Molded truffle production question

[ACJax]

I have recently moved out of my house and into a commercial kitchen and need to be able to increase production. Previously production time really wasn’t a problem, nor was shelf life, orders were made on request and were eaten within days of delivery. Now I am trying to make chocolates that can be pre-made to be sold.

 

I am a one-man shop (with two jobs…got to support the chocolate habit until it can support itself) so I do not have someone around to help nor do I have multiple pieces of equipment, I know I’m not the only one that has been in this position.

 

How are others handling this?

Do you make your mould shells first and then make the ganache?

How long can shells stay in moulds before they are affected?

Do you make the ganache first and then mould the shells?

                How are you storing the ganache?

                How are you reheating it?

 

If I make the ganache first I have to re-melt/soften it after it has set up. This adds more air into the ganache and affects shelf-life. So far it hasn’t affected the quality or texture (it doesn’t get grainy). But this takes time to re-prepare the ganache each time. (I got very good at recovering broken emulsions while reheating, and can do it consistently, but it takes time)

When I have made the shells first, the shells’ quality/sheen seems to suffer, the shells stay in the mould for 24-48 hours, as I make the shells day 1, and on day 2 I make the ganaches and fill. I only tried this once (and it was a disaster, the shells looked horrible), maybe it was just that time. I’m currently trying again, running an experiment to see if I can pre-make shells.

 

One note on how I make my ganache, I melt/temper the chocolate I use, I do not pour hot cream over un-melted chocolate. For me, I found this to be a more consistent way to make ganache. But due to time constraints I only have time to do one tempering session per day during the week. If I use the same chocolate in the center as the shells this isn’t as much of an issue, but if I use two or more different chocolates for the shells/centers, which many of my recipes call for, then this becomes a problem.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Matthew Kirshner]

Have you thought about truffle molds? I use the truffle flexi molds and it really helped out with my production.  Once done you can pop them out and dip and ready to sell.

[ACJax]

I have considered going that route or using slab and cut with a guitar cutter, but it’s not what I am looking for as the end result for my chocolates. This is the same reason I have not gone to pre-made truffle balls. I like the final result using PC moulds gives and having different shapes to identify my various truffles, plus I get many compliments on my moulded shaped truffles.

 

I am hoping my current test works out where I can keep the shells in the moulds for at least 24-48 hours will out affecting appearance. If not, then I will have to go back to making the ganache ahead of time and then re-melting it when needed, and deal with the extra time and shortened shelf-life this step adds.

[Jim D.]

Somewhere on this forum I have a post discussing the issue of whether to make ganaches ahead of time or not.  At that time I said I was making all the ganaches, then vacuum-sealing and freezing them, and melting them again when ready to fill shells.  Incidentally, I could be wrong, but I don't see that melting the ganaches adds a lot of air if one stirs gently.  Now I wish I could erase that post.  Although the system worked very well for workflow and chocolates were ready to distribute in a shorter time, gradually I discovered that the ganaches (especially those made with white chocolate) tended to separate and/or become grainy in texture.  They just were not of the same quality as freshly made ones--or so it seemed to me.

 

Therefore I reverted to what I think is the method most chocolatiers follow, namely, making the ganaches "on demand."  But with experience I have reduced the amount of time the whole process takes.  I should add that I am working on a small scale (unlike what it sounds that you are about to do)--I make 12 different fillings, with about 40-50 pieces of each.  From decorating the molds to boxing the finished product now takes me 10 days.  I do not worry at all about leaving the empty shells in a cool place for even as much as several days.  I spend a day or two decorating, then mold all the shells (dark, milk, white) over a two-day period.  After that, I begin making ganaches, about three a day.  Of course the slabbed and dipped items take longer, especially if they have more than one layer.  I leave a day toward the end for any necessary redoing of molds or fillings, then a day for photographing the individual pieces and boxing them.  I should add that I don't kill myself (almost, but not quite), so I don't work 8 hours a day--this is still a hobby for me.

 

All things considered, I am happier with this method than with making the fillings in advance, but I am concerned with shelf life more than I was before.  I have read what Wybauw has to say about this issue and have bought a water activity meter to be sure ganaches are at least starting off with a decent shelf life.  Of course, in the final analysis, one can't control how long those who get the chocolates take to eat them or how they store them.  Actually I still have some that I made for Easter, and although the fillings are beginning to decline in quality, they still appear--as of last night--safe to eat.

 

I'm not sure this information will translate to your more commercial situation.

[Kerry Beal]

I have considered going that route or using slab and cut with a guitar cutter, but it’s not what I am looking for as the end result for my chocolates. This is the same reason I have not gone to pre-made truffle balls. I like the final result using PC moulds gives and having different shapes to identify my various truffles, plus I get many compliments on my moulded shaped truffles.

 

I am hoping my current test works out where I can keep the shells in the moulds for at least 24-48 hours will out affecting appearance. If not, then I will have to go back to making the ganache ahead of time and then re-melting it when needed, and deal with the extra time and shortened shelf-life this step adds.

You can pre-make shells ahead.  A little more care is required if they have fully released to prevent pop outs - but I don't hesitate to make shells days to weeks before I fill and back them off.  I do own a whole lot of moulds.

