hours at 33,2C it seemed too liquid 😭 Now I'm in the dark again!

The cocoa butter doesn't seem lumpy, however I melted it to 60+, let it fully cristalize and then set the EZTEMPER to 33,2 put the cb back into the machine and let it go overnight. I know it's a bit lower than it should, but I'm hopping with your help we will be able to find the perfect temp tomorrow when I report back.

Normally the lab room is at around 19-22C, I did some heavy roasting that day ending that hot! Yesterday I tried another batch double checking temps and stirring for each step, still a fail. Today I'm gonna try both melting my cocoa butter to 60C+ and letting cristalize normally before putting it back into the ez, and some fast cooling, my fridge is out of order at this time tho

I do Always stir VERY thoroughly before measuring. Also did a lot of stirring after adding the silk.

4kg mass for 40g silk

That's pretty much the way I did, except that the temperature of the chocolate (after stirring) was more around 32,5C. If it helps, it was pure cocoa mass, at around 100 microns (is meant for drinking chocolate so no need to refine further). I think It's somewhat possible I have some type VI on my seed, as the cocoa butter I used is an old one. Will check

Like a madman! A lot of stirring, and some more stirring between every couple moulds filled

Just checked my thermometer with the EZtemper silk, while the silk is at 33,7C my thermometer showed 33,3C Still not enough to justify the result I got yesterday.

I have two thermometers, used the silk at around 32C, and got this results. If it helps I used pure cacao mass out of the melanger, let it cool at room temperature (25C aprox) moving from time to time. When at 32-33 range I used the silk, then molded and cooled in a fresher room (around 19C) overnight

I'm super happy as i finally got my eztemper. The silk looks right at 33,7, however I'm having this problem when tempering. Hope you can enlighten me.

Was able to something similar using an laser cutted cardboard, trying to perfect the technique but client is happy enough with the endresult!

I do work a lot in the bean-to-bar-field, advantadges of being a chocolatier in a cacao producing country! If you have any question just shoot, for now i'll try to answer my take on the topics you posted about. It´s all about the expected thickness you want your chocolate and the texture you want to achieve, in general guidelines you want the particle size to be aboout 20-30 micres, so the tongue is not able to perceive any texture and the mass is fluid enough. If you go lower that that you start having viscosity issues or need to add more cocoa butter... if the particle size is to high your chocolate will be gritty and the general experience is not so good. This is indeed a very interesting topic and i can tell the guidelines change a lot from maker to maker. My personal take on this concept is to start from understanding the flavor profile of the beans i have, for this step roasting is critical as you can achive different results on the same beans depending on the roasting profile. I do use 3 different roasting profiles (1 long and slow, 1 mid ramp, 1 high ramp) and make a liquor batch from each, you taste the 3 liquor batches to get a general idea on the profile of your beans and what type of roasting is better for them. After i have a general idea i do start to think on what kind of chocolate is better to express the flavours and aromas i found while tasting... something like this: fs the beans are fruity maybe i want to go a bit higher in the %, if they are bitter maybe a bit lower, if the cacao flavor is strong it's a very good candidate for a milk bar... After toying a bit i do try a few test batches to find the best fit for the chocolate i want to make, until i find something im happy with. The best source of knowledge you can find online for chocolate making IMO is at the chocolate alchemist website (just google it). also in the "thechocolatelife" forums. hope it helps!

I just dont like the look of transfer sheets on the finished bombon specially for branding, IMO they look cheap compared to hand painted bombons. I have to make some bombons like the ones in the picture above, I´m gonna try some techniques and post the results. Was hopping that someone has the expirience of how to do them (or waht doesn´t work) to lead me in the right direction! If nothing works ill have to do transfers! (i don´t have magnetic molds tho)