no10

Thanks for the suggestion @pastrygirl. I am considering going the fat-soluble powder route but wanted to try procuring the Power Flowers first (it's so convenient since they tell you exactly how many of each color to add to white chocolate to achieve a specific shade).

Hi @Kerry Beal, I’ll DM you.

I’m trying to purchase Power Flowers but can't find a US supplier. The only US supplier that seems to carry them (The Chef's Warehouse) only sells to companies and not individual households/hobbyists. Does anyone have extra power flowers I can purchase from? I need red and yellow. Alternatively, would someone be willing to help me purchase Power Flowers from The Chef’s Warehouse? I attempted to open an account with them but can’t because I’m not a company.

That's great to hear that the spray booth can accommodate the Fuji's overspray. @Jim D., do you have a Fuji Platinum Q4 or Q5? The cost associated with replacing the pre-filters is also a concern of mine. @Jim D., do you know approximately how many pre-filters you can cut from the 150 foot filter roll (I would calculate this on my own, but I don't know the dimensions of the fan's opening.)? I'm also curious about the grade number on their filters. They don't provide this information on their website unfortunately. Does anyone know the the size range of cocoa butter overspray particles? 2-6 microns, maybe? Also, @Jim D.when you say the pre-filters need to be changed after spraying "a few molds", does "a few molds" mean about 3 molds? And is that what you observe when spraying with your Fuji or what you observe when using some other spray system? Apologies for the many questions. I'm just trying to figure out if this spray system is monetarily sustainable.

Does anyone have any experience with this spray booth by CakeSafe https://www.cakesafe.com/store#!/Master-Spray-Booth-Tall-Basic/p/56321024/category=15076001? The webpage states that the booth is "* Intended for use with airbrush guns appropriate for the baking industry. Not for use with high volume automotive spray guns.", which means that this booth cannot/isn't designed to handle the overspray generated by HVLP systems like the Fuji Platinum Q4. Each fan moves 650 cfm of air (which is a considerable volume of air). Can your makeshift spray booth handle the overspray generated by the Fuji Platinum Q4, @Jim D. (I think I've seen you write in another post that you have this spray system.)? @tikidoc, could you share what spray system you use?

@jedovaty, were the croissants (that you linked to) made using the roller? Also, would you mind telling me how you know that Konbi uses a Shimpo roller? I don't believe Konbi has shared the name of the manufacturer before. Could you tell me where you purchased your roller?

Karo's website says that (their) corn syrup contains between 15-20% dextrose (DE 15-20). Does anyone know the percent solids content (or percent water) of Karo's light corn syrup (the "mixture of various other types of sugar" statement isn't very helpful)?

Hi @minas6907, have you ever tried using fruit puree to flavor Greweling's gummy formulation rather than extract or oils?

Hi @minas6907, would you mind sharing how you flavored the jelly beans?

Hi everyone! Does anyone know what the center of a Skittle is? Is it a grained taffy? If so, does anyone have a recipe for grained taffy?

On a somewhat related topic, how do you all prevent scuffing on the surface of your bon bons during transit? Does tightly packing with candy pads work?

Yes, it does! Thank you @pastrygirl!

Thanks for the information, @Louise nadine brill! Any chance you've tried Roxy & Rich's gold cocoa butter?

No problem at all! Thanks for getting back to me. I would like the full recipe! I'll DM you.

Hi @minas6907, are the peanut butter cup molds and the two piece magnetic sphere still available?

@Rajala, would you mind letting us know how your correspondence with CW unfolds?

A message from CW: The issue with injection hairlines is ongoing since the beginning of our company and very often up for discussion. Hairlines are an inevitable result from mould injecting with polycarbonate and are basically meeting points of polycarbonate where plastic touches after a full injection. Imagine an empty tooling and draw a line in the middle of the tooling which divides the tooling in part A and B. The “meeting” of polycarbonate happens at the point where part A and B close after a full injected. The annoying thing is that the line doesn’t necessarily has to be in the middle and hairlines can show up anywhere. Take any moulds that you can find from us and hold upwards to light and try to count the lines you see. You’ll discover a dozen of hairlines but nevertheless our moulds stay unbreakable. Conical designs are most sensitive to hairlines and actually nobody really knows why or how to explain this from a technical point of view. Hairlines show up more frequently on round shapes than on square shapes. Since more than 2 years everybody wants to work with spheres or cones in combination with colouring techniques because conical model gives the best result with colours. How lucky are we, right? However, hairlines are usually speaking inside the plastic or just underneath the surface which doesn’t affect the quality nor the result on chocolate. All our moulds pass human quality control but rising / embossed hairlines are still rather difficult to detect with the naked eye. From experience I can tell we have less than 2% rejects from customers. Chocolate World

Thanks for your perspective, @minas6907. I think I'll be returning these molds and seeking a different manufacturer. The occasional hairline is okay, but there are hairline defects in over 50% of the cavities on a given mold.

