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  1. Hi! I've been looking for a refrigerated display case for my chocolate and confections. I've previously had a used Costan Allegro. I can't seem to find any informations as to what is recommended. Also I used to have my chocolate at 17-18 degree Celsius (62-64F), but I've since bought the chocolatiers kitchen book by Callebaut and the keep mentioning 14-16 C (57-60F) as the ideal temperature to have the longest shelf life. I'm at lost, any suggestions? Thanks ❤️😊
  2. Cool to see him using the same melanger that many of us have gotten from Premier. Interesting flavors and some information on recipe development. @Kerry Beal while their chocolate looks well tempered, they could probably use an EZ Temper to help with their workflow. 🙂 https://youtu.be/E2g-QZG4Vbg?si=pyK4eF2uxU1LTluj
  3. Last month, I posted in the Unexpected Food Gifts topic a selection of chocolates a friend sent me from a startup company providing up-market chocolates to the Chinese market. This garnered some interest and prompted more than one person to express surprise at the inclusion of dark milk chocolate, something some people felt was perhaps a contradiction in terms. Now, I am no chocolate expert or even a big fan of chocolate* of any kind, and therefore I was clueless, as usual. So, I was interested to read this in today’s Gruaniad. It is a review of some, dare I say, artisan chocolates of that description. Notes on chocolate: darker bars that pack both moral and fibre I know we have some chocolatiers here. How common is it? Do you make it? We also have major chocolate eaters. Thoughts? Opinions? * My only real interest in chocolate is linguistic. The name has an interesting history as it passed from language to language. English took it from French which took it from Spanish which took it from pre-Spanish Mexican which took it from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Chinese, 巧克力, meaning 'chocolate' was borrowed from English and is pronounced something like chow-ke-lee. (Pinyin: qiǎo kè lì)
  4. A supplier recently sold me 4 packages of Valrhona Ivoire. But it was out of date last month (6/2023). They refunded me but now I have all this chocolate. I cannot find anything in my state food code (RI) directly prohibiting the use of food past it's best by date. Or rather use of non-tcs food past the best by date. I'm not really sure I feel comfortable using it for bonbons.. we all know how white chocolate gets and it would really have to be used up in just a couple of weeks. There is not way.. white chocolate just isn't popular enough. I've already reached out to a couple of weekly free meal setups around here to see if they might be able to use some... not sure for what, one of them does give out bags of cookies 2x a week and I've donated chocolate and other baking items to them before. I hate waste but I'm at a loss here. 1. I don't know if I can even use it. 2. Not sure if I should really offer this to a couple of bakery contacts. 3. It has to go fast. Any ideas? Recipes that use up a massive amount of white chocolate? If in the end it has to be binned then it has to be binned but I'd like to try to figure something out.
  5. Hi all! My daughter and I are headed to Belgium this summer, just for a few days, and would love to sample and visit some great spots. Right now we just have Chocolate World in Antwerp on our agenda. I'd love any suggestions on unique (or not unique!) chocolate or pastry experiences. Or places to avoid! Thank you! Jen
  6. Hello everyone, The truth is that I have not written before in this forum but I do read it daily and I know that there are very experienced people in everything related to chocolate. It is for this reason that I wanted to ask for your help with the following: I'm trying to make liquor-filled bonbons, I've tried coating them with cocoa butter before closing, but almost all leak.If I make the closure only with chocolate, it's a disaster Can anyone share a method for doing this and stop pulling my hair? Thank you in advance.
  7. I purchased this mold recently on eBay, and have been having a spirited discussion about it with the vendor. I am curious about the irregular edges on the piece, which look to me like the result of the application of a pair of metal snips to a larger mold. Does anyone recognize this mold, and can comment on whether or not this is, in fact, the way the mold would have looked when originally fabricated? Thank you in advance for any information you might be able to provide.
  8. So I own a Chocolate shop, still new, there's a long way to go and many more years of learning. I'm going into more rounds of trying to hire staff and dealing with job postings and position titles etc. My question is. What are some of the best position titles you've come across (and worst). Or if you've ever experienced having to hire, what was your process for determining a position title. I want something that sort of encompasses the position and intrigues a candidate enough to look into the job description, but isn't either non representative of the scope of the job, or is just to fluffy and lame. For me a Chocolatier's Assistant, baker, supervisor etc are easy to use and understand. My problem is the front of house, retail staff side. I sell chocolate, but I also have an espresso machine and serve drinks. I expect someone to serve customers, but when no one is in, I need them to do the other odd jobs around the shop, like packaging chocolate and cleaning up. That being said, sure I could call them a Chocolate Shop Team member.... but when looking at each position as a whole, how will I determine internally which "Chocolate Shop Team Member" I'm talking about. That being said, if I post something like barista, there is a certain expectation of what a barista is. I'm thinking a candidate will make assumptions about it, like that it's short term, paid minimally, and they can just come and go as they like. Anybody have any thoughts on this, or am I just overthinking it way too much.
