Choc/oil ganache?

[thegreatdane]

I'm experimenting with some chocolates and thought of doing a ganache/truffle by mixing chocolate with just oil, perhaps olive or pecan. Is it possible?

[stuartlikesstrudel]

You can certainly emulsify chocolate with just oil, there's a chocolate mousse recipe that does that... but I don't know if you'd be able to get much firmness in the texture, it tends to end up pretty soft.

And I have no idea about shelf life and all that stuff.

[thegreatdane]

I was wondering about shelf life, too.

[mostlylana]

The shelf life would be great with no water activity going on. I don't know if the end result could be called 'ganache' - but I think it would be good. You could infuse your oil with flavour as well. Let us know if you try it!

[dhardy123]

I did an olive oil truffle last spring and it worked well. I topped it off with Olive Oil powder (tapioca maltodextrin & olive oil)

Not sure about the shelf life though

[thegreatdane]

Big question; shelf life. I know liquid fats tend to go rancid faster than solid. How fast in chocolate, though? Hmmm...

[HQAntithesis]

This is all speculation but you could do it, though it wouldn't be a ganache. The shelf life due to flavour quality should be comparable to that of a praline - a standard praline is about 25% nut fats and it'd be a reasonable estimate that you wouldn't be using more than 25% additional oil in any recipe. The shelf life due to microbial activity would be fantastic though.

The melting characteristics may be a little bit like pate a glace though, so whether that'd desirable or not is another thing - it probably melts quickly in the mouth and leaves the palate quickly but cleanly while against the tooth it's like ,well, soft chocolate in that it doesn't have the textural qualities, such as the elasticity, of a ganache.

One may need to consider whether fat bloom will occur, for example if one enrobes a praline in dark chocolate, the nut fats eventually migrate to the the surface. It's slower to the point of it considered negligible in the case of milk chocolate because the milk fat blocks this somewhat.

[IndyRob]

For experimentation purposes, I'd certainly give coconut oil a go.

[Darienne]

You use chocolate and coconut oil to make Magic Shell, the stuff you pour on ice cream to make that hard shell. Which doesn't preclude using it for a ganache I guess.

[Kerry Beal]

For experimentation purposes, I'd certainly give coconut oil a go.

That would be a meltaway.

[thegreatdane]

I like the combination of olive oil and dark chocolates. It adds a floral/fruity note. Coconut oil sounds interesting, too.

Kerry, forgive my ignorance, what is a "meltaway?"

[Kerry Beal]

I like the combination of olive oil and dark chocolates. It adds a floral/fruity note. Coconut oil sounds interesting, too.

Kerry, forgive my ignorance, what is a "meltaway?"

A meltaway is chocolate and coconut oil - often flavoured with mint oil. A variety of other flavourings can be used as well. The eutectics of the combination of coconut oil and chocolate changes the melting temperature and so it melts easily on your tongue.

Recipes can be found in Greweling and I'd be surprised if there wasn't a thread on here somewhere.

I think you probably could call the mixture of chocolate and oil a ganache - after all, butter and chocolate is butter ganache. I seem to recall from somewhere that a ganache is defined as a combination of chocolate and fat - that fat might be contained in cream but by definition - a ganache doesn't have to contain cream.

[HQAntithesis]

The thing is, by the definition of ganache being chocolate and fat, then compound chocolate is considered a ganache - not something which is necessarily wrong. Similarly, a praline set with chocolate would also then be considered a ganache. My interpretation, was that a ganache had to be an emulsion containing chocolate: whether it be butter based, cream based, water based etc but with the three necessary ingredients being fat, water and cocoa solids.

Edited December 11, 2010 by HQAntithesis (log)