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I'm looking at my new copy of the Herme chocolate book, and am a bit confused about the chocolate. Most of the recipes either call for bittersweet, specified as valrhona guanaja, or milk specified as valrhona jivara. The jivara and guanaja are hard to find, and super expensive. Le noir amer 71% is much easier to find and much more reasonable, and there is a 40% milk that seems to be the same packaging as le noir amer that is in the same price range and packaging. What is the difference? Can I sub 71% noir amer for 70% guanaja and the 40% milk for 40% jivara? The only way to buy the jivara/guanaja at a reasonable price is to spend about $75 for a 3 kg block, which is nuts for a home cook. I found the cocoa for about $10 a pound which seems like a reasonable price and plan to order that immediately.

Title pretty much says it all. A friend requested chocolate covered jellies be found in his Christmas goodies, and the only thing that comes to mind is pate de fruits. Is it the same thing, or are they slightly different? Is it a safe assumption that the pate de fruits would really, REALLY need to be dried- and not rolled- to do the enrobing? I learn something new every year!!

This weekend in Ashland, OR, there will be a Chocolate Festival Celebration at the Ashland Springs Hotel... Chocolates, coffee, vino, and a great food area, what more could we ask for? Hope to see some Egulletiers there....

I know this is totally self-aggrandizing, but I am really proud of what the kitchen crew just accomplished this week at work. Go team LillieBelle! (xposting vid link to Pacific NW forum)

It is time to stock up on chocolate, and I have a purveyor who lists Valrhona Satillia Lactee milk chocolate and Satillia Noir 62% in 20 kg boxes of feves for a much better price than the other Valrhona flavors in 3 kg bags. I can't find any further information and have grown impatient with the Valrhona website and all of its slow-loading flash. Anyone familiar with these chocolates? What percentage is the milk chocolate? This purveyor also has jivara lactee 40% and tanariva 33%, I'd probably go with the 40% unless this Satillia stuff is darker than the 33%. Thanks!

This weekend I going to attempt the Chocolate Truffle cake in the new issue of SAVEUR. It calls for semi-sweet chocolate 54% . While shopping today my purveyor only had 58%, he said there's no practical difference it would make on my cake. I know baking is pretty much chemistry, do I need to worry about the outcome of my cake being affected by 4%?

So if water gets in your chocolate it seizes, but if you make water based ganache its nice and smooth. Why does one seize and the other doesn't? Is it quantity? Agitation? Can someone please explain the science behind this? Thanks.

Finally I found what I have been looking for-for a long time. It is a cream liqueur with chocolate. It came out perfect. The recipe calls for a dark amber caramel syrup, which while making it, requires a cup of water be added to the syrup at 195C. A friend suggested I used boiling water to prevent the tumultous sizzling scary adding of this water. Would this help? It does make perfect sense in theory.

In Issue 79 of The Art of Eating Ed Behr writes about this organic chocolate: After that kind of introduction, how could I not rush out and order some? (Actually, it turns out that our local organic goods store carries it, but I did not find that out until my online order was placed and they wrote back looking for a local distributor.) On the Taza website you can enter the batch number of your chocolate (mine is #174) and look up the details of the chocolate used in your particular bar. For example, for batch 174: What the hell does it mean? I don't know, but it's neat. Here is what the packaging of the 70% bar looks like: And the chocolate itself: In particular, the thing that struck me first was that this chocolate is not milled super-fine. The folks at Taza don't want to do anything to the chocolate that might compromise its pure flavor, and apparently that includes milling it very fine. In fact, this chocolate is actually unconched, which makes it extremely unusual. At first taste the chocolate doesn't seem like anything that unusual: a fine chocolate, no doubt, but not exotic. It is not until you really let it coat your whole tongue that its wild side comes out: then, wow. This bar has a beautiful sharp acidity to it that is a most welcome complement to the sweetness. It really has a great, rich, chocolate flavor that is then accented by this sharpness, which is apparently a result of not conching the chocolate. I also ordered some disks of their Mexican-style drinking chocolate: I have not sampled those yet, but I have high hopes for them. Has anyone else tried this stuff? Reactions?

My friend is having a Wine and Vodka tasting at her work next week and invited me to bring my Truffles to sample in hopes of getting some business . It's from 3:30 to 5:30. Should I bring all of my product that I'm selling for the holiday or just Truffles? I haven't done anything like this before so I'm kinda of nervous. I don't even know what flavors to do....Any suggestions? Thanks in advance! Rena

Hi All, I have been able to get an internship with a chocolatier in her shop for 2 weeks and I wanted to ask you if you have an input on things that I should be looking for while I am there, what kind of questions I should ask, I am not sure if it is appropriate to start asking about the "books" I mean profit margin and those kind of things. Should I just stick with chocolate questions only? Also if you want to share how you started with chocolate that would be awesome as well!!!

I recently purchased a giant pail of hazelnut praline paste. This is a rather expensive buy for me, even at wholesale prices. When I got back to my kitchen after picking up the order, I noticed that the expiration date on the pail was only a few weeks away. Quite frankly, I’m a small shop and will not go through a pail very quickly. Needless to say, I was not happy. Shouldn’t I expect a more "reasonable" life span for my purchase? So what are my options? I could: Complain and request to return the unopened product – probably resulting in bad feelings all around. Use it up as fast as possible Freeze it in portions for use over the coming months.