  9. I am looking for a recipe for a fantastic chocolate sauce (maybe with some bourbon or other yummy secondary flavor). Does anyone have a recipe they love and would pass along? I am thinking of a sauce that would be thick and rich and be stored in a jar and warmed up to pour over ice cream, etc.... Thanks!
  10. Hi there, I'm wondering have any of you used Richmond Chocolate for making chocolate bon bons?I I always use Callebaut callets and here in Ireland have no problems sourcing Callebaut but with the constant rising costs I am looking for a cost effective chocolate while keeping quality. Thanks for any help given. Siobhán.
  11. HelloS I began making bonbons a year ago and use AUI to order the chocolate and fruit purées. Have had great success with Des Alpes Coins using the 63% Dark Garnet, the 37% Milk Topaz, and the White Opal. But I do not see any recommendations for Des Alpes in my (hopefully) thorough search on this forum. Felchin gets high marks frequently. But so many to choose: Any recommendations? I see Sao Palme, Opus, and Elvesia- and others. (I’m still using just coins- haven’t graduated beyond that yet) Many Thanks.
  12. Opened the Washington Post and learned that Chef Roland Mesnier has died. I never met him but have enjoyed baking from and reading two of his cookbooks. RIP. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/roland-mesnier-in-memoriam-1944-2022 https://www.chefrolandmesnier.com/about/history-timeline/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/27/roland-mesnier-pastry-chef-white-house-dead/
  13. although I have certainly used colored cocoa butters with my chocolate bonbon molds, but I am new to using an airbrush. What is the minimum psi that I need for successful results and ease of application? I want to recommend a specific brand of compressor and or airbrush. All advice appreciate!
  14. Guests arrive this week on Thursday afternoon and the Double Chocolate Mousse Bombe birthday cake is to be served at Saturday lunch for two of the gentlemen. That's two days later. And it was specifically requested and agreed to. This chocolate cake is refrigerated and contains both a milk chocolate and a dark chocolate mousse, and is covered by a chocolate glaze which the instructions suggest you apply only 30 minutes before serving (and which I cannot realistically do.) In fact, the entire cake is now practically speaking beyond my energy level these days...but there you are...don't bother going there, please. I've now already listened to a lecture by my dear Ed ( who never listens to sense himself.) The cookbook says you can refrigerate the cake with the two mousses up to 48 hours before serving. That would mean making the second mousse Thursday morning for lunch on Saturday morning. Could I realistically make the cake on Wednesday? Or is that pushing it just too far? The recipe comes from One Cake, One Hundred Desserts, by Greg Case and Keri Fisher, 2006. Plus I have salads to make and they can't be made far ahead either: potato salad, cucumber salad, pepper salad, tabbouleh, and bean salad. I'm planning on laying them out in a sort of mise en place style ahead of time. Might just skip the potato salad. Yes, I used to be able to do all this...but that was then and this is now. I would say that this is definitely the last time I do this at all. The last three years have not been good ones health wise. Sorry to whine while asking Pastry & Baking questions.
  15. Hi there, I’m going nuts trying to find out how some chefs get the Eater egg chocolate transfer sheets on the eggs? I’ve seen some perfect designs that’s are def transfers any ideas?
  16. I made and dipped some sponge candy in dark chocolate the other day. It was probably my second or third time ever tempering chocolate (seeding method), so while I roughly understand the process, I'm far from experienced. I didn't have much chocolate on hand, so I had to split the dipping into two batches on separate days. The first batch set perfectly. The second batch of chocolate appeared to be in temper - when I tested it with a cold knife, it developed the appropriate shine within a few minutes. I proceeded to use all of the chocolate and then move the pieces to a slightly cooler area, but after I cleaned up, I returned to find that every single one had bloomed badly. To my surprise, however, when I ate one of the bloomed pieces after letting them set for 24 hours, I found that it had the hardness and snap I would expect from properly tempered chocolate - certainly not the mushy, almost frosting-like texture that I've seen before in completely untempered chocolate. The chocolate I was using was not particularly fluid, if that matters (Guittard's 70% "baking bars"). I understand that bloom can have a million different causes, but since I used the exact same chocolate and technique both times with dramatically different results, I was hoping to narrow down the possibilities before I risk another attempt. In particular, I was wondering if a warm kitchen could cause this type of problem. I keep a combination thermometer-hygrometer in the kitchen, and on the second day, it was around 77 degrees Farenheit while I was working (far from ideal, but it's what I had to work with). Regardless, I didn't move my finished pieces to the fridge, since it is my understanding that rushing the setting process will interfere with proper crystallization (Greweling mentions this in the context of ganache, but also says the same is true for chocolate). I guess I sort of naively believed that as long as the temperature of the chocolate in the bowl was controlled properly, and the room wasn't warm enough to heat up and literally re-melt the setting pieces, I would be fine. I don't recall the exact kitchen temperature on the first day, but I believe it was around 72-74 degrees Farenheit, definitely cooler than the second day. I found some posts while browsing eG that reference the "latent heat of crystallization" and describe this type of loss-of-temper, but always in the context of molded chocolates, rather than dipped chocolates. I presume the reduced ventilation that chocolate in a mold receives makes the issue more common?
