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This can not lead to a better product, but to produce more, diminishing Quality and is in my opinion Capital driven. A continuation of the "Dumbing down of America" http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/a...late/index.html Quote: " Computational biologists and supercomputers can drastically accelerate the pace at which promising new strains of cocoa trees come out of the greenhouse, from the traditional length of five to seven years down to 18 months or so, Dr. Shapiro said. " See what will happen to Chocolate, as it happened to all our produce: Uniform size, color and tasteless Apples. Tomatoes tasting like cardboard Potatoes tasting instant before even being it.

Looking for recommendations in the NNJ area for great chocolates or other unique food gift ideas for the host who has everything. What do you usually bring when invited to a dinner where the host already has a huge wine collection, fully decorated home, etc.?

A: Ms. Chocolot won 8 out of 10 medals! That's who. Congratulations Chocolot!!!

Hi All, I'd like to make some chocolate salt and here's what I did- 4-5 parts kosher salt 1 part sugar 1 part cocoa powder (I only had unsweetened) sprinke water Mix all dry ingrdients together and sprinke w/ very little water to moisten. Mix til crumbly. It is in a low oven right now to dry. The other thing I was thinking was maybe to spritz w/ oil (I'm trying to get everything to stick to the salt) Any other ideas on how to create this? Thanks, Jeff

I stole the Sam Mason idea of making a chocolate stock with dutch cocoa powder, bitter chocolate, cocoa nibs, and cocoa butter. I cooked it in a thermal cooker over night, strained it and added .5% gelatin. After the freeze/thaw I now have the perfectly clear, exquisitely flavoured consomme. But anyone got any idea what else to do with it (bar drinking it)?

If I want a yellow rose, for example, can I simply add yellow food color? And which variety of color would be best? Gel? Or is this just not a good idea?

It's the time of year where I need to propose ideas for upcoming chocolate classes that I teach. Popular late winter/early spring classes revolve around Valentine's day, Mother's Day and Easter. We've got the Valentine's class all sorted, but we are at a loss to figure out easter. Now I know the logical thing is a molding class - and we will offer one of those for easter eggs, bunnies etc. Trouble is, only a small percentage of the people interested in chocolate classes are interested in molding. Classes that fill quickly are the 'Chocolate 101' type of classes where they learn the basics of tempering, ganache making etc. In this next batch of classes I'm going to try combining making a chocolate dessert with the chocolate techniques. So what I'm looking for is ideas for easter type desserts that lend themselves to decoration or combination with chocolate. Anyone got any ideas?

I am making a chocolate sheet cake 10 x 15 x 2 and would like to use Dorie's Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting. Is her recipe which calls for 2 C whipped cream and 3 oz chocolate enough to cover this cake?

My grandmother made a chocolate pastry around Christmas time. It was a fried dough (may have been a stufoli recipe) with chocolate, chestnuts, pine nuts and citron inside. The looked like round raviolis and were fried then covered with honey. I believe she called them bastadella (sp?). Anyone know of any similar recipe? Thanks

Hi, I'm trying to track down a book called "When Chocolate Turns to Matter" by Stephane LaRue (?spelling?). It was apparently released in October. Has anyone heard of this book? Does anyone know where to buy it from? Thanks for any help

Hello to all my wonderful friends on eG forums! (actually, you don't know me, this is my first post..but i have been reading all your posts and topics for over a year!) Long story short, my husband Bradley is a photographer and web designer (http://www.bradleyjensen.com) and I am a "budding" chocolatier with my own 2-yr old home-based business (actually, we are in a renovated old country school house...so that's pretty unique) (http://www.thechocolateseason.com) We are making the leap into a commercial property, where we will share a building, him upstairs, me on the main level with a kitchen a few steps below the main level. (i will try to attach a pic soon of our "drawing" later next week) My question is how do you go about making the transition? We are both self-employed and in our 20's (he's 28 i'm 25), so we don't have a huuuuuuuge budget, but are applying for a couple low interest loans. and our commercial spot we're looking at (bare bones) would be only $500 a month, and then our start up expenses, cabinetry, kitchen supplies etc) one question is: Are there certain materials you can and can not use in the kitchen? (wall materials, backsplash, floor, counter top) How much counter top space do you recommend for production and packaging? Where do you find a quality, but not huge, enrober? (remember the thread where one of our (?) german friends showed us his commercial kitchen, and his 25 lb pot of chocolate that had an attachable enrober/conveyer belt...and it could fold up vertically for storage) any health code regulations i should especially look into? (i'm in NE now, but will be located in IA for commercial when we move) pitfalls, or problems you experienced that i could try to avoid? basically any help in designing a floor plan, kitchen layout, where to find kitchen workspace tables, or equipment, enrober, guitar cutter (or something that would work in place of it) etc...i will try to be more specific later, but i will continue to write about our journey...we are shooting for the move in summer, (hopefully we can sell the school house!) with a store opening in late summer early fall? and any tips on my confections or marketing...always appreciated! i value all your opinions so much! thank you! xoxo erika

