Confection shelf-life, and managing production

[pastrygirl]

I've been making chocolates in my spare time over the past few years, but have taken a few big steps lately towards shifting from pastry chef to chocolatier. I had packaging designed and made, cobbled together a website, rented space in a commissary kitchen, and am almost out the door at the restaurant. Yup, finally quit the day job!

I've done two pop-up shops and will be part of another on Saturday, and today I exhibited and sold at the Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon. I'm learning a lot, but one thing I still need to figure out is how to determine shelf life and balance that with production. Products are filled bonbons, ganache truffle squares, bars with fillings or inclusions, caramels, and pate de fruits. My estimate of shelf life is around 2 weeks for bonbons and pdf, 3-4 weeks for truffles, and longer for caramels and bars.

I guess I don't have a specific question, more looking for insight on how other confectioners & chocolatiers manage to have efficient production. Do you date your product? Refrigerate/freeze it? How do you determine your sell by date? How many orders/boxes of an item do you usually make at once, and how long does it take to sell? How much of a window before the sell by date do you think people expect? Is it better to have an earlier sell by date and risk people thinking it might be bad when it probably isn't, or have a later date and risk people waiting too long and eating things not at their peak?

Your thoughts & experience are appreciated!

Andrea

[Jim D.]

Congratulations on this new step in your career.  I recall your excitement from your recent popup and so am not surprised at this development.  Shelf life is a topic I have been concerned about of late--especially once I learned how long some recipients of my chocolates keep them!  Jean-Pierre Wybauw's third volume on ganaches deals with the subject at length.  I include a guide with each box explaining what the fillings are--and an ever-more-restrictive "best by" statement and warning that if the confections are going to be kept longer than two weeks, they should be wrapped well and refrigerated (on the theory of better a little condensation than a funeral!).  I have kept some chocolates for over a month and have never encountered mold, but others on eGullet have found mold, and the taste certainly suffers.

 

Here are links to a few discussions on eGullet about shelf life, proper ganache formulation, preserving chocolates, etc.:

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/147590-puréed-fruit-as-chocolate-filling-water-content/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/63097-ganache-tips-techniques/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/94070-shelf-stableshelf-life-of-truffles/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/129934-shelf-life-of-homemade-confections/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/114561-balancing-your-ganache-recipes-20/

 

You can find more discussion of the topic on www.thechocolatelife.com -- do a search under Forums.

 

Jim

 

Shelf life is a topic I have been thinking about quite a bit lately.  The ultimate solution is to purchase an aW meter to test all your confections, but--as you probably know--those devices are quite expensive.

[curls]

Jim D. you can also take some classes at Callebaut to learn about shelf life and other technical issues.

Chocolate Technology 1, http://www.chocolate-academy.com/us/en/calendar?oper=detail,courseDate=1719

Chocolate Technology 2, http://www.chocolate-academy.com/us/en/calendar?oper=detail,courseDate=1720,course_academy=21

[pastrygirl]

Thanks guys, I'll read up. It's kind of funny, because I've been harassing my new sous chef at the restaurant about freshness and not making too much and being super selective about quality, but yesterday not only did I find that the pate de fruits I was about to sell had gotten all weepy and syrupy in the box, but a customer e-mailed me when she got home that I had sold her a box of truffles with a use by date of today I'm sure they are fine or I wouldn't have sold them, but I should have been paying more attention. I think once I get production amounts dialed in better, shelf life will be less of an issue. I'll remind myself that even though most confections CAN spend some time on the shelf, doesn't mean they SHOULD.

[lebowits]

Jim D. you can also take some classes at Callebaut to learn about shelf life and other technical issues.

Chocolate Technology 1, http://www.chocolate-academy.com/us/en/calendar?oper=detail,courseDate=1719

Chocolate Technology 2, http://www.chocolate-academy.com/us/en/calendar?oper=detail,courseDate=1720,course_academy=21

I'm taking these classes this week.  We had a full day of lecture yesterday during which Chef made a number of ganaches using the same technique but changing one parameter.  We'll examine and taste the results today.  Tomorrow we start Chocolate Technolgy II.  It's very technical, but I'm expecting that I'll be working hard to get my centers "balanced" over the next few weeks if they aren't already.

[Jim D.]