  17. Hi! I am making molded chocolates at home and just started airspraying cocoa butter into the molds. I only have R & R cocoa butter. I haven't been able to find any discussions here about using it. I know I am tempering the cocoa butter and I have a Grex Tritium (side feed) with a .7 needle. I have a California Air Tools compresser 1 HP, with an 8 gallon tank. The cocoa butter seems to clog in the airbrush, and I have to heat it with my blowdryer every few (2-3) minutes to keep it running. It seems I have to use high pressures to get any spray from the gun. I wish I hadn't gotten the side feed, but I didn't know better. Could the brand of cocoa butter be part of the cause? It splatters a lot as well. II am loving the airbrush but I know I have much more to learn yet! I would appreciate any help to help improve my spraying!
  18. Recently I watched a visit to an Entemann's bakery where they ran all the doughnuts under a UV light to kill mold spores before packaging. A few days later I was at Staples, where they had 'room sanitizing' UV lights on clearance and I'm thinking it couldn't hurt to get one and shine it on my bonbons before I cap them. Also to sanitize the kitchen in general, especially the walk-in fridge. Does anyone have experience with UV lights in a food production setting? Will the cheap one from the office supply store help me at all? thanks!
  19. I recently purchased a vintage metal chocolate mold. I was fascinated by its pattern, and it was relatively cheap. Now I'm trying to figure out how to use it. I have begun to suspect that it may have been designed for making some particular type of chocolate, and before I start acting on my various speculations, wanted to put a couple of images of it before this group to see if anyone might recognize what it was made for, or, alternatively, what I could use it to make. It's very heavy, and the cavities are in pretty good condition.
  20. Hi guys hope your doing well, so i just want to ask you about some tips, recipes or informations about making chocolate bonbons am already know how to tamper and make my shells and i want to learn more about this, thank you so much 🎀
  21. Hello friends, We recently got our selmi plus ex and have had a handful of successful runs. So far mostly with our enrobing line. Theres been 2 occasions now that I have noticed when tempering the machine is cooling past the target temp. When it does this it goes down into the 28c range and the screw pump has to shut off due to the temp and viscosity. I also noticed the manual is pretty light on operational procedures. The 2 things I can think of that might be causing this other then an equipment error is the chocolate used is to thick or there is a build up of chocolate around the temperature probe near the faucet. Wondering if anyone else has had this issue before.
  22. Hello! I'm fairly new to this site so I don't know if my search was weak. I'm trying to find a way to make Mandarin orange puree at home, but I couldn't find anything even similar in the forum. I am a home cook, but I have been making chocolate bonbons and other confections for over 4 years (intermitantly). It is too expensive for me to purchase this online- not because of the price of the puree, but the cost of shipping makes it prohibative. The recipes I've seen online are all differant and don't seem to be what I need. I would love any help with this! I look forward to hearing and learning from those who have much, much more experience than me. Thanks!
  23. A quite unusual take on the favorite American chocolate bar: click
  24. Help! I am an amateur and make chocolate truffles, bonbons, and caramels for friends and family. I made some soft caramel for filling molded bonbons. The flavor and consistency are fine, but the caramel is filled with bubbles. I don't know how to get the air bubbles out, and am concerned using it in my molded chocolates. I would like to know if it is okay to use. I have been making confections for about four years and this is the first time this has happened. I would really appreciate any help! I'm new to the forum and don't know anyone yet.
  25. I couldn't think of a better way to word that! I'm experimenting with adding a very small amount of cocoa butter decoration onto bars I'm making and am not sure whether I should heat the moulds up with a hair dryer as I would for completely bare moulds or just abandoning this step. I would avoid blowing directly onto where the cocoa butter is as much as possible. Thoughts?
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