Useful Gadgets for Chocolatiers

[VistaGardens]

New useful shop toy acquired today:  a milk frother.  This small device is perfect for stirring pigment into cocoa butter when you are making your own colors, or need to mix up ones that have settled.  It makes no splatter like a hand held blender and is super easy to clean - just put it in a mug of hot soapy water...  I picked one up on Amazon for under $20US with a stand, thinking it might be good, and it was great!  Because the cocoa butter has a thicker viscosity than milk, it doesn't froth it, but does an excellent job of blending without the mess. 

 

[Kerry Beal]

6 hours ago, VistaGardens said:

New useful shop toy acquired today:  a milk frother.  This small device is perfect for stirring pigment into cocoa butter when you are making your own colors, or need to mix up ones that have settled.  It makes no splatter like a hand held blender and is super easy to clean - just put it in a mug of hot soapy water...  I picked one up on Amazon for under $20US with a stand, thinking it might be good, and it was great!  Because the cocoa butter has a thicker viscosity than milk, it doesn't froth it, but does an excellent job of blending without the mess. 

 

Good to know! Would be great for small quantities.

[RobertM]

Dang.....and to think I gave mine away.....

 

[curls]

 

Very helpful for those who dip chocolates and do not have an enrober, the wire cake leveling tool. This was first repurposed as a chocolate dipping scrapping device by our own @Chris Hennes. For a photo tutorial, just follow the link

 

Works just as well and is so much cheaper than an official melter string scraper (http://www.pastrychef.com/CHOCOLATE-DIPPING-SCRAPING-WIRE-ATTACHMENT_p_2246.html).

Edited November 9, 2018 by curls
added intro photo (log)

[patris]

9 hours ago, curls said:

 

Very helpful for those who dip chocolates and do not have an enrober, the wire cake leveling tool. This was first repurposed as a chocolate dipping scrapping device by our own @Chris Hennes. For a photo tutorial, just follow the link

 

Works just as well and is so much cheaper than an official melter string scraper (http://www.pastrychef.com/CHOCOLATE-DIPPING-SCRAPING-WIRE-ATTACHMENT_p_2246.html).

 

 

This was indeed a genius idea! When I was making my dipping bowls I tried and tried to think of a smaller-scale (and less pricy) alternative, finally settling on silicone rubber bands to string across using the little knobs on the side of the bowl - and while that’s fine, I wasn’t totally happy with it. Happy to say, though, I recently figured it out! A little spool of stainless steel wire (bought on Amazon) wrapped around a bent length of slender threaded steel rod (bought at Lowes) makes a perfect substitute, at a total cost of considerably south of $2.

 

Edited November 9, 2018 by patris
Add (log)

[Anna N]

25 minutes ago, patris said:

A little spool of stainless steel wire (bought on Amazon) wrapped around a bent length of slender threaded steel rod (bought at Lowes) makes a perfect substitute, at a total cost of considerably south of $2.

Wow.  I inherited a spool of stainless steel wire from somewhere. I will dig it up and when Kerry returns from her current round of travels see if it will work as you explain and perhaps she can bring it with her to the next workshop and share it. 

[patris]

57 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Wow.  I inherited a spool of stainless steel wire from somewhere. I will dig it up and when Kerry returns from her current round of travels see if it will work as you explain and perhaps she can bring it with her to the next workshop and share it. 

 

As it happens, she is already in possession of a couple of them - I gave them to her on her last visit!

[minas6907]

One year I got my wife a hand mixer, it came with these mixing disks, link below. 

 

KitchenAid KHMBL Hand Mixer Stainless Steel Liquid Blending Rod https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DE0M5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_jeA5BbTYB2ZSV

 

The more I think of it, I don't know what they are actually intended for. Anyways, a month or two after we got the hand mixer, I started using the blending rod for cocoa butter, then I ended up getting like four more of these things, very useful for preparing multiple colors.

[Kerry Beal]

5 hours ago, minas6907 said:

One year I got my wife a hand mixer, it came with these mixing disks, link below. 

 

KitchenAid KHMBL Hand Mixer Stainless Steel Liquid Blending Rod https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DE0M5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_jeA5BbTYB2ZSV

 

The more I think of it, I don't know what they are actually intended for. Anyways, a month or two after we got the hand mixer, I started using the blending rod for cocoa butter, then I ended up getting like four more of these things, very useful for preparing multiple colors.

Brilliant - look like mini paint mixers to go with your drill.