My impression from reading what others have said on eGullet is that they tend to use the phrase "best by" rather than "use by" on their products.  That gives you a cushion.  As I previously wrote in this thread, I became alarmed when some recipients of my chocolates told me how long they stretched out the eating process.  As if to underline the issue, yesterday I got a thank-you note from a recipient, informing me that he had just finished the last piece.  The problem is that because of an emergency situation, I had to ship the Easter batch on April 7, so that last piece was more than a month old--since, of course, I had to begin making the pieces well before April 7.  There is nothing one can do about such situations, but knowing about them does give perspective on shelf life.  And, as I said earlier, I am definitely including a "wrap tightly and refrigerate if you keep them longer than two weeks" statement with chocolates.  What more can one do?  Even corporations like Kraft can't make people put the mayo in the fridge.

[curls]

... I'm learning a lot, but one thing I still need to figure out is how to determine shelf life and balance that with production. Products are filled bonbons, ganache truffle squares, bars with fillings or inclusions, caramels, and pate de fruits. My estimate of shelf life is around 2 weeks for bonbons and pdf, 3-4 weeks for truffles, and longer for caramels and bars.

I guess I don't have a specific question, more looking for insight on how other confectioners & chocolatiers manage to have efficient production. Do you date your product? Refrigerate/freeze it? How do you determine your sell by date? How many orders/boxes of an item do you usually make at once, and how long does it take to sell? How much of a window before the sell by date do you think people expect? Is it better to have an earlier sell by date and risk people thinking it might be bad when it probably isn't, or have a later date and risk people waiting too long and eating things not at their peak?

Your thoughts & experience are appreciated!

Andrea

 

Andrea, from what I have seen when I have had a chance to get behind the scenes tours at chocolate shops, most of them freeze their product (and have good formulas). They produce a lot of their seasonal items far in advance and freeze. How they determine when to bring them back to room temperature and how much inventory at a time, I am not sure (but this is something that will vary shop to shop and perhaps day by day... just keep records and see if you can spot market trends). Also, I see them using best consumed by dates and including in their literature / flavor guides a note about not using preservatives and suggesting that the chocolates be consumed within a week or two of purchase.  I imagine that if you freeze your product (see Greweling's book for instructions on how to do this so that you avoid condensation and cracking) then you can produce when you have time and you will always have "fresh" product ready to be sold.

[Popcornlady]

Hi,

I am also wondering about shelf life. However, my product is a toffee baked popcorn. We have tasted it after 6 weeks and it is still crunchy, (I do use corn syrup) however, a distributor is interested in us and wants a longer shelf life. As my product is natural I was thinking of using soy lecithin. Is this something that would work to extend the life? also, I have no idea how to add it to boiling caramel or do I add it before the boiling starts? I have never used this product before.

Sorry for all the questions. My business has only been up and running for 3 weeks and we are in three local shops with re-orders, so I know our product could take off..thanks for your help.

Roselette

[Chocolot]

Lecithin is good for keeping the kernels separate, but won't do much for shelf life. Your only issue would be moisture from the air, and possible rancidity from any nuts that might be in there. If it is air-tight, you should be able to get 6 months.

[RobertM]

Agree with Chocolot. Lecithin will help your fats emulsify but won't extend your shelf life. Add it with your fats. Not knowing your product or formulation, I'm going to assume that toffee baked popcorn is what I call caramel corn. To extend shelf-life you're going to need packaging with an excellent air/moisture barrier. Cello-bags; plastic are excellent options!

[Kimberlene Brown]

On 5/5/2014 at 4:40 PM, Jim D. said:

Congratulations on this new step in your career.  I recall your excitement from your recent popup and so am not surprised at this development.  Shelf life is a topic I have been concerned about of late--especially once I learned how long some recipients of my chocolates keep them!  Jean-Pierre Wybauw's third volume on ganaches deals with the subject at length.  I include a guide with each box explaining what the fillings are--and an ever-more-restrictive "best by" statement and warning that if the confections are going to be kept longer than two weeks, they should be wrapped well and refrigerated (on the theory of better a little condensation than a funeral!).  I have kept some chocolates for over a month and have never encountered mold, but others on eGullet have found mold, and the taste certainly suffers.