Hi all, I'd like to provide an update and ask for the group's input. I took Jim's recommendation and purchased CW molds from TCF Sales (I purchased two types: CW2995 and CW2443). I received the molds, and upon inspection, I again found several cavities in each mold that have scratches (see attached images). The scratches are different (in location and shape) from the scratches found on the Chef Rubber molds that I posted previously about (see above). I purchased three 2295 molds and all three have scratches in the same cavities, so I think it's safe to say that these scratches occurred during production. I contacted TCF Sales, and they contacted CW. Below is CW's response: "I double checked with my colleagues from production told me these are hairlines and they occur during the production process when injecting the mould with polycarbonate. These hairlines are unfortunately inevitable and I cannot guarantee that if we send replacements of the same type of moulds, they will be without hairlines…I checked the produced batches of both moulds and they show the same hairlines… Alternatives (similar to the moulds with hairlines) for both moulds are: CW1526: https://chocolateworld.be/winkel/moulds/frame-moulds/CW1526 (less cavities) - available CW2116: https://chocolateworld.be/winkel/moulds/frame-moulds/CW2116 - will become available next week What do you think? Can we replace the moulds with hairlines by these alternatives?" This is a similar response that CW provided to @sarah72 (see her comment above). I'm a little surprised about the prevalence of these hairline defects given that CW has the reputation of manufacturing quality molds. What are people's thoughts? Would you personally keep these molds? Are there other mold manufacturers that the group recommends? For those who have CW2295, do your molds have these hairline defects? Thank you all for the help and input.

FYI, I cast the mold, and the scratches appear on the chocolate (I had to take one photo in the washroom for lighting purposes). I'll contact CR to let them know and initiate a return. @wannabechocolatierThanks for sharing your experience. This is useful information. @Jim D. I can't feel the scratches, but as you can see from the images below, the scratches are on the surface of the cavity.

Yes, there are.

@Kerry BealThese are from Chef Rubber, which seems like a reputable place to purchase, so I assume so? Any way for me to tell?

I purchased a mold from Chef Rubber (CW2295), and it arrived with scratched cavities (first two images). I went through the exchange process with CR and received a replacement mold. Upon inspection, the replacement mold also has scratched cavities (last three images). I contacted CR and they stated “These can appear in the manufacturing but not affect the chocolate. We inspected it before it left and although we saw these lines they did not feel palpable to the touch and should not affect the chocolate. If they are not palpable they are just defects within the mould and wont hurt anything.” I plan on casting the mold this weekend to see if the scratches show up on the product. I’ll update my post with the results. Until then I have a question for @pastrygirl (and others that have purchased CW2295). @pastrygirl, I’ve read in other (older) posts that you frequently use(d) CW2295. Have you ever encountered these scratches before? If you don’t mind me asking, where do you purchase your CW2295 and other CW molds? Also, do the tops of the molds typically arrived scratched? As you can see from the last image, there’s a huge, deep gash on the face of the mold. This was also the case for the first mold.

I contacted Glerup Revere, and they confirmed that they can only sell to you if you have a valid reseller’s permit or tax-exempt certificate. The representative I was speaking with said that GR previously could sell to anyone but this changed as a result of Wayfair vs South Dakota which impacted how they have to keep tax information on file in case of an audit. Thank you for the generous offer, @pastrygirl. Luckily, a GR representative pointed me to a vendor that carries the product that I was hoping to order. For those who are interested, these are the vendors that carry GR-products: Box and Wrap, Mod Pac, Packaging Concepts, and Nashville Wraps.

I'm slightly confused. When attempting to purchase packaging from Glerup Revere, I run into this message during checkout: Can you only purchase from Glerup Revere if you're a wholesaler?