Callebaut bittersweet chocolate viscosity

[SweetandSnappyJen]

Hi folks -

 

I often buy a blocks of Callebaut Bittersweet or Semi-sweet from our local grocery store that I use for my shells. The chocolate has been fine in the past, but I just brought out my Chocovision Rev2b for some tempering, and the chocolate was SO viscous, to the point that I had to take my finger and swish the chocolate out of the cavities. I know Callebaut makes a few varieties of dark, these were simply labeled "Bittersweet". Has this happened to anyone? Thanks.

Edited September 1, 2018 by Smithy
Corrected title spelling (log)

[Jim D.]

Callebaut includes drops on its packages to indicate viscosity--unless what you have was repackaged by someone else. If the drops are sufficient (you can check the meaning of the drops here), then it's possible humidity has affected your chocolate. Are you in an area that is currently experiencing high humidity (as I am where I live)? If you have good AC, you can get that down, but only so much. As you probably know, the constant movement of the Chocovision tempering machines tends to make chocolate get overtempered sooner rather than later, and there are steps you can take to deal with that, but if the machine has worked satisfactorily before in an equivalent span of time in use, I would look to the humidity as a possible cause.

[Kerry Beal]

Callebaut makes quite a few different formulations they label bittersweet - each with different viscosity - I've run afoul of the same issue when I haven't had access to the numbers on the packaging.

[Tri2Cook]

All of the Callebaut chocolates I have on hand right now (white, milk, 54.5% semi, and 70% bitter) have the "3" star number for viscosity and I find all of them to be a little more viscous than I'd prefer at working temp (which, for me, is as soon as it's cool enough to add the EZtemper silk). You can get nice thin shells but it takes a lot of banging the sides of the mold to get rid of the excess.

[pastrygirl]

... and if you did get a different formula of chocolate, you can always thin it down by adding a little extra cacao butter

[SweetandSnappyJen]

Thanks, everyone!  There was no information regarding the formulation, just 'bittersweet'. The update, a couple of hours later is that they set with some streaks and other bloom-like discoloration (I tested the temper before molding, and it seemed to be in temper) I wonder if it was overseeded in the machine, or something. I'm still trying to decide if I prefer the old fashioned way of tempering  But it's hard to tell if this is a machine issue or a chocolate issue. The odd thing, is that that the chocolate that I swiped out with my finger appears to be in temper (the attachment '3.jpg'.  @pastrygirl- if I were to thin it down with cocoa butter in the machine, I'd melt the cocoa butter first, correct?

[SweetandSnappyJen]

Oh, and sorry for the HUGE attachments:)

[keychris]

They look fine on my phone, but you have some great bloom in there 😛 probably because they were a bit thick!

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, SweetandSnappyJen said:

Thanks, everyone!  There was no information regarding the formulation, just 'bittersweet'. The update, a couple of hours later is that they set with some streaks and other bloom-like discoloration (I tested the temper before molding, and it seemed to be in temper) I wonder if it was overseeded in the machine, or something. I'm still trying to decide if I prefer the old fashioned way of tempering  But it's hard to tell if this is a machine issue or a chocolate issue. The odd thing, is that that the chocolate that I swiped out with my finger appears to be in temper (the attachment '3.jpg'.  @pastrygirl- if I were to thin it down with cocoa butter in the machine, I'd melt the cocoa butter first, correct?

This might be a problem of latent heat of crystallization. Try popping the molds in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes after they start to set up.

 

 

[Pastrypastmidnight]

I always thin my callebaut 811 with extra cocoa butter—too viscous for my taste for shelling. Do you have cocoa butter on hand?

[Madsandersen]

10 hours ago, Pastrypastmidnight said:

I always thin my callebaut 811 with extra cocoa butter—too viscous for my taste for shelling. Do you have cocoa butter on hand?

 

Or use Callebaut 2815 (57,7% cocoa), which has a higher percentage of cocoa butter

[SweetandSnappyJen]

I do have cocoa butter on hand, I'll give that a whirl this afternoon. Thanks!  And @Madsandersen- I'll look into 2815, thanks!

[wannabechocolatier]

On 9/3/2018 at 6:09 AM, SweetandSnappyJen said:

I do have cocoa butter on hand, I'll give that a whirl this afternoon. Thanks!  And @Madsandersen- I'll look into 2815, thanks!

How did it go?