 

Here are links to a few discussions on eGullet about shelf life, proper ganache formulation, preserving chocolates, etc.:

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/147590-puréed-fruit-as-chocolate-filling-water-content/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/63097-ganache-tips-techniques/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/94070-shelf-stableshelf-life-of-truffles/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/129934-shelf-life-of-homemade-confections/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/114561-balancing-your-ganache-recipes-20/

 

You can find more discussion of the topic on www.thechocolatelife.com -- do a search under Forums.

 

Jim

 

Shelf life is a topic I have been thinking about quite a bit lately.  The ultimate solution is to purchase an aW meter to test all your confections, but--as you probably know--those devices are quite expensive.

Hello Jim, Hope you are well? I know this is an old post, however I’ve been trying to search for topics related to balancing of a recipe for truffles. I’ve been reading books but I would like to get some more knowledge on how to balancing a recipe. The links you’ve posted above seem like there might be some info there to help me, however I can’t seem to open any of them. Can you kindly help me please. Thanks 

[Jim D.]

3 hours ago, Kimberlene Brown said:

Hello Jim, Hope you are well? I know this is an old post, however I’ve been trying to search for topics related to balancing of a recipe for truffles. I’ve been reading books but I would like to get some more knowledge on how to balancing a recipe. The links you’ve posted above seem like there might be some info there to help me, however I can’t seem to open any of them. Can you kindly help me please. Thanks 

 

The ganache spreadsheet to which I referred in the post you mention is available on my website:  https://www.santiagochocolates.com/ganache.html

 

But I need to add that I have not found that spreadsheet all that useful.  I actually developed my own using dBase software.  There is other software discussed by Kerry Beal on eGullet, but I don't have have a link to that; a Google search on balancing ganache will lead you to other software options.  Chocolate Academy has a (free) video on the subject.  Another option is to sign up for Kalle Jungstedt's course that includes his method of balancing ganaches.  The issue with all such methods is that they depend on the particular ingredients you use.  For instance, the compositions of 60% and 72% dark chocolate are substantially different (especially the amount of cocoa butter each contains).  Another way of dealing with being fairly sure your ganache will be balanced, have a decent shelf life, and also taste good is to use recipes from reputable sources (such as Peter Greweling, Ewald Notter, Jean-Pierre Wybauw, Melissa Coppel, and the aforementioned Kalle Jungstedt). 

Edited May 30 by Jim D. (log)

[Rajala]

4 hours ago, Kimberlene Brown said:

I’ve been trying to search for topics related to balancing of a recipe for truffles

 

Have you checked Chocolate by Ramon Morató? He's basically the source of the modern way to work and balance ganaches. The book contains a formula used by many many people. Wybauw obviously is a great source, but I don't remember him having developed a formula for this.

[ChristianD]

I would like to take this opportunity to refer you to the test version of my ganache calculator, which you can find at http://ganache.guru/Test_EN2.php. It offers a range of calculation options, provides recommendations and is able to perform a variety of parameters (including consistency and shelf life) based on the ingredients. This may help balancing recipes for truffles. One of the biggest advantages is that most of the common ingredients (currently about 1500) are already stored here and do not have to be entered manually. If certain ingredients are still missing, you are welcome to send them to me. For any questions and/or requests, please do not hesitate to get in touch. If you have any suggestions regarding additional functionality or if you are missing functions, please feel free to let me know. I will gladly try to implement them.

[Kimberlene Brown]

18 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

The ganache spreadsheet to which I referred in the post you mention is available on my website:  https://www.santiagochocolates.com/ganache.html

 

But I need to add that I have not found that spreadsheet all that useful.  I actually developed my own using dBase software.  There is other software discussed by Kerry Beal on eGullet, but I don't have have a link to that; a Google search on balancing ganache will lead you to other software options.  Chocolate Academy has a (free) video on the subject.  Another option is to sign up for Kalle Jungstedt's course that includes his method of balancing ganaches.  The issue with all such methods is that they depend on the particular ingredients you use.  For instance, the compositions of 60% and 72% dark chocolate are substantially different (especially the amount of cocoa butter each contains).  Another way of dealing with being fairly sure your ganache will be balanced, have a decent shelf life, and also taste good is to use recipes from reputable sources (such as Peter Greweling, Ewald Notter, Jean-Pierre Wybauw, Melissa Coppel, and the aforementioned Kalle Jungstedt). 

