Has anyone had success tempering Felchin Cru Sauvage?

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

Hi all, I've been given some Felchlin Cru Sauvage as a sample by a supplier and it is delicious, however I know it's (understatement alert) meant to be a bit of a pain to temper. Does anyone have any hints or tips for handling this chocolate?

Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong forum.

Edited May 27, 2011 by AnythingButPlainChocolate (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Wild bean cocoa won't have a consistent cocoa butter content across batches, and so it is naturally a bit of a pain to temper. I've had reasonable success with double-tempering - bring it as close to temper as you can on the first go, then chill it down, re-melt, and temper again. This seems to homogenize the fats a bit better, and you'll find that it handles better on the second go-round.

This is how I handle wild cocoa from here in Ecuador (Amazon-grown, mostly).

[prairiegirl]

I mold cru sauvage into small bars. Many of the different dark couveratures are recommended to melt to 45 C approx.. With Cru Sauvage you need to take it higher..into the 50 C to really melt all the fat crystals. Valrhona is a good example where the instructions are to melt in the 50's because of the high cocoa butter content.

[pastrygirl]

I have some, but haven't tried tempering it. Would adding a few % regular cocoa butter (mycryo, etc) help, or does that defeat the purpose of using wild cacao?

[confiseur]

Cru sauvage is imho one of the worlds great chocolates,I must have tempered a hundred kilos of this either by hand ..table, vaccine and microwave methods...and by machine and have never had a significant problem..

As with all felchlin chocolates important to go up to 50c to melt, prechrystalize this one at 28c and work with at 32c. Simples