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I want to smoke some chocolate to do a smores dessert. I've tried it once before and it smelled smoked but didn't really taste smoked. I don't have a cold smoker so I'm going to have to rig something. Any suggestions?

I'm looking for the best organic chocolate for industrial (restaurant, wholesale chocolates) use. I recently got some samples of TCHO chocolate, some of it organic, produced in San Francisco. I initially liked the flavors of the samples, then ordered 25# of the organic 66% and am not sure I'm liking it so much, in flavor or fluidity. It is thick and very cocoa-y. Another supplier carries an organic Callebaut 70% but won't break case and I'm reluctant to buy 55# without sampling. Has anyone used the Callebaut? Locally we have Theo, an organic, fair trade bean-to-bar manufacturer which is great eating chocolate, but they don't use the usual distributors (except I think you can get nibs) and I've heard negative comments about buying wholesale from them from a friend in the ice cream business. I suppose Felchlin Cru Sauvage should be organic by default, if it is harvested from wild trees in the Amazon. I bought a few bags and I'm pretty sure I like it better than the TCHO, but haven't tried tempering it yet. What other organic chocolates are available wholesale, and which do you prefer?

Does Chocolate Extract boost the flavor in chocolate baked goods? I usually add a little instant espresso to kick up the chocolate flavor, but was wondering if the extract works in a similar way.

After I was done eating some BBQ on Sunday, I swung by a little chocolate shop a block away called Dude, Sweet. Friendly place. Staff offering up samples of all sorts of things. One of the more interesting things was their toffee Fungus Amoungus. One of the things I bought was a box of chocolates called "Dude" So far, I have had the Puro and the Marakesh. There was a slight olive taste to the Puro, but I really didn't pick up on any distinct saltiness. But maybe that's the point? The salt is there to enhance the other flavors and not really to bring an actual saltiness to it. The Marakesh faired much better. Nice sweetness from the dates. I'm not really familiar with Raz (ras?) al Hanout, so it's hard for me to say if that flavor is present. But whatever it is, that piece was great. I'll save the rest for later. Don't want to eat it all at once. Box set me back $12. The other thing I bought was a chocolate bar called "Kampot" The label describes it "65% Columbian dark, Kampot pepper, and cocoa nib". I have not tried this yet, but I will report back when I do.

My girlfriend recently returned from a trip to Milan with a 1k (2.2lb) bar of chocolate for me to use in a cooking application. It's not marked, but it tastes like it is 60% cacao. While I know of a couple recipes that use a couple ounces of chocolate, I can't think of one that would use this much. Any ideas on something I could make that would use up a large portion of it?

Hi All, I was wondering if anyone has taken the Chocolate and Confections professional level continuing ed course at the CIA (or had heard anything about it)? I have been looking around but have not seen any reviews. I have been making chocolates (molded and dipped) for a couple of years now but have never had any formal training (I do have formal training as a chemist, which seems to transfer well), and I have finally decided it is time to pursue chocolate making more seriously. I have been looking into a range of courses (Ecole Chocolat's online course, 3-day classes at the FPS) and I keep changing my mind on where to go. Peter Greweling's Chocolate and Confections book is one of my favorite books in terms of its detail of instruction, which is why I thought the CIA class might be a good option. If anyone has any info on that course (or wants to recommend others), I'd appreciate it. What I'm specifically looking for is formal instruction on tempering, molding, and enrobing, and the opportunity to see professional level equipment. Thanks, Rae