Thank you Jim! I will have a look at the resources above.

[Kimberlene Brown]

17 hours ago, Rajala said:

 

Have you checked Chocolate by Ramon Morató? He's basically the source of the modern way to work and balance ganaches. The book contains a formula used by many many people. Wybauw obviously is a great source, but I don't remember him having developed a formula for this.

Hello! Thank you for this. No, I’ve not read this one. I’ll have a look at it. Thanks !

[Kerry Beal]

7 hours ago, ChristianD said:

I would like to take this opportunity to refer you to the test version of my ganache calculator, which you can find at http://ganache.guru/Test_EN2.php. It offers a range of calculation options, provides recommendations and is able to perform a variety of parameters (including consistency and shelf life) based on the ingredients. This may help balancing recipes for truffles. One of the biggest advantages is that most of the common ingredients (currently about 1500) are already stored here and do not have to be entered manually. If certain ingredients are still missing, you are welcome to send them to me. For any questions and/or requests, please do not hesitate to get in touch. If you have any suggestions regarding additional functionality or if you are missing functions, please feel free to let me know. I will gladly try to implement them.

@ChristianD - welcome to eG! I notice you posted back in March and no one welcomed you. We'd love it if you would introduce yourself to the group. It would be nice to learn about you, what you are doing and what prompted you to develop this ganache calculator. 

 

That's a pretty complex looking calculator you have developed and I'm sure we'd all love to take it for a spin. You'll find lots of beta testers here. Perhaps you could start a separate thread for it so it doesn't get lost in the middle of this thread that started 10 years ago. 

Edited May 31 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Rajala]

6 hours ago, Kimberlene Brown said:

Hello! Thank you for this. No, I’ve not read this one. I’ll have a look at it. Thanks !

 

It's a really good book. But just to mention it: it's not mainly about ganaches and bonbons in general - but loads of other things as well.

[ChristianD]

@Kerry Beal 

Thank you very much for your kind words. Briefly about myself. My name is Christian Dante and I come from Germany. I am not a trained chocolatier or patissier, but rather came to the subject of chocolate and pralines by chance about 15 years ago. I was fascinated by the subject from the very beginning. Back then, social media was still in its infancy, so I learned a lot of things on my own. On my journey into the world of chocolate, I have already met many well-known chocolatiers and chocolate experts and my expertise is now often in demand, at least in German-speaking countries.

Interestingly, I did my first and only chocolate course (as a pupil) at "Törtchen,Törtchen" in Cologne, whose founder Torsten Schöneich (schneich) created the first version of the Excel spreadsheet "Balancing your Ganache Recipes 2.0" (https://forums.egullet.org/topic/114561-balancing-your-ganache-recipes-20/) here in the forum, which was also the very first approach for my calculator.

Initially, my calculator was also based on Excel, but over time I realized the limitations of Excel and decided a few years ago to port the whole thing to a modern web interface. Initially, the reactions were somewhat sceptical, as there were already two programs on the market, Ganache Solution and Pro-Choc. I got to know Ganache Solution in real operation for the first time in 2019 at a meeting with Ramon Morato. In principle a good program, but I was missing some important features, the program was not available in German and the price was still quite high at the time.

In the last 2 years I have been working more intensively on the calculator and the software and database behind it. During this time, I have also dealt intensively with the subject and studied virtually every scientific paper from the last few decades that touches on the subject. Since as I have a normal full-time job and am doing all the programming myself (one-man project), the project is not progressing as quickly as I would like. In the meantime, however, I have reached a point where the basic concept is in place and the calculator is sufficiently stable. However, I don't want to rule out the possibility that there may still be a bug or two 😉.

My aim is to create a calculator that performs fairly complex calculations in the background, but is still relatively easy and intuitive to use, even for beginners. I would be happy to open a separate thread for this so the topic gets a little more attention. However, this may take another 2-3 weeks due to vacations. To make it a little easier to get started, I have attached a screenshot with explanations. In this context, I have initially hidden all buttons that have no influence on the actual calculation.

[Kerry Beal]

@ChristianD - I for one would love to play with it and compare it to ProChoc which I have access to in my role as tutor for the Chocolate Quality and Shelf Life for Ecole Chocolat. I have (or did have - not sure anymore) Ganache Solution but never really got into it. 

