Flavored Chocolate Bars

[mostlylana]

I have had a request for orange flavoured bars. Being a 'purist' I would like to do it naturally. I got out my labels from my long eaten Paul DeBondt bars from Italy. He does tons of flavoured bars. On his ingredient labels he would have, for instance: 'mint, mint oil' / 'fennel, fennel oil' / 'cardamom, cardamom oil' / 'crystallized orange peel, orange oil'... That all seems straight forward enough - although I'm wondering about the pieces of mint or fennel in the bar - I don't remember these bars and the texture unfortunately...

But I'm curious to know what other techniques are used to flavour bars??

I have heard that you can infuse cocoa butter with a flavouring - eg. orange zest - then strain, add the cocoa butter to the chocolate and proceed from there. Not wanting to add additional cocoa butter, I'm wondering if I can infuse the chocolate itself for a day or 2?? Can't see why not??

Also, continuing with other flavours - eg. cinnamon and chili pepper - most artisan bars just add the spice directly to the chocolate but I see that the Lindt bar uses chili extract... most likely to keep the smoothness of the chocolate. What does everyone think about adding spices to the bar? Does the 'grit' detract from the chocolate experience?

Looking forward to hear what everyone has to say on this topic. I've been pondering it for awhile.

[gap]

You can definately infuse chocolate. I've done it with white chocolate and coffee beans. Chooclate at 40-45C, add coffee beans, mix. Leave to infuse in a heating cabinet or low oven (try to keep at 40-45C). We left for several hours, but you could leave as long as you want. Then strain, temper and mould.

Don't see why it wouldn't work with other flavours and different chocolates as well.

Edited for typos

Edited October 31, 2009 by gap (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Yep, infuse away. It works great with zests, coffee beans, spices, dried flowers, etc. I infused some lightly smoked chocolate with charred cinnamon sticks and dried chiles then aerated it and the flavors came across great. With some things, moisture can be a factor. I infused some white chocolate with fresh lilac flowers last spring and the moisture in the flowers caused some problems with the chocolate. The flavor and aroma transfered just fine though.

[Kerry Beal]

I figure a sous vide setup would be great for infusion (as long as everything gets well dried before cutting open the bag), but personally I use quality essential oils to get intense flavour.

[pringle007]

but personally I use quality essential oils to get intense flavour.

Do you have a recommended source for any quality oils? My local gourmet supply shop is closing until the spring, and I'm looking to find online sources fo rmost of the things I get from them.

[mostlylana]

Good to hear about infusing chocolate. I'll have to try it. I'll also try the essential oils. I find essential oils too stong in ganache but probably a whole different story in bars. Pringle, I found a great source for essential oils - awesome quality. Here's the link:

http://www.anandaapothecary.com/therapeuticgradeessentialoils.html

Here's their link on using the oils internally:

http://www.anandaapothecary.com/articles/essential-oils-safe-for-ingestion.html

[Kerry Beal]

Here is the place I get a lot of nice oils from. Don;t bother with ginger oil - it doesn't distill well.

[pringle007]

Awesome sites! Thanks Kerry and Lana!

[mostlylana]

I want to add an Aztec bunny to my repetoire this Easter. I'm looking to do either chili/cinnamon or chili/allspice/nutmeg. This thread had a great discussion about infusing chocolate but I'd like to just add powders (for ease and efficiency!).

I'm hoping someone will have a starting point for me in terms of how much chili to add. Anyone played with these spices in a solid bar before?

[Lior]

Even just storing chocolate (as we all know...) makes for absorption of odors. SO I always store my infused bars with things like orange peels that have been dried, chilies dried etc. I get a whiff when opening the box...