Best affordable bulk chocolate?

[Chocolot]

I'm going to link here to a few good'uns. Admittedly, my brain is starting to turn to jam from wildly varying descriptions and prices.

Guittard La Nuit Noire coverture - $57/5kg callets. I know nothing about this whatsoever other than that it's much cheaper than Williams Sonoma. Of course, everything is cheaper than Williams Sonoma.

https://www.chocolat...-box-coins.aspx

Cacao Barry Mi Amere Dark Pistoles - $58/5kg callets. This is from an Amazon storefront, but $5.27 for Cacao Barry is pretty hard to beat.

http://www.amazon.co...=A30KZ5KMEUBUR8

Cacao Barry Pistoles Excellence - $65.10. A pretty good price on good chocolate from a major retailer.

http://www.europeanf...les-excellence/

Barry Callebaut 815NV callets - $84/10kg callets. This is from a big distributor, and the price is certainly hard to beat. But is it any good?

http://wholesalemelt...2-lb-815nv.html

Merckens 10lb Yucatan chocolate. I know nothing about this beyond that some people like it and it's really staggeringly cheap. I don't know if it's coverture appropriate, but $3.19 a pound makes it worth trying in ganache.

http://www.gygi.com/...colate-bar.html

Guittard Select Milk Chocolate: I can't find much information on this, but the price is right, it's labelled "coverture," and it says "Guittard" on it.

http://www.gygi.com/...colate-bar.html

I think it is Guittard Signature, not select. Signature is a good chocolate for hand dipping, but not thin enough for shelling.

Yucatan is likewise, ok for hand dipping, but not for shelling. These are mid-range chocolates. They are ok, but certainly not high end, but then neither is the price.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Chocolot (log)

[Edward J]

Merckens 10lb Yucatan chocolate. I know nothing about this beyond that some people like it and it's really staggeringly cheap. I don't know if it's coverture appropriate, but $3.19 a pound makes it worth trying in ganache.

http://www.gygi.com/...colate-bar.html

As the English would say "Wotcher" and the Germans would say "8-tung!" Merckens is not known for putting cooca butter in their stuff...........

My rule of thumb, and for most other chocolatiers is, if it comes in pounds, stay away from it.

[merlicky]

Guittard Select Milk Chocolate: I can't find much information on this, but the price is right, it's labelled "coverture," and it says "Guittard" on it.

http://www.gygi.com/...colate-bar.html

Be careful using anything from Guittard Chocolate Company that is not of the E. Guittard line. They have a white chocolate that is reasonable, but most of the non E. Guittard chocolate is not really premium and is best used in baking and not as a couverture.

[jrshaul]

Be careful using anything from Guittard Chocolate Company that is not of the E. Guittard line. They have a white chocolate that is reasonable, but most of the non E. Guittard chocolate is not really premium and is best used in baking and not as a couverture.

As the English would say "Wotcher" and the Germans would say "8-tung!" Merckens is not known for putting cooca butter in their stuff...........

Thanks for the warnings!

I'm wondering to what degree I'm butting my head against a pointless retail mark-up. How much would I have to buy to get a proper wholesale discount, and how big would it be?

[Edward J]

Usually a case, which is usually 10 kg.

I'd suggest getting friendly with a local hotel or restaurant and buy a case from them wholesale. Some will, some won't, some will order for you on a separate invoice.

If you have suppliers in the area, you might have luck picking up a case at their loading dock.

As to the true price? Any supplier will keep the price they paid very close to their chest. As I said in my above post, volume is the name of the game--the larger the amount you order, the cheaper the price will be.

[jrshaul]

On the advice of the lovely folks present, I've acquired 10kg of Callebaut 815nv from Belgian manufacture. $116 shipped results to $5.27/lb shipped, a very reasonable price indeed.

[Chocolot]

Where did you find it at that price?

[jrshaul]

Where did you find it at that price?

Wholesalemeltinghcocolate.com. The receipt says it's owned by Gygi. Shipping is reasonable at ~ $30/22lb - some sites wanted $25 for 11.

http://wholesalemeltingchocolate.gostorego.com/chocolate-brands/callebaut-chocolate/callebaut-finest-belgian-bitter-sweet-chocolate-callets-22-lb-815nv.html

It says it's Belgian, too; given that the American-made 811NV is specified as such, I am very pleased.

[Chocolot]

Very interesting. I just bought 10K of 815nv from Gygi and with my discount and no shipping, I paid $147.00!!!

[jrshaul]

Very interesting. I just bought 10K of 815nv from Gygi and with my discount and no shipping, I paid $147.00!!!

Gadzooks!

[Chocolot]

You just saved me a bunch of money:-) I looked at my receipt and they charged me for 2 bags!! You may wonder why I didn't catch it, but I was in a hurry and had a gift card and it was all play money to me.

[ElainaA]

Interesting. I just bought 11 lbs of Callebaut 815 NV callets from Gygi for 49.98 which = 4.54 per lb. My whole order (including milk chocolate (5 lbs) and white chocolate (5.5 lbs) callets ) came to 109.95 plus 26.84 shipping - total= 136.79. I thought this was very reasonable.

[Blake Christensen]

We're opening our wine bar in California where we'll offer 12 different homemade chocolate truffles and couverture chocolates for pairing with our wines.

 

Some chocolate suppliers had good prices, but the quality wasn't there and others I thought were pretty ordinary for how expensive they were. And it's funny because the one I found totally by accident, turned out to be the best chocolate at the best price from www.santabarbarachocolate.com 

 

I went for the Organic Amazonas 70% Dark and it was amaaaaaazing! One of the best chocolates I've ever had and it's a dream to work with. Now I get all kind coupons from them and the shipping is free. So it's worked out to be a the best all around deal and I'm a huge fan if you can't tell hahaha ;-)