Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Is it possible to mix juice into ganache?


akonsu

Recommended Posts

Hello, I would like to add galangal flavor to ganache. I have a fresh galangal root (it is very similar to ginger) and I am going to grate it and then squeeze juice from it, but I do not know how to add this juice to the ganache. I never tried. Do I just pour the juice over ganache and mix? Or would it not emulsify? Or maybe I can dry galangal first then grate it, and add the powder? How is this done?

 

thanks!

konstantin

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why wouldn't it emulsify?  It's water-based juice and you probably don't need a huge amount. 

 

Is it a cream ganache?  You could grate the galangal into the cream and let it infuse then strain it out, pressing on the solids to get all the juice.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, pastrygirl said:

Why wouldn't it emulsify?  It's water-based juice and you probably don't need a huge amount. 

 

Is it a cream ganache?  You could grate the galangal into the cream and let it infuse then strain it out, pressing on the solids to get all the juice.

 

 

May want to add it after the cream as ginger will cause cream to coagulate and I suspect galangal might as well.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

May want to add it after the cream as ginger will cause cream to coagulate and I suspect galangal might as well.

 

 

You know, I was just about to edit to add that.  I've had fresh ginger curdle warm creme anglaise but dried ginger works fine. Maybe he could infuse like 1/3 of the cream with the galangal and not heat that part, do a cold infusion and add it last? 

 

Or use coconut milk.

Edited by pastrygirl (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you very much, as I understand, I will need to heat the cream, pour it in to the chocolate, mix it, as usual, and then add dry galangal and mix again? @Kerry Beal, is that what you mean when you say "add it after the cream"? Or can I add juice at this point? Sorry, I am a beginner, I need things to be spelled out explicitly... I suppose I can just try and see what works, although galangal is expensive, I do not want to waste it...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, akonsu said:

Thank you very much, as I understand, I will need to heat the cream, pour it in to the chocolate, mix it, as usual, and then add dry galangal and mix again? @Kerry Beal, is that what you mean when you say "add it after the cream"? Or can I add juice at this point? Sorry, I am a beginner, I need things to be spelled out explicitly... I suppose I can just try and see what works, although galangal is expensive, I do not want to waste it...

Add the juice after emulsifying the chocolate and cream.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, akonsu said:

Thank you very much, as I understand, I will need to heat the cream, pour it in to the chocolate, mix it, as usual, and then add dry galangal and mix again? @Kerry Beal, is that what you mean when you say "add it after the cream"? Or can I add juice at this point? Sorry, I am a beginner, I need things to be spelled out explicitly... I suppose I can just try and see what works, although galangal is expensive, I do not want to waste it...

I would recommend infusing the galangal into your cream or using the juice by itself...I make Ginger flavored ganache all the time with the infusion method and it works fine ...it will make some creams curdle, but the cream I am currently using does not have that problem with ginger, not sure why (but I am not complaining...)....alternatively you can slice the ginger, then blanch it for a bit before infusing it into the cream...that will also prevent curdling.

Have not used galangal yet, but I would not recommend adding any dry powder into a ganache after emulsifying as you most likely will end up with a grainy ganache...add the dry powder to the cream first to infuse the flavor, then finely strain the cream before emulsifying.

Hope this helps 😊

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

Maybe he could infuse like 1/3 of the cream with the galangal and not heat that part

 

4 minutes ago, Avachocolate said:

alternatively you can slice the ginger, then blanch it for a bit before infusing it into the cream


There's a Michael Laiskonis recipe where he does a blend. It involves cream cold infused with slices of fresh ginger for 24 hours and cream hot infused with slices of fresh ginger. I'd have to dig up the recipe from my backup hard drive to be sure, it's been a long time since I used it, but I think I remember the ginger being pre-blanched. At least for the cold infusion, anyway. I definitely remember that the cream was heated to boiling before the ginger was added for the hot infusion. Apparently temps above 70 C quickly destroy the thing in ginger that causes the curdling. The recipe was a panna cotta, the sugar and gelatin were dissolved in the hot infusion then the cold infusion was added. The flavor was amazing but I've never attempted to figure out a way to use the hot and cold infusion combination in a ganache. I'd actually forgotten about it until I saw this discussion.

  • Like 1

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:


So that lines up with what I remember from the ML lesson/recipe. They're saying optimal for curdling at 70 C in the link. I remember reading that above that temp, the protease that causes the curdling begins to rapidly be destroyed. I also remember reading that the curdling effect is increased when using juice instead of the whole pieces of ginger. So maybe manipulating temp and ingredient state is the secret. 

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One important detail: when you add something to a ganache then it's better if it's pasteurized. If you add an un-pasteurized juice to a ganache then you reduce its shelf life. Not a problem if that ganache is part of a plated dessert that's going to be consumed soon, big problem if that ganache will be part of a bonbon for sale.

 

 

 

Teo

 

  • Like 3

Teo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...