The time is upon us for the biggest chocolate making season of the year! ( for me anyhow) I was putting together my ideas, going through my notebooks, and chocolate books, Grewelings' Chocolates and confections, as well as Fine Chocolates by Wybauw. There are several recipes which have great flavours for the season, but was wondering if any of you have ideas you are willing to share, or flavours you may like to eat. Also if you sell your chcolates, which flavours are most in demand? Also are there any ideas for decorating the chocolates with a festive flair? Peter

I've got this gorgeous entrement almost complete. Like, really, maybe the best thing I've ever done. I wanted to wrap a chocolate band around the base. I measured and cut my transfer paper (so its not really acetate, its the flimsier stuff) and did a perfect temper. I spread it perfectly even and then moved the now chocolate coated transfer paper to a silpat for hardening. Anticipating buckling (this has happened before), I put a second silpat on top of the first and a cookie sheet on top of that. I'll be damned if the bugger didn't buckle on me anyway! I'm out of time, so screw it, I'll pipe ganache, but for the future - what should I be doing to make sure it doesn't buckle?

I have been making some chocolates with colored cocoa butter (from chefrubber, jewel & artisan collections) and also using plain cocoa butter with "metallic" luster dust. A food engineer just recently expressed some concern regarding the use of these colors, telling me that completely covering a bonbon in color would be unsafe. I started out experimenting with colors after reading through the "Chocolate with a showroom finish" thread, and haven't done anything more "colorful" than other chocolates posted in that thread. I also haven't seen many references to a health safety concern of these products in the forum. Does anyone have any scientific information about the health impact of using colored cocoa butter or luster dust? Thanks!

So I'll start. A couple of days ago I had an unexpected house guest and got an order for some white chocolate bark. My daughter dropped by and I was busy trying to keep everyone happy and entertained while whipping off some bark. I grabbed a hunk of white chocolate and began chopping it to put in the m/w. In the far reaches of my mind a little voice was warning me that this chocolate was not behaving as it should. But I soldiered on and stuck the chopped up chocolate in the microwave. Still talking away to my daughter and our house-guest, the same voice in the depths of my mind warned that it was taking a long time to melt but I wasn't listening. Eventually it did melt and looked very, very strange. I thought the emulsion has somehow broken as there seemed to be a layer of oil on the top of the mass and the chocolate seemed surprisingly smooth and liquid. The voice again warned that something was not quite right but I carried on exulting that I had lovely smooth white chocolate instead of the sludge I generally have. I added seed chocolate to it and waited for it to reach temperature. I tested for temper and it passed just fine so I quickly mixed it with some chopped almonds and congratulated myself on finishing up the order. The next morning, sitting on my back step with a coffee and a smoke it hit me - oh my lord, that wasn't white chocolate -that was cocoa butter - all I the supply I had and very expensive at that! (You'll be pleased to know I was able to intercept the order before it reached the customer.) Why wasn't it labelled... that is a whole nother story. So 'fess up - not recipes that didn't work but real mind-boggling boo boos.

I've been making lots of chocolate bars and want to learn some things to improve speed and / or quality. Currently, I prep the molds by painting in a thin layer of chocolate first - just as I would for a bonbon. But this is very time consuming and I want to be able to make the bars by omitting this step. In my last experiment, I tried and ended up with a very splotchy uneven finish. Luckily, I only did a few that way and I can reuse the chocolate. (The ones that I painted-in, from the same batch of chocolate, are brilliant and glossy.) What I did was to ladle tempered chocolate directly into the bare mold. If my infrared thermometer was accurate, the mold was 21C (70F). According to the Ramon Morato book, my mold may have been too cold. He recommends that the mold is only a couple of degrees below the working temperature (say 30C for dark). Do you think that a cold mold was my problem? If so, what would you recommend to warm up the mold properly?

I have been reading the posts here for about a year now, and i have fully enjoyed everyones' input, and wealth of knowledge. To everyone in a word, thanks. I have a question which i have no idea about, how to make kosher chocolates. A friend of mine who works for a caterer says if i could make some it could be a great market to cater to, so to speak. Any info would be greatly appreciated

Good evening all I was looking on amazon for some great dessert/pastry and chocolate books...i have a few thus far, and just love the amazing photographs and dessert/chocolate ideas and the instant urge to try out a new project and alter one to surprise friends and family. the problem is there are a ton of great books, and a ton of NOT-SO-GREAT books...so instead of chancing it alone on amazon, i thought i'd turn to you for help! For books, i'm looking for a great chocolate book, theory is wonderful to know, but new flavor ideas, techniques or "extras" like jellies or chocolate drinks or baked goods, etc are awesome! other books, i could go for one or two more looking for a fantastic "showy" or european-inspired dessert book. Component cakes, tortes, tarts, macarons and a BIG plus would be recipes for individual desserts (vs a 9inch pan) and then, i could do a separate book, or if a book included this stuff too, that'd be cool.... some simple recipes for like a round white bread loaf, baguette, ciabatta,or crossaints (i am not a bread baker, but would like to learn and master one or two recipes! idea is to serve with jam or brie or, Lord help me, NUTELLA!!) and i'm always looking for a great new bar or brownie (my husband is crazy for those) or cookies (ones that are not so mainstream, like instead of chocolate chip, maybe chocolate chip/caramel/coconut cookies...) my family has me as official cookie baker for events, and i like to keep them guessing!!!.....and basically, looking for just new inspiration in general!! any thoughts? hoping for some great input! since cookbooks can be great...but can be wildly disappointing! but i know i'll be in good hands with you guys!