 

For demos I do at the Luxury Chocolate Show I prefer moulded ahead - they are fully crystallized and contracted and pop out easily.

[gap]

What about making the finished chocolates ahead of time and freezing the chocolates? I have had great success with this. 

 

Freezing procedure: box tightly. Wrap well in clingwrap. Fridge 24 hours. Then into freezer. 

To unfreeze: From freezer, into fridge for 24 hours. Then out and sit at room temperature for 24 hours before taking the clingwrap off.

[Edward J]

Lets see now....

 

You can successfully mold shells up to 48 hrs in advance.  You will have to warm the tops slightly with a heat gun after filling with ganache so your "cap" will adhere properly to the shell.

 

For all molded bon-bons, I make the ganache a'la minute--in the robot-coupe.  I never, ever, ever make a cream based ganache for "mise en place" and then warm it to pipe in the shells, always a'la minute and pipe it in fresh.

 

I only have about 24 varieties of bon-bons on display at the store, and maybe only 48 pcs of each variety.

[Chocolot]

I tend to spray one day, usually 5 varieties, 10-12 molds each. Shell second day. The third day, I make ganache and pipe,  Fourth day close and put away. Then the fun job of cleaning molds:). I have been known to do it all in 2 days if pushed. I have also left shelled molds on the shelf for several weeks before filling. I don't notice any difference with the shells that have sat. I always make ganache fresh as i need it. 

[ACJax]

Thanks for everyone’s input, I am going to prep some more moulds tonight and see how they set up and store for 48 hours. The more I think about the issues I had last time I tried this, I think it was more an issue of temperature than keeping the chocolate in the moulds to long. This should be less of an issue now that I am in a proper kitchen.

 

My production set up will be basically this:

Day1: Prep the number of moulds I need

Day2: Prep ganache and fill

Day3: Cap and de-mould.

 

To the comment about freezing the finished chocolates, my issue is more about just producing the chocolates in an efficient manner, not storing for long-term. So far I’ve been able to get a decent storage time by just keeping them around 40F (4C). I have some that I made last November ’14 that have been stored this way for testing and are still good…bit of a quality issue, but safe. As my sales (hopefully) increase, especially around the holiday season, I will look at freezing so I can stock up during slower times and have enough to keep up stock during the busy times.

[ACJax]

Somewhat of success with leaving the chocolate in the moulds for an extended period of time. Some came out with a perfect gloss to them; others were more of a satin gloss. This was with a 60% dark, I’ll be demoulding some Milk chocolate tonight to see how they do. I was using some new moulds, so may not have polished/seasoned all of them well enough.

[Chocolot]

I still can't figure out why a few out of many aren't shiny. The whole tray is treated the same, and there are always a few that aren't as glossy. I have found that if I put them in the fridge for about 10 minutes before remolding, they are shinier.

[ACJax]

Another question, I am finding myself spending too much time leveling out my ganache in my moulded shells. My ganache is not fluid enough to smooth out on its own or by tapping the mould, so I spend a lot of time smoothing it out by hand. I find that if I thin it out by adding cream (or reducing chocolate) to the mixture then the ganache does not set up firm enough.

 

Would adding additional cacao butter help make it more fluid to pour in the shell? But then have it set up firm enough?

I use butter in my ganaches, would adding additional butter to the mix help set it up firmer?

 

My working temps for the ganache is around 85F (29C).

 

Thanks,

[keychris]

it's a choice between butter and cocoa butter into your ganache, choose cocoa butter, it will firm up more and you're not adding any extra water to the ganache. But adding extra fat could change the ganache too - just give it a go and see if you like the result!

[Chocolot]

Try piping the ganache a bit warmer. You are ok at 90F

[ACJax]

Thanks for the help. I worked with some chocolate last night that had a higher cocoa butter content, I’ll see tonight how if firmed up.

 

I’ll also try working the ganache a bit warmer.

 

I’m finding a lot of the ways I did things when working out of my house are not working in a commercial environment, less time to do more it seems.

[ACJax]

Thanks for all your input.

 

The higher cocoa butter chocolate firmed up very well, too well actually, so I made some ratio changes and will get to see the results later tonight. Also working with a warmer temp helped out a bit too, still need to thin it out a bit more, but I could see an improvement.

 

Ok kind of a follow up question for everyone.

What do you do with left over ganache that didn’t get used or didn’t turn out right? Or other chocolates that while good, didn’t turn out right? I think it was Wybauw that had one recipe that used “mistakes”.  I was planning to take all my test ganaches and just blend down with some cream and make a syrup for my morning coffee. What does everyone else do with their “mistakes”, other than just eat them?

[Kerry Beal]

Wybauw's recipe for scrap is called Black Devils if I recall correctly.  Think it's in the first book.

 

I often keep my leftover ganache in the piping bag in the fridge - I might reheat for about 1 minute at power 1 on the microwave before piping into molds.  I sometimes do half leftover ganache and half flowing caramel.  And other times - I go in and bin half a dozen bags when I realize I'm never going to use them!  Or if they are firm enough I might scoop them out of the bag and use them as truffles.