Photographs for this can be found here. I'm having great difficult posting them inline. Ever since getting into chocolate I've been fascinated by show pieces and the people that compete in building them. After talking to a few people and finding little about the process of creating these works of art, I found myself in Chicago, in February (who goes to Chicago in February?) attending a class in show piece design/construction at the Callebaut Chocolate Academy. The class was attended by a total of 7 students, almost all of them full time professional pastry chefs and chef instructors. Only I, and one other student still had "day jobs". As class began, I began to get this deep sinking feeling in my stomach as Chef displays a drawing of what we will be building over the next 4 days. My immediate reaction was "No way in hell!" So here I am, a bit terrified as being caught out for the fraud I truly must be and facing what we have to do. Needless to say, the first day was a bit of a blur as we cast chocolate into silicon molds for beautiful curved pieces, and hand cut the legs and body of a crane (bird, not machine) out of a slab of poured and barely crystallized chocolate. At the end of the day I had completely blown nearly my whole days work when the legs I had so carefully cut snapped in more than one place. The next morning, Chef came over, looked at my broken body of a bird and said simply, "Start again". Fortunately, the 2nd time around didn't take as long. Once the body was assembled from 3 separate pieces, it was time to draw thin sheets of chocolate and hand cut shapes to give the body dimension from side to side, and basic wing shapes. Of course, by this time, I've also snapped off the head and most of the neck of my piece. LESSON ONE: Don't, don't, don't rush! It is better to be slow and do things correctly than to go do them again. Measure 2 (or better 3) times before doing anything that can't be undone. LESSON TWO: ALWAYS be hyper aware of where YOU are and where your pieces are. This way you won't put things under a table and snap off rather important bits. Chocolate is FRAGILE! After creating the legs, body, and wings, it was time to move onto building a base to hold this thing. Thus ended our second day. We had cast a number of very pretty curved shapes on Monday which were sitting on a tray under my station. They would need to be attached to a flat surface which in our case would look much like granite but be composed completely of chocolate. Chef demonstrated how we were going to attach these lovely bits again, using nothing but a hot pallet knife and a paper cornet full of tempered chocolate. Then the base took on a whole new level of interest as Chef nestled a sphere into the curved pieces he just attached to the base. This is what our bird would rest on. "Are you kidding me?", I thought. How are we going to attach a 24"+ tall bird made of what must be 7 - 10 POUNDS of chocolate on top of that little sphere? But there it was and I dutifully began assembling my own base. So here we are at the end of day 3! Chef wants EVERYONE to have their birds mounted on top of the base. I now realize that I've made another rather large blunder. The original picture we were working from has the "feet" of the bird pretty much on top of each other. In making my second set of legs and body, I had spread them much farther apart. Nearly 5 inches apart. The sphere resting on top of the base is only about 4 inches in diameter. It's not going to fit. So I think about this and come up with what I hope is a clever if somewhat uglier way of mounting the bird. Now everyone else was cutting a hole in the top of their spheres and carefully placing a thick rectangle of solid chocolate vertically through and setting it into a pool of tempered chocolate. This would transfer the weight of the bird and transfer it over a wider area across the bottom of the sphere and then to the vertical curved pieces holding the sphere. Everything in a nice straight line going down toward the base. I decided to cut a horizontal plank from the same rectangular pieces of chocolate, level it,and attach my bird to that. My original thought was to sink the plank farther down into the sphere, but the cut-outs, but again, I was rushing to finish what Chef asked us to do and didn't think to cut the vertical post properly. Either way, I had my mount and it was now time to place the bird on top. Of course, this is a rather terrifying prospect. As we started to say, the "sphincter factor" was rather high. Nonetheless, with the help of two of my class mates, one placing the tempered chocolate "glue" and another telling me if I was holding my bird perfectly straight and not leaning in any particular direction, we got it attached. After a couple of minutes to let the chocolate set, I carefully released the bird from my grasp while keeping my hands cupped around where I had been holding it. That way I might catch it as it started to go over. Fortunately, and to my utter amazement, it stayed upright. So now I have a roughly 4' tall show piece. Of course it doesn't have a complete neck or head. This led me to begin calling it "Ichabod, the Headless Crane of Sleepy Hollow". That night I had several good drinks and simply couldn't believe that I had built this thing. And that it was STANDING! The next morning, changed into my uniform, and immediately headed into the lab to see if my bird was still standing. Fortunately it still was and we needed to begin working on additional decorations. Breast and tail feathers, additional body feathers, and of course detail for the head. But I didn't have a head. A class mate suggested that I use the head and neck that I had cut on Monday. So again with a hot knife in hand, I cut off the neck where it broadened into the body. Using this a template, I placed it atop the complete head/neck, and matching the angles, cut the good part off the rest of the body. Then, using tempered chocolate, I attached it to the cut I had just made. This wouldn't be very strong on it's own, so I attached 2 chocolate disks on either side of the join to provide more strength. I could now move on to doing the additional bits of feather decoration, the breast and tail feathers, and cutting and attaching the head and beak. Of course that would be too easy. As I was attaching one of my small bits, the curves holding the sphere gave way, (fortunately) leaving me holding the bird. Another class mates piece had fallen over late on day 3 and shattered, so I was VERY lucky. So I had to figure out how to create a new mount. Again comes out the hot pallet knife and I cut way a level surface. There were several small pieces we had cast on Monday and one of them was just perfect for placing atop my broken base to be a new platform for the sphere and bird. Now, using a metal sphere mold which I heated, I created a curved "dimple" which matched the curve of my chocolate sphere. More tempered chocolate and again, Ichabod rides high. This time with a full neck. Now I could move on to making the rest of the head details. The last details to be added were a large flower and a few swirly long decorations made from modeling chocolate which I had a hard time getting the hang of. Chef demonstrated making the flower petals and mounting them on a sphere which was decorated with white chocolate and sanding sugar to look like the center of the bloom. So, this being our last day, I got busy and made my own flower and attached it to my piece. Ichabod is now essentially complete since we're running out of time. Chef spends the remainder of our last day demonstrating how to add color with an air brush. Needless to say, by the time he's done, his own piece is stunning. Having now made what I'm sure is a rather modest show piece, my esteem for people who do this with any skill at all has gone up immensely. Now I just need to find the space, buy a few tools and parts and begin thinking about my own artistic aesthetic. It was terrifying in the beginning, but as I moved through the week, my confidence built, and I realized that I can indeed do this. Perhaps not well yet, but I can do it. Anyone else have stories to share about learning to do this?