I have made this recipe twice out of the book (library copy) and copied it out for future use. The future is now as I have an order for it for Tuesday. For some reason the cake I baked today turned out a complete disaster I am sorta hoping that I simply made a copying error. I am also hoping to avoid having to run to the library tomorrow to get the book - if they even have it on the shelf - as I leave Friday very early morning to fly home for an emergency visit (sister is in decline... cancer) and won't be back until the day the cake is due. I really, really need to get the cake finished and in the freezer before I go. Here is the recipe I have: Cocoa Souffle Roll ¼ cup + 2 TBLS unsweetened cocoa ¼ cup boiling water 1 tsp vanilla 2 TBLS soft butter 2/3 cup sugar, divided into ½ cup and remainder 5 extra large eggs*, seperated ¾ tsp cream of tartar 1 TBLS cocoa for dusting baked cake * I changed this from 6 large eggs and is what I used last time successfully. Did I forget anything or copy wrong?? Thanks so much. I am like a chicken without it's head right now

Would this work? I made an egg nog vanilla pudding. I used 2 cups of commercial egg nog and 1 package of organic vanilla pudding mix. Cooked it as for pudding. I then piped this filling into a dark chocolate molded shell. The taste is wonderful but I am wondering if shelf life presents a problem. I let some pieces sit a room temperature for one week . The texture was fine. There was a slight loss of flavor. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether or not this is bad idea for a bon bon? thanks Carol

hi, this morning i frosted the hershey chocolate cake, but i may of overcooked the frosting. would this cause the cake frosting to become hard? im cooking another cake, this time not cooking the frosting too long. how do i know the frosting is done?! is there something i should look for? thanks! "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 3 cups powdered sugar 1/3 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

I want to make chocolate souffle tonight, but I don't own any small souffle ramekins. If I follow the recipe I have for chocolate souffle, then simply pour the mixture into a larger souffle dish (approx 9 inches in diameter, 4 inches high), will the souffle still work out? obviously I would adjust the cooking time, but, theoretically, it would still work, right?

Has anyone been here? Comments? Thanks!

We've had a major heat wave here ... we haven't got below 30degC (86degF) for over a week ... four days over 40degC (104degF) ... and topped out at just over 46degC (115degF). The house has heated up ... and my chocolate looks awful *sob*. Kilos of Callebaut ... hundreds of dollars of Michel Cluizel ... all my special collection from various countries ... I've tasted some and it is pretty icky. Is it all gone? Can I resurrect it by tempering? Or is it now only fit to be put into crappy baking? Does anyone have any suggestions? I tried to keep it in a cooler part of the house ... but the reality is there was no where under 30degs unless I put it in the fridge (which I thought would cause just as many problems ... we've also had power outages so not even a guarantee there). (note: quite funny to think that one of the most valuable items in the house is the chocolate ... bet someone breaking in would never think to take it!!)

Everyone: I am hosting a Chocolate Tasting Party on 2/14/2009. This will be my second CTP and I'm looking to anyone here for assistance in the menu. If I may explain: While I have different chocolates available for tasting (e.g. different % of dark chocolate from different manuf) the party itself is a "dessert" party, with three desserts and matching wines. one dessert of White Chocolate, one from Milk Chocolate and the third and last with Dark Chocolate. My previous party had a White Choc Rounds of Mousse with Raspberry Coulis paired with ice wines; Milk Chocolate Cheesecake with a delicious Pinot Noir and ending with a flourless chocolate cake and Port) This party I've already decided on a White Chocolate pudding with Citrus and a dark chocolate cake with pomegranite and cranberry jelly). Notice what's missing? The milk chocolate dessert - and so my friends, I turn to you - does anyone here have any suggestions for an amazing milk chocolate dessert? I'm trying to make them "different" from each other - notice pudding/cheesecake/flourless cake - Also - please note, I like to think I'm a more advanced pastry cook (no - won't use the word chef) than I probably am - Any ideas, recipes etc are greatly appreciated. Bless you all and a Happy New Year

i am not a baker or v familiar with chocolates...in the recipes i have been reading they say biitersweet OR semi...when i read the reviews it seems a lot say bittersweet tastes like dirt and semi is too sweet...can you mix and a hald n half with a good result

I was searching for the following Chocolate books and thought I'd pass along the results I found on the web. All prices below are US dollars. http://www.alibris.com "The Fine Chocolates great experience" $67.23 http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ " Fine Chocolates 2" $60.63 " Fine Chocolates Great Experience" $69.19 http://www.buy.com/ "Fine Chocolates 2" $60.39

anyone know where I can get cocoa nibs in manhattan? I figured I'd try NY Cake and Baking but I don't want to take the trip if I don't have to.....

Did anyone attend any of last week's events in celebration of chocolate? I had hoped to try a few myself, but did not find the time for more than one. I managed to visit Almeida in Islington who, in conjunction with chocolatier Paul A. Young, had a Chocolate Menu on offer - 7-courses, each featuring the sweet stuff. This is what I thought in more detail: Almeida Chocolate Tasting Menu Overall, it was a pleasant surprise; the cooking was good and the chocolate carefully applied, instead of just thrown onto each plate for the sake of it. There were some interesting combinations, avoiding the more obvious venision and chocolate, for example.

This is for my DH who loves chocolate syrup on frozen yoghurt. In the olden days I used to make syrup with cocoa, but now the boss would like his syrup made with real bittersweet chocolate. Fine. But so far my attempts at chocolate sauce have ended up hardening when it meets the cold frozen yoghurt. And of course, it hardens when put into the fridge. Then it has to be rewarmed...but still hardens on the cold dessert. I don't mind the hardening, but Ed does. How does one make a chocolate syrup which is thick and rich and chocolately enough, and still it stays in a semi-liquid form when it meets the cold frozen yoghurt?

I have a large amount of chocolate that got gritty. It wasn't closed well so I assume it got moisture from the air... When I tried melting it I saw blobs and grits- probably sugar and milk-awful!! Even for ganache it is gritty. Should I just say good bye to it? It is about 2 kilos. It is very annoying!