Extracts - Chocolate, Herb, Truffle, etc.

[Stewart H]

I've recently made my own vanilla extract as detailed in the thread around here somewhere, using Smirnoff 45%. A friend has recently been over to the states, so I got him to bring me back some 95% Everclear, as I fancy some more extract making.

My thoughts at the moment are:

Chocolate. I'm guessing cocoa powder would work... but how about actual chocolate? I've got some 100% Pralus that's tempting me right now. Imagine the extract of something really dark & fruity like Amedei's Chuao!

Herbs. To be able to add the delicate fragrance of herbs to a dish would be great, especially as it's difficult for me to get hold of fresh (or even grow) herbs

Truffles (more hypothetical this one, as I'm not sure I can afford truffles, never mind afford buying them for experimentation purposes).

Has anyone tried any of these? Might they work? Any other ideas for things that could be extracted?

[ricardoyudi]

for those who didn't read the vanilla extract thread here it goes

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...3205&hl=extract

I think chocolate is harder to obtain a good extract since it's not as volatile or fragant as a vanilla bean, however sounds very very yummy.

I certainly will experiment making some extracts too. Since I'm crazy about spices and stuff I'll try to make some cardamom, tonka beans..

How about flowers and stuff? It goes under the herbs category I think, it should work quite well.

This website lists several edible flowers:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowe...FlowersMain.htm

Truffles should be a 100% success since infuses extremely well in oils, dried rice and so on. A low budget experiment would be dried mushroom (shitake for instance) in my opinion.

What do you think?

Edited March 15, 2008 by ricardoyudi (log)

[miladyinsanity]

The best way to get a chocolate extract might be to infuse roasted cacao beans?

[prasantrin]

Regarding citrus extracts, why do some recipes call for using alcohol and water? Some recipes I've seen have equal parts alcohol:water, and others are 2:1. I'd prefer just to use straight alcohol, but would a combination of water and alcohol give me a more flavourful infusion?

Also, is there a specific (or best) peel: liquid ratio? Some recipes say one lemon, some say two, and the amount of liquid varies anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 cup.

If it matters, I'm planning on doing meyer lemon and also yuzu.

[thock]

I started a cacao nib extraction in a tiny bottle a few days ago. It's a light mahogany color, and whiffs faintly of chocolate, so far. We'll see what it's like in a week, then in a month, and so on.

Has anyone else had success with chocolate of any variety?