I'm casting around for some books to learn more about baking beautiful and flavorful chocolate cakes and working with some design elements to pretty them up, such as white chocolate cutouts, etc., over dark chocolate ganache, how to do that sort of thing and more.... Really good layer cakes, etc. I'm not interested in super simple fudgy or sponge cakes to whip up for after-dinner dessert at home, but more complex cakes I can add to my repertoire of cakes to sell. How about Marcel Desaulniers? (and any one of his books in particular?) Or Jean-Pierre Wybauw's Chocolate Decorations? Others?

I am in the process of setting up my ingredients list for my boxes. These will be for retail packaging. The state lady in charge of labels is giving me fits over the colored cocoa butter. She wants every FD&C color listed that is in the box, regardless of the quantity. This means I will have a long list for perhaps 1 or 2 chocolates in the box. She even said that if it is a natural color it still has to be listed as artificial because it is not natural in chocolate. What have the rest of you done? Is she just being extra picky, or is this just the way it is? In checking with the supplier, he says to just list it as color, but she isn't buying it. Any suggestions? I know I could just eliminate those pieces, but that is what makes the box unique.

I don't usually do much with white chocolate but I can taste better quality in some of the desserts that I've purchased. I'd like to start using it in some of my baking. What's your favorites? Any on-line resources?

I'm jumping this to a separate topic after a week or so of it being in the make your own liqueur thread - perhaps it went unnoticed. I am looking for a really good liqueur made with quality chocolate. Can anyone refer me to a book, recipe or site? TIA oops, I also wanted to know if there are different kinds as I read about creamy ones and bitter ones with the cacao bean... Never had this or seen it so I would love some explanation if someone has the patience!!