Hello friends I register at the forum some time ago and visited him constantly, now I have decided to participate and would like to ask your help. The other day my niece to buy them some chocolate turtles with a whole nut and caramel filling, my niece loves this chocolate and I come with you to ask your help, anyone has the recipe to develop them? - Image of Chocolate Turtles - I was grateful if I can provide guidance on their preparation. Excuse my English, but I am learning this language , greetings from Mexico!

Have you ever worked with Lindt chocolate? I've noticed that Lindt chocolate seems to be quite fluid when melted but also seems to be quite a soft chocolate compared to other brands when molded or even just tasted out of the bag? Especially milk and white. It's always a little soft for me on the tooth....sort of like a cadburys milk chocolate bar at the grocery store ....very soft and creamy. Not really a hard crisp snap like some chocolates but from the fluidity seems to be loaded with cocoa butter. Comments?

Congratulations Kerry!!! I just got a new Kitchen Krafts catalog & I noticed this Great New Video collection. (DV2461-3).

As my first post here, I thought I would share some frustration. In my attempt to find a suitable chocolate cupcake for my daughter's first birthday, which is just over two months away, I have come up with not one I've actually liked. I've tried many recipes and a few things of my own, but I still can't get the texture quite right. I want a cupcake that's between a brownie and a normal cupcake in texture, and very chocolatey in taste. I want it moist but somewhat light. I've tried just cocoa, just baking chocolate, and a mixture of the two. I've tried all purpose flour and cake flour, but not mixing the two yet. I've used granulated sugar. I use only whole eggs. I may try one more thing tonight. I have some baking chocolate left (6 ounces) and I may try replacing the cocoa with my semi-sweet baking chocolate to see how that goes. It's frustrating. I know that I'll eventually find what I'm looking for if I just keep experimenting, but I only have a few weeks left. Any ideas as to what could give me the texture and flavor I want?

for our petit gateau we sometimes need painted white chocolate squares. i never seem to get them right. usually i use a special plastic sheet made for chocolate work (60 x 40 cm) i paint the design with colored cocoa butter right on the sheet. i let it crystallize for 30 minutes or so, next i cover with tempered white chocolate, let crystallize, and cut it with a multi wheel cuter. next i put it in the fridge to let it fully crystallize. now when i peel the squares off the sheet some or most of the cocoa butter design still sticks to the plastic. does anyone know have an idea on how to get the design stick to the chocolate ?? cheers from cologne

I have been lurking and reading for about a week now. This is my first post and I feel silly. I typed melting chocolate into the search to try and find my answer. However it brought up TONS of results. On to the simple question. I am going to buy my first brick of chocolate to attempt my first batch of truffles. I have settled on a 11lb block of Callebaut to start. However understandably on the website it stated that due to the time of year some melting might occur. My question which actually shouldn't have taken so long is, If the bar partially melts in transit would this in any way hurt my efforts? I will of course be melting it and tempering it anyway.

I really enjoyed the topic about working cleanly in the chocolate kitchen and that got me thinking about tricks we might have to work more 'smartly' in our chocolate kitchens. I find that over time I have become much more efficient in the kitchen than I was when I first started working with chocolate. Back then I usually tempered milk, dark and white at the same time, then tried to juggle keeping them in temper while trying to finish the one item I was working on. When I temper a batch of a particular chocolate I try to accomplish as much as I can before going on to another chocolate. So if I were to temper a batch of dark chocolate I pour a bunch of molds, put them in the fridge then pour a bunch of cuvette or cup molds for later use. When the first batch of molds have crystallized - they come out of the fridge - the cup molds hit the fridge - I pipe fillings into the first molds and back them off. When the cuvette molds come out of the fridge the backed off molds are ready to go back in until they are ready to unmold. Typically I'll also paint thinly the inside of some molds with the dark chocolate that will then be molded with milk chocolate. If I have figural molds in my plans, then I'll paint the dark part of the eyes on them. With the same batch I might mold a couple of plates of little coffee beans or frogs - something that might be used on top of those cuvette molds later on or added to a box of chocolates for a whimsical touch. If I have dipped items that need decoration then I'll use some of my dark chocolate to drizzle on those products. With the chocolate left which is still in temper - I might make a ganache that benefits from being made with tempered chocolate or some bark. So any great tricks that folks have for working more efficiently in their chocolate kitchen?