Chocolate-less "ganache"

[Mr Ryan Santos]

if i want to make a flexible blueberry "ganache" how do i adapt the alinea/voltaggio recipes to make somethign similiar to a curd thats flexible and doesnt use chocolate?

R.

[Tri2Cook]

If you're just wanting a curd you can slice into strips and bend around on the plate into curvy shapes, gelatin works nicely. If you're wanting to do the loops and twists that Chef Stupak did with his version, good luck! They're a P.I.T.A. even with his exact recipe. I did a no-chocolate version that was flavored with fresh mint a while back by subbing in cocoa butter and adjusting the amount of cream. It was bendy but I couldn't get it to do twists or loops. If I wanted to try a blueberry version and was determined to base it on that recipe, I think I would make a soft blueberry curd or cream with minimal added sweetness and use it to replace the cream in the recipe, then sub white chocolate (which means I'd probably drop the sugar in the original recipe) for the dark as a starting point. It probably wouldn't be that simple and may fail completely but it's a minimal distance from the original and a small batch would give you a reference point for further adjustments depending on the results.

[jfresch]

Is it possible to make ganache without the use of chocolate? I want to make a coconut ganache that has the texture of chocolate but the flavor of pure coconut.

[minas6907]

Ganache is always chocolate based, so you might be looking at something at more along the lines of a caramel or fondant.

[pastrygirl]

Agree with Minas that ganache is by definition chocolate. Are you opposed to white chocolate? It does add a lot of sweetness, but otherwise doesn't interfere too much. Or maybe you could thicken up some coconut cream with pure cocoa butter. Do you want it smooth or chunky? What do you plan on using it for? I was looking at Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour in the store today, never tried it, but it looks very fine and could be used as a thickener. Maybe some combination of coconut cream/milk, coconut flour or coconut cream powder (two totally different products as far as I know, but things I would try if I was on your quest), and cocoa butter? I love coconut, so please report back on your experiments.

Edited June 21, 2013 by pastrygirl (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I was doing some experimenting a while back doing ganaches with straight cocoa butter instead of chocolate to get pure flavors and savory ganaches. I don't know if they would technically be considered ganaches and it would get a bit pricey large-scale but I was getting some promising results that just needed some tweaking and fine-tuning... then I kinda strayed from the project and haven't got back to it.

[lebowits]

I was doing some experimenting a while back doing ganaches with straight cocoa butter instead of chocolate to get pure flavors and savory ganaches. I don't know if they would technically be considered ganaches and it would get a bit pricey large-scale but I was getting some promising results that just needed some tweaking and fine-tuning... then I kinda strayed from the project and haven't got back to it.

I was doing some experimenting a while back doing ganaches with straight cocoa butter instead of chocolate to get pure flavors and savory ganaches. I don't know if they would technically be considered ganaches and it would get a bit pricey large-scale but I was getting some promising results that just needed some tweaking and fine-tuning... then I kinda strayed from the project and haven't got back to it.

Straight cocoa butter would probably have too strong a "fat" flavor. I suggest that you find some dried, unsweetened coconut and use it to infuse cream. This should give you a very prominent coconut flavor. If that doesn't do the trick, maybe add a bit of coconut puree to the ganache. I'll leave the choice of chocolate up to you. ;-)

[Alleguede]

There are a few options you can use in my opinion.

If you are doing a dipped product you can do something like a bounty bar with frappe.

You can make a ganache with coconut cream, coconut shreds, milk chocolate or the zephyr white chocolate which is much less sweet then many or cut down a little on the chocolate to tough it up with cacao butter

[Tri2Cook]

I was doing some experimenting a while back doing ganaches with straight cocoa butter instead of chocolate to get pure flavors and savory ganaches. I don't know if they would technically be considered ganaches and it would get a bit pricey large-scale but I was getting some promising results that just needed some tweaking and fine-tuning... then I kinda strayed from the project and haven't got back to it.

Straight cocoa butter would probably have too strong a "fat" flavor. I suggest that you find some dried, unsweetened coconut and use it to infuse cream. This should give you a very prominent coconut flavor. If that doesn't do the trick, maybe add a bit of coconut puree to the ganache. I'll leave the choice of chocolate up to you. ;-)

Yeah, I'm not sure what I was doing would be appropriate in this case but it did make for some pretty tasty carrot, butternut, corn and other flavor "ganaches" by combining cocoa butter, butter and seasoned purees. What I was doing wasn't really aimed at being part of a box of chocolates.

[Jim D.]

I was doing some experimenting a while back doing ganaches with straight cocoa butter instead of chocolate to get pure flavors and savory ganaches. I don't know if they would technically be considered ganaches and it would get a bit pricey large-scale but I was getting some promising results that just needed some tweaking and fine-tuning... then I kinda strayed from the project and haven't got back to it.

I am intrigued by your idea of using cocoa butter for a ganache. I have found that in trying for flavors that would be lost in milk or dark chocolate--and somewhat in white chocolate--increasing cocoa butter has helped. But when I have added a substantial amount, the texture of the ganache has become too "short"--grainy rather than smooth. Have you encountered this problem?

[Tri2Cook]

I was doing some experimenting a while back doing ganaches with straight cocoa butter instead of chocolate to get pure flavors and savory ganaches. I don't know if they would technically be considered ganaches and it would get a bit pricey large-scale but I was getting some promising results that just needed some tweaking and fine-tuning... then I kinda strayed from the project and haven't got back to it.

I am intrigued by your idea of using cocoa butter for a ganache. I have found that in trying for flavors that would be lost in milk or dark chocolate--and somewhat in white chocolate--increasing cocoa butter has helped. But when I have added a substantial amount, the texture of the ganache has become too "short"--grainy rather than smooth. Have you encountered this problem?

To an extent, yes. It was one of the kinks that needed to be worked out in some cases. In other cases, the puree still had enough texture to mask any grainy texture from the cocoa butter. It really depended on what flavor base I was working with as to how much of a problem it was. As I said above, my goals with the project were in a different direction that the usual suspects for ganache. I was interested in integrating them into savory dishes as a component on the plate.

[Baselerd]

I don't know how close you can get to the texture of a real ganache, but I know there's plenty of ingredients out there than can turn a liquid base or puree into gels of varying textures.

I made this "flexi-curd" (recipe) that might be a starting point for inspiration. It definitely was way softer than a ganache, but still was reasonably firm, and I can imagine increasing some of the gelling agents you might be able to get something closer to a ganache.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Baselerd (log)