Chocolate confectionery for warmer places

[felipetruji]

Hi folks.

I'm doing some workshops about chocolate and cocoa quality for a community located close to cocoa plantations.

It's common to see locals trying on making chocolate and confectionery items, but they have problems as the chocolate just melts during daytime with average temperatures over 30C.

So I'm wondering what kind of chocolate items would you propose for folks that live in a neverending summer and have close to unlimited chocolate supply?

[pastrygirl]

Ice cream, cold beverages, cookies, brownies. 
 

Do the local farms also refine the beans into chocolate or are you working with cacao nibs?

[felipetruji]

30 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

Ice cream, cold beverages, cookies, brownies. 
 

Do the local farms also refine the beans into chocolate or are you working with cacao nibs?

 

Thanks for the answers.

Yes you can refine into chocolate, there are some entrepreneur with melangers, some do it the traditional way using another mill wich gives them a paste (around 80-100 microns) wich is mostly used for hot beverages.

[donk79]

Given that one of the glories of chocolate is it's melting temperature, I think you may want to adapt to the idea of molten chocolate.  Maybe think about how it can be enclosed.  

 

I have no expertise here, but this is how my mind responds to the problem.

[felipetruji]

32 minutes ago, donk79 said:

Given that one of the glories of chocolate is it's melting temperature, I think you may want to adapt to the idea of molten chocolate.  Maybe think about how it can be enclosed.  

 

I have no expertise here, but this is how my mind responds to the problem.

Great idea, what enclosed items would you think of?

I'd prefer to stay away of items that need an oven, as most people won't have one.

 

 

 

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, felipetruji said:

I'd prefer to stay away of items that need an oven, as most people won't have one.

 

That's even tougher.

 

Are there any local nuts?  They could make jars of chocolate nut spread a la Nutella.

[felipetruji]

2 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

 

That's even tougher.

 

Are there any local nuts?  They could make jars of chocolate nut spread a la Nutella.

I will definitely work on spreads.

 

Nougat and fudge are not very popular here, but I think it's something worth teaching as well.

 

 

 

[pastrygirl]

Fudge is a different animal, chocolate may be the best version of it, but I consider fudge a sugar-based confection that may happen to have chocolate in it rather than a chocolate based confection like a truffle or bonbon.

 

You mentioned many people don't have ovens, is there an existing tradition of desserts or any interest in specifically European or American foods?  A spread for bread makes no sense if there is no bread, but if people eat fruit for dessert maybe you could market it as a dip for fruit. Or what are traditional desserts that could be made chocolate?

 

Do most people have some refrigeration?  Chocolate mousse doesn't need tempering or an oven, just a chiller.

 

 

[donk79]

8 hours ago, felipetruji said:

Great idea, what enclosed items would you think of?

I'd prefer to stay away of items that need an oven, as most people won't have one.

 

 

 

I was imagining something encased in a candy shell.  Almost texture wise like a soft caramel in a bonbon.  I suspect straight sugar would not work, but I suspect the molecular wizards out there have some sort of answer.

 

Editing to say that I missed the workshop side of your original question.  Molecular is probably not the direction you want to go!

Edited March 15, 2021 by donk79 (log)

[felipetruji]

2 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

Fudge is a different animal, chocolate may be the best version of it, but I consider fudge a sugar-based confection that may happen to have chocolate in it rather than a chocolate based confection like a truffle or bonbon.

 

You mentioned many people don't have ovens, is there an existing tradition of desserts or any interest in specifically European or American foods?  A spread for bread makes no sense if there is no bread, but if people eat fruit for dessert maybe you could market it as a dip for fruit. Or what are traditional desserts that could be made chocolate?

 

Do most people have some refrigeration?  Chocolate mousse doesn't need tempering or an oven, just a chiller.

 

 

I expect the assistants to be the wives of cocoa farmers mostly, that have curiosity about chocolate and want to copy the creations they look on instagram or what they have seen in bigger cities...

The idea of the workshop is to showcase what the chocolate they produce can be used for, and if they are serious about it maybe it's an opportunity for an extra income.

