'Ruby' the Fourth Chocolate frontier?

[adey73]

so you people in the field and in the know, has anyone tried this supposed new variety, any thoughts?

 

https://bakeryinfo.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/18418/You_92ve_had_dark,_milk_and_white__96_now_Barry_Callebaut_unveils_ruby_chocolate.html

[pastrygirl]

This was the first I'd heard of it.  I'm not clear on what it actually is - it's dark chocolate made from cacao but pink in color and fruity tasting?  Does it taste like chocolate, though? 

 

I think the color is ugly, so that's not a selling point for me

[Tri2Cook]

28 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

This was the first I'd heard of it.  I'm not clear on what it actually is - it's dark chocolate made from cacao but pink in color and fruity tasting?  Does it taste like chocolate, though? 

 

I think the color is ugly, so that's not a selling point for me

It says no color or fruit flavor added in the article. I'm thinking the "fruity" they're referring to is like when we talk about fruity notes in other chocolates only maybe more forward and pronounced with this one. But that's just a guess based on the article, I've never seen this before now.

[Merry Berry]

I am a little skeptical, but I always enjoy trying out new things.  So anyone wants to go ahead and ship me some gratis, I will test it for you haha.

 

I wonder where this falls on the GMO scale and how heavily "engineered" it is.  Not all GMOs are bad, but it definitely makes me want to conduct more research on it before I start using it..  Anyone with any insight?

[Merry Berry]

Little more info here https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-05/chocolate-gets-first-addition-to-color-palette-in-80-years-ruby

 

Looks like they are wanting to break the China market open with it.  And get the millennials on board  <eye roll>

[Kerry Beal]

I'm going to be escorting a group of Ecole Chocolat students to the Callebaut Academy in Belgium in October - wonder if I'll get to check it out?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I recall seeing this reported in the Wall Street Journal tonight, though I did not have a chance to read the whole article.

 

[adey73]

11 hours ago, Merry Berry said:

Little more info here https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-05/chocolate-gets-first-addition-to-color-palette-in-80-years-ruby

 

Looks like they are wanting to break the China market open with it.  And get the millennials on board  <eye roll>

 

"It has a nice balance that speaks a lot to millennials." 

 

just lost interest and choked on my coffee reading that venal statement!

 

Damn am too old for pink chocolate.

Edited September 6, 2017 by adey73 (log)

[chromedome]

8 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I'm going to be escorting a group of Ecole Chocolat students to the Callebaut Academy in Belgium in October - wonder if I'll get to check it out?

I expect they'll be keen to showcase it. 

[Jim D.]

I sent the news to Chocosphere. The owner hadn't heard of the new product but said he would contact his Barry Callebaut rep to ask about it, so we'll see how soon it gets to this side of the world. I think the real question is whether--despite all the hype--it tastes good.

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, Jim D. said:

I sent the news to Chocosphere. The owner hadn't heard of the new product but said he would contact his Barry Callebaut rep to ask about it, so we'll see how soon it gets to this side of the world. I think the real question is whether--despite all the hype--it tastes good.

Indeed. 

 

It would seem from the limited information in those articles that it's simply...chocolate...perhaps with the signature fruity notes a bit more to the fore than they are in dark chocolate. I don't see it as being anything much to fuss over, but things are apparently rather desperate in Big Chocolate these days so I imagine they're grasping at straws. 

[Jim D.]

1 minute ago, chromedome said:

...things are apparently rather desperate in Big Chocolate these days so I imagine they're grasping at straws. 

 

Yes, as I was reading the ruby articles, I happened on the information that chocolate prices are plunging (news to me). Wasn't it just a year or so ago that there were dire warnings of price rises (and some in fact followed)? Glad I'm not an economist and have to explain all this.

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, Jim D. said:

 

Yes, as I was reading the ruby articles, I happened on the information that chocolate prices are plunging (news to me). Wasn't it just a year or so ago that there were dire warnings of price rises (and some in fact followed)? Glad I'm not an economist and have to explain all this.

As with oil, there seems to be a serious disconnect in how price increases vs. price decreases are passed along to end users.

