Ice Wine Truffle

[Kerry Beal]

I can't make a decent ice wine truffle! As as matter of fact I've never tasted a decent ice wine truffle made by anyone. I've tasted lots of crummy ones.

I suspect it's simply that ice wine doesn't have enough body to stand up to the chocolate. I can make a lovely truffle using port or banyuls, it doesn't taste clearly of the wine - instead the wine just adds a certain richness to the center.

I've used Lior's suggestion of adding the wine to neutral glaze to make a center that accurately reflects the ice wine - however the shelf life is a significant issue.

So help me think outside the box here - how can I make a truffle that does the ice wine proud?

[Tri2Cook]

I've been going through a bit of brainstorming over the ganache thing lately trying to figure out what exactly defines it. I've done quite a bit of playing around with water-type ganaches using cocoa butter as the base instead of chocolate but I'm not entirely sure if that still technically counts as a ganache. It works nicely with fruit flavors but I haven't tried it with ice wine. I understand this is probably cost prohibitive to confectioners who have to do things in large quantities but it does allow for a clean flavor. Shelf life may very well be an issue though. Actually, I guess this is no help at all.

[ArtMills]

I'm pretty happy with ours - I've made poor ones - almost always due to inferior ice wine when the client has insisted that I use theirs (now I know to blend so I can still say that theirs is in it). I would love to make them a little stronger (currently 200 ml in a 1.9 kg batch gives about 1.5 ml per 14g truffle), but higher would not only be cost prohibitive, I would also be concerned about finished consistency/mouthfeel. I think Pillitteri (a market leader) is best flavour per $. Watch out for off-brands pedalling near ice wine as the real thing.

I am doing some new work this weekend with a Cab Franc Ice Wine for a couple of clients. CabFranc is a little more fruit forward and very chocolate-friendly, so I am hoping it will have more punch. Any thoughts on how best to extened shelf life. I will reduce cream and increase alcohol a little. I don't want to use preservative (like PotSorbate), but maybe some ascorbic acid (anti-oxidant) might help. Any other ideas? Have you ever tried with powdered whole milk instead of cream? That lower moisture content could work wonders.

Thanks.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm pretty happy with ours - I've made poor ones - almost always due to inferior ice wine when the client has insisted that I use theirs (now I know to blend so I can still say that theirs is in it).  I would love to make them a little stronger (currently 200 ml in a 1.9 kg batch gives about 1.5 ml per 14g truffle), but higher would not only be cost prohibitive, I would also be concerned about finished consistency/mouthfeel.  I think Pillitteri (a market leader) is best flavour per $.  Watch out for off-brands pedalling near ice wine as the real thing. 

I am doing some new work this weekend with a Cab Franc Ice Wine for a couple of clients.  CabFranc is a little more fruit forward and very chocolate-friendly, so I am hoping it will have more punch.  Any thoughts on how best to extened shelf life.  I will reduce cream and increase alcohol a little.  I don't want to use preservative (like PotSorbate), but maybe some ascorbic acid (anti-oxidant) might help.  Any other ideas?  Have you ever tried with powdered whole milk instead of cream?  That lower moisture content could work wonders.

Thanks.

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Thanks for the suggestions Art. I'll grab some of the Pillitteri to experiment with. I think it's time to go back to square one and do a white, milk and a dark to compare. I think this will be a piped filling so I can go a little softer.

The cab franc will be fabulous with chocolate - especially dark I suspect - similar to a port. Add some glucose or invert sugar or even some sorbitol (Wybauw is doing that a lot these days) to decrease the available water for shelf life. Haven't tried powdered milk.

[Lior]

perhaps adding some alcohol -pure- would help shelf life-to get to 60 proof?

[Kerry Beal]

Oh, I should also tell you I tried some of the Eiswien extract from Amoretti - and found it gave a flavour similar to freesias - which wasn't quite what I was after.

[ArtMills]

Oh, I should also tell you I tried some of the Eiswien extract from Amoretti - and found it gave a flavour similar to freesias - which wasn't quite what I was after.

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I've gotten a sample of Amoretti Eiswien - I never used it as the aroma didn't suggest a real ice wine characteristic. Besides I am dealing with wineries and winemakers - I want to remain true to the product.

I have added just a touch of alcohol before but again I don't want to destroy a flavour I am working so hard to preserve.

So, I think it is lab time: split into mini-batches of each method, control, milk pwder, invert, ascorbic and a franken-batch combining a little of each. I'll keep notes and do an ambient and refrigertated shelf life on each. The best performer(s) will go to an outside lab for micro analysis.

[Lior]

please keep us informed!!!

[prairiegirl]

I make ice wine buttercream fillings. The high fat content absorbs the ice wine flavours very nicely.