There are some traditional desserts and that's gonna be me starting point, trying to use chocolate to add an extra layer of flavor and identity... However that's gonna be an on the go, there isn't much I can prepare about that...

I plan to give them some recipes, like a master class format introducing something new they can make at home, that's where fudge can come handy... But same as you I'm not fond on that one.... 

Nutella is widely sold in local supermarkets, so spreads I think it's gonna nail it.

 

 

[felipetruji]

Also thinking in doing some candied coconut shreds covered truffles...

[pastrygirl]

I wonder if there is an easy small scale way to press the cacao and separate some of the cocoa butter for use in skin care products. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, pastrygirl said:

I wonder if there is an easy small scale way to press the cacao and separate some of the cocoa butter for use in skin care products. 

 

I recall Van Houten figured this out in the 19th century and licensed the technology to Cadbury.

 

[jimb0]

lots of good pastries to be made with chocolate, not including things like crackers and cookies.

 

depending on the kind of capital these places have, you would be able to pour bars and store them in a cool box, sold for mostly immediate consumption. it wouldn't even be that expensive to cool as you don't need anything near as powerful as a fridge; you could have a thermostat set to, say, 18-19C. and if you needed to deliver in bulk you could keep cool in an unpowered box for delivery to farmers markets or groceries / restaurants.

 

On 3/15/2021 at 11:19 PM, pastrygirl said:

I wonder if there is an easy small scale way to press the cacao and separate some of the cocoa butter for use in skin care products. 

 

i believe @Kerry Beal has one of the piteba expellers but i dunno what sort of extraction percentages she's gotten.

 

the guy that runs chocolate alchemy suggests that the nutrichef oil press will get you 170-200g of oil per 500g of nibs.

 

lot of commodity markets go to making cocoa butter but it might be something you could sell especially to artisan / boutique food and cosmetic producers. you'd also get a quality high fat cocoa powder out of that, too, i assume.

 

edit: obviously without further refinement it'll be brown and smell very strongly of chocolate (personally i consider this a win). depending on whether you refine it, it's great for high-heat searing, too

 

edit edit: not really suggesting the nutrichef for a commercial operation; there are bigger machines you can get from china for not a million dollars, but it's good proof of concept

Edited March 20, 2021 by jimb0 (log)

[pastrygirl]

32 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

i believe @Kerry Beal has one of the piteba expellers but i dunno what sort of extraction percentages she's gotten.

 

the guy that runs chocolate alchemy suggests that the nutrichef oil press will get you 170-200g of oil per 500g of nibs.

 

 

 

Cool, I wasn't familiar with the small scale models like that. 

 

Nutella uses cocoa, not full-fat chocolate, might as well put the extra CB to good use.

[Kerry Beal]

The Piteba was not terribly successful at extracting cocoa butter. The Nutrichef is much better - but you need to start with warm nibs and you need to let the very dirty cocoa butter it produces sit for a while in molten state so the cocoa solids separate out. My Youtube channel has a nifty trick I discovered to separate cocoa butter from chocolate liquor in a manner similar to cracking coconut milk. 

 

Video here

 

When I first read this topic I got to thinking about Choc Nut from the Philippines - but then realized it wasn't make with chocolate - instead with cocoa powder. 

 

Caramelized cocoa nibs might be fun - don't melt. 

[pastrygirl]

2 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Caramelized cocoa nibs might be fun - don't melt. 

good idea!  There is a company here in Seattle that makes caramrlized cocoa nibs with a variety of seasonings, marketed as a healthy ish snack. 
 

https://goodking.co/collections/shop

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by pastrygirl (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Then of course there is this article by Michael Laiskonis where he makes gianduja and spread directly from bean. Choosing a nut that grows near to the plantation to go with the cacao would make a very special local product.

[felipetruji]

53 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Then of course there is this article by Michael Laiskonis where he makes gianduja and spread directly from bean. Choosing a nut that grows near to the plantation to go with the cacao would make a very special local product.

I have some recipes starting with cocoa liquor, it's ok but if you use too much it starts to harden.