I'm looking for a source for reasonably priced chocolate molds that will ship to Asia - the nice polycarbonate molds, not the cheap semiflexible thin plastic ones. JB Prince has a $200 minimum order for international shipping, which is likely more than I'm going to spend this go-round. I looked at chocolateworld.be, and aside from their prices being higher they don't include Bhutan in their list of countries when I try to check out to calculate shipping charges, so I'm not sure they're going to work. Tomric and chocolat-chocolat only ship to US and Canada. There was a UK site that only ships to the UK. Any ideas? Or do I have to wait until I'm back in the US?

these are from FoodShouldTasteGood they were on sale, so a hungry shopper--me--bought them. Really good--taste like good grainy tortilla chips, with the very slightly sweet, strong and a little bitter flavor of dutch cocoa--, and last of all--they're salty! And they crunch! Also got the olive ones--they're kind of meh--olive taste is faint--acceptable but nothing special--but the chocolate's another matter--I'm having them with ice cream tonight..... Zoe

Good morning from State College, PA (and congratulations to Kerry Beal for guessing my identity!) . I only wish that the first teaser photo was current---alas, it was taken last summer, things aren't quite that green yet at this latitude. Thanks, Susan, for inviting me to do a foodblog this week. First a little background: "Hennes" rhymes with "tennis," I'm 27, and I'm working on my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Penn State. My wife is currently finishing her Ph.D. in Accounting here, and you're catching us an an exciting/scary/stressful time in our lives: tomorrow we have to decide where my wife is going to accept a job that she will begin at the end of the summer. More on that later... In the grand tradition of foodblogs past, here is how I begin my mornings (at least, when I have time!): The eGullet mug is an unusual embellishment: I usually drink my morning coffee out of a stainless-steel thermos mug so I can nurse it for a couple hours. But the mug seemed appropriate for this blog, so here it is! Coffee is typically my only breakfast: I don't get hungry until around 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. I know, this is horrible and unhealthy, but there it is... you won't be seeing much breakfast food this week! What you will be seeing is a lot of pork, and a lot of chocolate: Sorry to disappoint those of you who are hoping to see chocolate-covered bacon, but this is as close as the two will get to each other this week . I've had bacon in a chocolate bar: it was good, but I can think of better uses for both ingredients . Other items on the menu this week include such thrilling entries as tacos, stir-fried green beans, and BLTs. Ah, the culinary adventures of a graduate student! I hope you'll drop by and say hello from time to time despite the mundane dinners! And I hope no one is too disappointed that I don't hail from anyplace exotic!

Hi. I usually use Wybauw's recipes but change them according to my needs. If I want a moulded chocolate I change the choc to cream ratio etc. Or I use it for idea combinations. But now: I want to make Arabe- page 110 exactly as is given. My problem is that I think I can't! First it calls for 30g of Sorbitol. I would rather not use this. So could I replace it with invert or glucose? It is reduced glucose I think- and if so how? Next it calls for Passoa Liqueur- passion fruit liqueur. I can't get it here! What else could be used? Brandy? A fruit liqueur? Another of his recipes calls for pistachio compound (amoretti No.5) It sounds yucky to me. I want natural pistachio. Could pistachio paste replace this gram for gram? This is on page 128. Quite a few customers asked for pistachio hence these two recipes. Thanks!!

I´m a North American who lives in and operates a small artisan chocolate shop in Ecuador. I´d be delighted to share my experiences and inside info here on Ecuadorian chocolate, cocoa production, etc. It´s a lot more interesting when you´re on the ground and can see where your chocolate is actually coming from. There´s a limited market for fine chocolates here, and limited availability of good chocolate for a number of reasons, which I won´t go into here. Anyway, I´ve been here almost a year now with my family operating the business, and we are aiming to export before the end of the year. If you ever come to visit Ecuador, I´d be glad to share all the chocolate and cocoa information I can. But for now, I´ll do it on this

back from europain, with some impressions: check out the chocolate decoration demo, it was a chinese booth with a chinese chef who had some incredible tricks :-) after watching him for quite some time i am sure that his chocolate has some oil in it to make it smoother... cheers t.

