kitchen odours

[prairiegirl]

I am hoping to get my store going this fall. I have visited many different shops and this summer at one shop the owner let me try some of his chocolates that he had not capped yet. I noticed a "kitchen odour flavour in his moulded pieces that I tried. If you put a piece of chocolate or squares etc. in your refrigerator and left it there uncovered for 48 hours. When you taste it, they will have an off flavour to them. That is what I tasted in this man's chocolates. My question to commercial kitchen/chocolate shops is: What kind of air purification system do you use to keep odours out of your chocolate. Fats attract smells! What works. This guy had a very clean kitchen but I thought that maybe the temp of the room could have been a few degrees cooler. It was in July and it was hot! Please let me hear what works for you.

Thanks.

Edited August 21, 2007 by prairiegirl (log)

[etalanian]

You should never be leaving uncovered chocolates in the fridge long enough to collect odors. The chocolates should be tightly wrapped so condensation problems don't arise. A fridge is not the best place for chocolates, IMHO. Too damp.

Eileen

[prairiegirl]

I agree Eileen. My example of the fridge is the taste you can get and when I went to the chocolate store and tried a sample, the chocolates had that kitchen odour taste to them. He never put his chocolate in the fridge for storage. The moulded pieces were left in his commercial kitchen where he makes only chocolate, nothing else. I don't put my chocolates for storage in the fridge either unless they are sealed airtight, and with several layers. What I questioning and trying to decide is do I need any kind of special air filter or conditioning (aside from AC) to protect my chocolates from collecting any kind of room odours. When you mould chocolates or make truffles, it is important to let them crust overnight or for a certain amount of hours. I am concerned that the chocolate may absorb odours, just like the man i have mentioned did. That is the question....special filter or not!!! ???

[sugarseattle]

it sounds like "the man" making chocolates has certain conditions in his kitchen that make odors that show up in his chocolate. You confirmed that you are tasting them.

the air in a space is simply a reflection of its surroundings, which also may include outdoor surroundings. for example if you produce chocolates near a cow pasture, the odors from the cow poo are going to travel into your kitchen. that is why the concept of air fresheners doesn't make sense because it's not the AIR you want to clean, it's the thing that's making the air stink. I know you're talking about air filters, but I think the concept is the same.

Perhaps he has an old piece of equipment that is launching stinky particles into the air that are ending up in the chocolate. maybe he's lying to you and actually does store his chocolates in the fridge? sure, an air filtration system, if properly configured, could correct the problem, but I think it might be a good idea for him to get to the source of the problem, the thing that's causing the stink. I don't necessarily think installing an air filtration system is for the novice, and just throwing one in won't guarantee a stink-free room unless it's installed professionally.

I think you're right to be cautious, but I think you will have to test in your kitchen space whether or not your chocolate gets an odor. Perhaps you might bring a friend in, or get some more of those stinky chocolates and do a taste test, comparing them to your chocolates. You might do the test outside of your space. Just try to be scientific and isolate all the variables. Right now, you're dealing with somebody else's space.

The best thing is to set up a system to check quality. I learned the hard way with a couple of bad bags of flour where cakes turned moldy in 1-2 days because of the flour. I had tested cakes with several different flours and isolated the problem to the flour, but because I didn't have flour bag numbers or any proof that the mold could be traced to a particular batch. My supplier was not helpful at all, and was totally unresponsive to my claims which is really sad because I almost lost a major client because of that problem. So check check check for odors and adjust your procedures accordingly.

Edited August 24, 2007 by sugarseattle (log)