Prices for fruit purées / chocolate / cream / butter

[Leon Krohn]

Hi everyone, I have been working as a pastry chef in France for the last years and I wanted to ask for your help for a short paper that I have to write for the BTM (a french pastry exam)

 

I want to do a quick comparison for the price for basic ingredients in the US compared to France.

However I am trouble finding decent information for prices. I was looking for two to three chocolates, something easy to aquire such as Valrhona and Cacao Barry. The same goes for fruit purées. I have not yet been able to find a price for your standard purée (lemon, raspberry, strawberry etc) from Boiron or Capfruit.

 

So are there any pastry chefs amongst you that could help me out by letting me know how much they pay for their couvertures, fruit purees, cream and butter so that I can get a better idea.

 

Thank you very much in advance and a hello from Paris!

[Jim D.]

You can find basic price information on these websites:

 

for chocolate:  www.chocosphere.com

 

for Boiron purées:  https://www.markys.com/Tea-Desserts-and-Jams/fruit-puree/

 

These are prices for the general public; there may well be discounts for business customers, but those would probably not be posted.

[pastrygirl]

Retail or wholesale?  Fruit puree prices depend on the flavor and as I'm sure you know couverture prices vary widely per the brand and formulation.  My main wholesale suppliers in Seattle are Merlino Foods and the Peterson Co, if you look through their catalogs and select some items for which you would like prices, you may be able to call or email and get that info.  Otherwise, I pay around $75 for a 3kg bag of Valrhona, and the Felchlin couvertures I use are $6.17/# for Sao Palme 60%,  and $10.26/# for Maracaibo Creole 49% from the suppliers mentioned above.   I paid $2.35 per pound for unsalted butter yesterday at Cash & Carry, but that was on sale, it is usually closer to $3 and high-fat or specialty (plugra) butter is more.

Edited March 24, 2016 by pastrygirl
clarity (log)

[JeanneCake]

Fruit purees - I buy Ponthier from Swiss Chalet and their prices are on their website (www.scff.com).  You can also check out AUI Fine Foods for pricing  on couverture and fruit puree: www.auiswiss.com

 

However, yesterday (this is the only reason I remember it, otherwise I'd have to look at the invoices) I needed one more item to reach the minimum required by one of my distributors.  I was able to add a Boiron passionfruit puree for $13.82, which is a lot cheaper than the Ponthier (by a few dollars).

 

Dairy here in the Boston area is currently: for 40% heavy cream, 4.78/quart for name brand (Hood's), $3.75 for the house brand at the cash and carry store and #3.98 for the house brand at the lowest priced supermarket in this area.  There is also a 36% heavy cream, but we don't use it so I don't know the pricing on it.

 

Unsalted butter runs anywhere from $2.52/# for 36 one pound blocks in a case, or $2/# for a 55 pound cube; to $4+ for a pound of Plugra.  Depends on who you buy it from (cash and carry that is open only to restaurants, or a supermarket or a food distributor)