 

So let us know when you return from holiday and we can start a new thread and all work together to help you make this a success.

 

Here is my whirlwind visit to @schneich in 2008 on my way to visit Michael Wolf and family in Germany. 

Edited June 1 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Rajala]

Seems like quite some hours put down into this. What's the future plan? Have it free or put it behind a paywall like SaaS?

 

How do you judge the consistency? Feels kind of subjective, but there must be something you base it on?

Also the AW part, is that based on some of the formulas you can find out there? It's not really close to what I've measured on my own.

 

No criticism here, just curiosity!

 

 

Edited June 1 by Rajala (log)

[Jim D.]

@ChristianD, thanks for the instructions you provided in your last post.  It's what I was missing from the app as it exists.  I was pleased to find the Felchlin chocolates I use in your list, but didn't quite know what to do after that.

 

Many people who don't own Aw meters will be happy to see your estimates, but, as I think @Rajala implied, there is no substitute for an actual measurement with an actual machine.

 

Thanks for allowing us to experiment with the fruits of your labors.

[Kerry Beal]

@Jim D. - I've found that the numbers I get from ProChoc seem to align quite well with those I measure with my Aw meter. The weakness I find with ProChoc is the caramel - I think it's in there but I'm not sure how to account for it. I'd love to be able to put in something like -  "X grams of sugar, X grams of cream cooked to X degrees" - without actually having to know the amount of caramel that would result. 

 

 

Edited June 1 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

@Jim D. - I've found that the numbers I get from ProChoc seem to align quite well with those I measure with my Aw meter. The weakness I find with ProChoc is the caramel - I think it's in there but I'm not sure how to account for it. I'd love to be able to put in something like -  "X grams of sugar, X grams of cream cooked to X degrees" - without actually having to know the amount of caramel that would result. 

 

 

 

I have found similar issues with my method of calculating how much of a particular filling I need to fill x number of molds.  The calculation works very well with something like a ganache, but with the (difficult-to-predict) reduction involved in a caramel, it's another story.   From measurements I did with various recipes, I concluded that the resulting caramel is about 40% of the original weight of ingredients.  But that is really just a (somewhat educated) guess.

[ChristianD]

@Rajala  

Thank you very much for your feedback. I have no problem at all with constructive criticism, as long as it is formulated objectively. Appropriate feedback is essential in order to point out possible weaknesses.

According to current plans, there will be 3 variants (Basic, Standard and Premium). The Basic version will remain free of charge. Small monthly fees should be charged for the Standard and Premium versions. Personalised support and some other features will be reserved for the Standard and Premium versions.

The judge the consistency is based on the fat and other dry ingredients (protein and cocoa solids, etc.) and compares these to the liquid ingredients (water, alcohol, oils). The solid fat content (SFC) at 20°C is also included in the calculation. This is based on an analysis of the triglyceride (TAG for short) and also takes into account (as far as possible) the eutetic behavior of fat mixtures. The sugars are not yet included in the calculation, although I am of course aware that long-chain sugar molecules in particular (e.g. in glucose syrup) do have an influence on the consistency.

Water activity can be estimated by different theoretical and empirical models. I started with the Grover Equation and the Norrish Eqaution. However, I was not really satisfied with the results. After studying various scientific papers, I started to develop my own mathematical model. This is based on the realization that mainly the water content and the content of humectants (i.e. substances that are able to chemically bind water molecules) play a significant role in the aw value. These are mainly salts, sugars and sugar alcohols. For all of these substances, I have determined the binding capacity of water molecules from scientific studies and determined a mathematical model for calculating the influence on the aw value in each case. It should be noted that the influence is generally not linear but curvilinear. The other solids content (proteins etc.) is also included in the calculation. Fats are not taken into account here because, as far as I know, they have virtually no influence on the aw value. Theoretically, the sorption isotherm should also be included in the calculation. However, this can hardly be calculated mathematically for a complex system such as a ganache. I have repeatedly compared the results obtained with real results. Of course, there were certain deviations. However, at least with classic ganache recipes, these were well below 10%. Therefore, some examples with significant deviations from the values you measured would be very helpful.