Flavored Ganaches (Fruit, herb, spice, etc)

[Desiderio]

Are you sure that Chabord has artificila flavors in it?I thought was a pretty old recipe, unless they changed lately, I was under the impression it didnt have any artificial flavors, but isnt mainly raspberry.

Anyway, I dont use artificial flavors in my product as well, so I think Iam going to add some fresh pears to some brandy and try that route.

Edited April 15, 2008 by Desiderio (log)

[John DePaula]

the difference is that most (if not all) liquors are artificially falvoured, if your just after this flavour you might want to use artificial flavouring directly. eau de vie is a totally different story. its an alcohol destilled from the actual fruit, it has all the subtle flavour notes  that the fruit has. in germany we make a difference between a "geist" and a "brand". when a geist is produced they will macerate the actual fruit (mainly raspberry) in pure alcohol, then the batch is distilled and you have "himbeer geist" or eau de vie framboise. when a "brand" is made the fruits will have to produce their own alcohol through fermentation, the result will also be destilled and you have a "brand" or "wasser". the latter contains the very essence of the fruit, perfectly made for creating chocolates.

every williams is a "brand". a raspberry "brand" will set you back 80$ per 0,5l....

i would never flavour a chocolate with artificial flavouring but thats just me ;-)

t.

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Thank you very much for this explanation; very helpful!

[scott4136]

so, i have been approached by a couple of pinot noir wine makers and they want me to make something with their wine. no gelees, no crystalized confections, just chocolate items. i tried formulating a white chocolate ganache with their wine, but the white chocolate was way too sweet, so perhaps i shall try something with milk chocolate. if anyone has any input, please feel free :-)

[chiantiglace]

so, i have been approached by a couple of pinot noir wine makers and they want me to make something with their wine.  no gelees, no crystalized confections, just chocolate items.  i tried formulating a white chocolate ganache with their wine, but the white chocolate was way too sweet, so perhaps i shall try something with milk chocolate.  if anyone has any input, please feel free  :-)

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Guittards 72% works wonderfully with Pinot Noir.

Thats kind of lame they only want chocolate items. Wine makers who do not appreciate food? strange, at least thats the way it looks to me.

[gap]

Yep, I'd also go for a dark chocolate with a wine.

[scott4136]

i'm a little confused... the white chocolate was what i would have thought to offer the most mild flavor, one that is easily influenced by liquid flavoring. you don't think that dark chocolate might be too overpowering?

[gap]

You should always make what you and your customers like to eat . . . . for me, I like the pairing of dark chocolate and wine. If you're making some form of ganache, then I think its important that you can distinguish both the chocolate taste and the wine taste and that the two go well together. For me, that would suggest a dark chocolate.

[Lior]

I agree, dark chocolate with wine!

[Desiderio]

Definitely dark, the trick is to find the rigth dark to pair.

[patris]

It really is too bad they won't accept anything other than chocolate. Kerry Beal made a pate de fruit with Banyuls that was nothing short of extraordinary.

Might they be open to an enrobed confection that doesn't contain ganache? That Banyuls PDF would have been terrific with a chocolate coating, I suspect.

[tammylc]

You'd think white chocolate would be a neutral backdrop, but in my experience it's anything but! Too sweet, and the milk fat also mutes flavor. So I definitely agree with the others on using dark chocolate. I like the enrobed pate de fruit idea as well - you could it as a double layer piece, with a layer of ganache and then the pdf.

[Lior]

Sorry, bit what are Banyuls (PDF?)??!

[tammylc]

Sorry, bit what are Banyuls (PDF?)??!

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Banyuls is a kind of red dessert wine, similar to a Port.

[gap]

and PDF is pate de fruite or jelly (excuse my spelling). I've also made a fig and red wine PDF which is great enrobed in a 70%

[Lior]

fig and red wine is perfect in my opinion and thanks all for the info. One day I will also try these-aaah so many things to try!

[BritoJ]

Instead of cream would you heat up the wine and pour on top of chocolate or would you still use cream? I want to try with callebaut 70% but I have never tried before!

[Kerry Beal]

Instead of cream would you heat up the wine and pour on top of chocolate or would you still use cream? I want to try with callebaut 70% but I have never tried before!

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You could make a 'water' ganache this way, but you've got to watch the shelf life.

[scott4136]

Instead of cream would you heat up the wine and pour on top of chocolate or would you still use cream? I want to try with callebaut 70% but I have never tried before!

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straight wine won't work. Due to Ganache being an emultion of fat:liquid, the absence of butter fat in the cream will throw off the fat:liquid ratio and as a result, you will have a broken ganache. Though you do bring up a good point, if i figure out what the fat content is of the cream i'm using, i could simply make my own "wine cream" by adding that percentage of butter in with the wine. Let's see how it goes :-)

[Lior]

I would greatly reduce the wine, slowly and then add it to the cream as one would with fruit puree. Adding pureed figs as well as wine is what I am going try. Any suggestions as to percentages? Perhaps I will use that excel formula (sounds horrid but I know I can do it!!!)

Edited November 15, 2008 by Lior (log)

[Sebastian]

not sure i follow you scott - lots of people make water ganaches (don't use any cream). Since there's lots of fat in chocolate, and lots of water in wine, i don't see any reason why it'd not emulsify (in fact, i've done it). Problem is that you need to add so much wine to your chocolate to get proper texture that flavors now out of whack, in my opinion.

[paulraphael]

I've done this many times. An approach that works well is a chocolate butter sauce, which is basically a thin butter ganache. Depending on the final use, you can increase the proportion of butter to thicken it.

This is the basic method.

I've done this with fortified wines, which are already sweet and which I knew would work at leat passably with chocolate. Port is the obvious choice. With some experimenting, you should be able to find a chocolate that works with your client's wine.

[Kerry Beal]

I was in the cooking school at Niagara college yesterday and one of the chefs there was playing with something like dried wine. As far as I can tell what they are doing is taking the lees after the wine ferments on the skins, dehydrating the skins and then grinding to a powder. I have a little sample that I brought home to play with. Wonder if that would give a good wine flavour in a cream ganache?

[Desiderio]

I have done water ganaches with great success, it is an emulsion. Actually on another thread they were discussing the emulsion of chocolate and water, or any other liquid (that can be done with anything that has the rigth requirements), I think was Harvey This was mentioned to have done this awhile ago.

I don't know if I would reduce the wine too much, I am afraf the flavor would change and taste like cooked wine or something else. I am aware of the high water content, but we also have to keep in mind that this will be an artisan fresh chocolate to enjoy within few days right.

[Kerry Beal]

I wonder how much you'd have to change the recipe for a liquor chocolate to use wine?

[Sebastian]

Kerry - yes, they can be used. Tyipcally the ones i've worked with are plated on maltodextrin as a carrier, but they work just fine.