[pastrygirl]

3 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

Yes, as I was reading the ruby articles, I happened on the information that chocolate prices are plunging (news to me).

 

News to me too.  Prices never seem to go down!

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/swiss-scientists-ruby-chocolate-new-flavour-barry-callebaut-a7930046.html

 

I share the skepticism of the "expert" in the link above, who noted that Valrhona made a similar claim about Dulcey being a revolutionary fourth type of chocolate - blonde.  So that makes Ruby the fifth, no? 

 

It is interesting how the chocolate makers are expanding their options so rapidly these days.  10 years ago, Valrhona had like 5 products, now they have all these estate and single origin and even added another formula of blonde chocolate.  Plus, didn't they have one that was made form some albino cacao or something?  Barry-Callebaut and Felchlin have both jumped on the blonde/caramelized white bandwagon, and Felchlin is introducing some new vegan crap that they aren't even allowed to call chocolate - from their facebook post: 

"Do you know all about our recently launched ‘Vegan Choc’ - The real alternative to a chocolate for a Vegan lifestyle?

Produced with cacao butter from the Dominican cacao beans & rice milk powder, our Vegan Choc Blanc 38% has a full-bodied finish with vanilla, well balanced with a touch of almonds and coconut & our Vegan Choc Brun 44% has the harmonious cacao notes with a touch of slightly toasted hazelnuts rounded with a spicy finish.  Our Vegan choc is an organically certified confectionery mass which is not classic couverture nor chocolate but still tastes exactly like chocolate."

 

 

Edited September 6, 2017 by pastrygirl
pasting instead of linking (log)

[Patrick S]

I admit that I'm a sucker for new chocolate varieties, being a novelty-seeking type in general. I'm looking forward to at least trying the new Orelys from Valrhona, for instance. I'm interested to see what Callebaut's Ruby really brings to the table. If it's just a novel color, I'm not particularly interested. But if it hits some kind of new note in the flavor department, I'd be happy to give it a spin!

[RWood]

15 hours ago, Patrick S said:

I admit that I'm a sucker for new chocolate varieties, being a novelty-seeking type in general. I'm looking forward to at least trying the new Orelys from Valrhona, for instance. I'm interested to see what Callebaut's Ruby really brings to the table. If it's just a novel color, I'm not particularly interested. But if it hits some kind of new note in the flavor department, I'd be happy to give it a spin!

Haven't tried the Orelys yet, but I've been using the Opalys (33% white) a lot, and I have a bag of the Waina (35% white) that is different. Very vanilla-y. 

The one on the left is Opalys, and the right is Waina. Very different. 

I was looking on Valrhonas website, and they also have passion fruit and strawberry chocolate. Getting a little crazy.

[Patrick S]

4 hours ago, RWood said:

Haven't tried the Orelys yet, but I've been using the Opalys (33% white) a lot, and I have a bag of the Waina (35% white) that is different. Very vanilla-y. 

The one on the left is Opalys, and the right is Waina. Very different. 

I was looking on Valrhonas website, and they also have passion fruit and strawberry chocolate. Getting a little crazy.

 

Things have definitely changed quite a bit recently! I took a break from baking for several years, and only remember the Manjari, Guanaja, Caraibe, Ivoire and Jivara varieties from those days. Now, just a few years later, there is this whole zoo of crispearls, single origins, blondes, and all other manner of new stuff. I know that different folks have different opinions when it comes to white chocolate, but personally I just love the Valrhona Ivoire. I haven't tried the Waina or Opalys, but I'm sure that will happen once the weather cools and I have a moment of Amazon weakness. Add to that list the Azelia hazelnut chocolate, and the Itakuja (passion fruit) and Kidavoa (banana) double-fermented chocolates. I did try the Dulcey and Caramelia. We loved both of them so much that when it came time to cook, I found that my kilo of feves had dwindled to about 200 grams due to a sustained pattern of late-night nibbling. Being a home baker, I probably won't do much more than sample some of these new varieties, since there are other ways to add that extra note (caramel, hazelnut, fruit flavors, etc) to whatever I'm making.