I hate making topics on forums for fear of duplicating another post, but I need help. Search didn't turn up what I was looking for. I'm making my friend a Kit Kat cake for her birthday. So far, my plan is chocolate cake, with chocolate cream filling and chocolate frosting. The cream filling will have crushed Kit Kat in it. The whole cake will have a Kit Kat border. I'm looking for a chocolate cream filling like the one they use in a Kit Kat, or other chocolate wafer cookies. And I'm looking for frosting similar to the Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker already made frosting.( my favorite) Nothing dark chocolaty, since we're both milk chocolate fans. Any help is greatly appreciated! For picture of the frosting I'm talking about, go here: http://www.aulsuperstore.com/images/products/44209-00446.jpg And kit kats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Kat Edit: While you're here, feel free to post your favorite chocolate CAKE recipe as well. Not a fan of chocolate cake myself, since I feel like it has no flavor, but I've never made one that wasn't from a box.

I didn't see this posted anywhere and I hope it isn't a double post. Where is a good place for quality chocolate tools such as bench scrapers, dipping tools, tempering tools, polycarbonate moulds, etc.. I checked out chocoley and chocolat-chocolat What suppliers do you recommend for those of you who work with chocolate? Thanks Diane

From Anna N: And from the article: Great article - congratulations, Kerry!

Would anyone know where I could purchase Callebaut White Chocolate Strawberry Callets in New York City? I would like to try them and don't want to wait for mail order. Thanks Carol

Hi, all, I thought about making some 'cold' chocolate for my daughter before school today and wondered how to keep cocoa in suspension in water or milk. Does there need to be some sort of binder or emulsifier? Thanks, Tom

In the real world of chocolate!!!! I have to say that was a stressful week. LOts of things I would have love to have or make but not enough hands and time . Anyway, its over now and I can say that was a great experience and the networking with the other chocolatiers and customers was awesome. I ended up making over 2000 pc of chocolates plus some raspberry marshmallows and nougat. Some chocolates sold faster, but I did have more of some than others. But now I know what goes better right? Good feed back from other chocolatiers and people, some of the contacts may lead to more business so it was great. The first night was terrible tough.The pomoter advertised heavily on the FREE SAMPLES, and as soon as they open the gates ( cages !! ) we go completely attact by ords of people that wanted free stuff!.I was overwelmed and a little bit irritated as well, we were all kinda surprised. The next day I had chance to talk with other booth owners and everybody told me they had the exactley same experience and they were not pleased with it, so I wasnt alone on that.The saturday show went much much better, more family oriented and people took their time to visit the booths, also we drastically reduce free samples and people werent expecting it . The overall experience was positive and I am glad I got to do it, now I know what to do and how better organize everything ( also payments etc, I am glad I set up the pay pal virtual terminal so I could get credit card payments as well with my lap top). I will attach some pics, I have to be honest I didnt take many because I was more focus on the rest The pics were taking at set up, after that I was stuck in the booth all night

Hi! here is a of an interview with Anna Shea. She seems lovely! Her chocolates also do. I notice her spraying made bonbons towards the end- does anyone kow what exactly this is? Has anyone had her chocolates? Also she packages them by hand-literally, and in a different way with a little piece of paper or tissue or silk paper.

Cocoa Via, a chocolate bar made by Mars, has been on the market since 2005 and touted as other chocolates for being healthier (see here) ...antixoidants, blah, blah, but to be honest I usually don't go for the marketing hype, that is until recently after learning of a recent study in a respected journal where two bars of this particular chocolate a day was able to lower cholesterol and blood pressure by a modest degree. Cocoa via is different in that it is fortified with plant sterols which have been known to lower cholesterol. I figured what the heck, let's give it a try. The important part for me, it satisfies as a good dark chocolate, not too sweet with a nice bittersweet flavor and mouth feel. Not your overly sweet cloying kids milk chocolate and not beset by the weird aftertaste of some nutritional bars. At 100 calories a bar, it certainly satisfies my now and again chocolate fix and I won't feel guilty.