 

For those of you that are mostly focused on chocolates/confectionary, what do make of this recent big bang of varieties? Are you using many of these new products in your commercial work? Do you find any of them to be actually interesting or innovative, or do you see most of the new products to be gimmicky and faddish? 

Edited September 7, 2017 by Patrick S (log)

[Jim D.]

Speaking only of the Valrhona whites, I tried Opalys when it first came out and immediately liked it. To me it has a strong vanilla flavor and (at least sometimes) a hint of something citrus--though I freely admit that this may be my imagination. I use it as my only white at this time--although it is a horror to temper and use for shells (it thickens after only a few molds). I took a kilo of it to this year's eGullet workshop in Vegas and let Kerry Beal try tempering it. To my relief (I was sure I was losing my mind), it behaved the same way for her. But if one is willing to take the usual steps for correcting its over-tempering tendencies, it is the only white I have tried so far that really tastes good (to me). And for as a base for ganaches (which is the usual way I employ it), it adds a very pleasant flavor. I bought a kilo of Waina but do not care for it. Unlike RWood, I do not taste a lot of vanilla, mostly cocoa butter and sugar. I haven't yet tried the new Valrhona Orelys but want to do so. I have always thought that finding a good dark and milk is not terribly difficult, but white is another matter.

[curls]

Interesting! I did not know about Valrhona's passion fruit and strawberry varieties -- will have to check them out.

 

I do like their hazelnut chocolate, Azelia, but haven't found it to add much more havelnut flavor to my gianduja & feuilltine bon bon -- maybe because I am already adding additional hazelnut paste. The  Azelia is wonderful for munching & would be very nice as a bar with hazelnut inclusions.

[Jim D.]

More about the new Ruby chocolate:  This detailed discussion of the product (appearance, taste, uses, etc.) by Clay Gordon, eminent chocolate authority, is quite interesting:

 

https://www.themaven.net/thechocolatelife/news/and-ruby-makes-four-a-new-flavor-and-color-joins-the-chocolate-family-9E0qKqT9rEm7PduwTDT0Mw-9E0qKqT9rEm7PduwTDT0Mw?full=1

 

One salient fact: it probably won't be available until 2019.

[cdh]

Is this just very lightly roasted cacao beans processed into chocolate?  Roasting coffee, the lighter the roast, the more the fruity aspects of the beans are highlighted... and generally, things that turn brown when roasted dark pass through a reddish phase on the way...  the way to make a light beer turn red is to add a little bit of very darkly roasted malt...  

[RWood]

On 9/8/2017 at 6:26 AM, curls said:

Interesting! I did not know about Valrhona's passion fruit and strawberry varieties -- will have to check them out.

 

I do like their hazelnut chocolate, Azelia, but haven't found it to add much more havelnut flavor to my gianduja & feuilltine bon bon -- maybe because I am already adding additional hazelnut paste. The  Azelia is wonderful for munching & would be very nice as a bar with hazelnut inclusions.

Azelia is tasty by itself . I've only used it in ice cream and in buttercream. But, I've added additional chopped hazelnuts to both. 

I wouldn't mind trying to new fruit flavored, my passion fruit bon bon is one of the most popular, to my surprise. 

[Kerry Beal]

I've been doing a little reading around this - it would appear that the beans are not fermented (hence very little 'chocolate' flavor) -  nibs/beans with high levels of polyphenols are treated with acid to bring out the red/purple colours. Can't yet determine if it is then roasted - I'm suspecting not from what I have read so far (although it does get taken to 60 or 70º C) - so I guess this means that Callebaut is getting into kind of raw chocolate!

[Sweet Impact Mama]

Some of my more passionate customers have sent me initial news articles about it, and it does look interesting... but the sourcing is my biggest concern. Callebaut has been rather lacking when it comes to ensuring that child labor/slavery is not part of their supply chain. And they've publicly acknowledged that to be an issue for almost 2 decades. When it comes from ethical sources then I'll be happy to play around with it and see what fun creations we can make. :-)

[Jim D.]

Aside from those concerns, as I posted earlier in this thread, the Ruby won't be available until (estimated) 2019, so you can tell your customers to relax.