Valrhona Bahibé

[Yulsam]

I started my chocolate experience with a 3 day course at The Chocolate Academy in Montreal a couple of months ago. Since then, I have used  Barry-Callebaut products exclusively: 811, 823, W2 and RB1 from Callebaut, and Alunga, Inaya and Alto from Barry. I am tempering with Mycryo, and have had quite good results with snap, gloss, and texture. 

I received a 3 kg bag of Valrhona Bahibé milk chocolate for my birthday last week. I decided to mold a few bars of this Valrhona, and compare the results with Alunga bars produced under the same conditions. I use a melter that I built from two stainless pots welded together, with a pump circulating water into the enclosed space between the two pots. I use my Anova to maintain the water at a constant temperature. The setup allows me to change the temperature in a few seconds by diverting the return water stream to the sink, and filling the Anova jar with hot or cold water from the sink faucet.

I found a major difference in the workability of the chocolates from Barry and Valrhona. After adding Mycryo at 32C, and letting it cool to 29C, Alunga would start firming up, and leaves a short working time. On the other hand, Bahibé was very fluid down to 27C. At that point I decided to mold telling myself that the chocolate is probably bad, despite having a September ‘22 production date. I put all the bars for about 10 minutes in the fridge, and to my surprise everything un molded with ease, and both products had the same snap and finish.

Afterwards, we did a blind tasting, and the consensus was in favor of the Valrhona, both taste and texture. However after comparing costs at 43$ vs 17$ per kg, everybody agreed that there is not that much additional value, especially if we are not doing comparative tasting. I will use the Valrhona for work that needs extended time, like intricate molds.

I am presently building a pot that will hold cocoa Butter at a constant temperature, to replace Mycryo as a seeding agent. It is based on Kerry’s outstanding work with Eztemper. I’ll post my results when (and if) I have something that works.

[Kerry Beal]

If you want something more fluid at 27º C and less inclined to break the bank - consider Becolade. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, Yulsam said:

I started my chocolate experience with a 3 day course at The Chocolate Academy in Montreal a couple of months ago. Since then, I have used  Barry-Callebaut products exclusively: 811, 823, W2 and RB1 from Callebaut, and Alunga, Inaya and Alto from Barry. I am tempering with Mycryo, and have had quite good results with snap, gloss, and texture. 

I received a 3 kg bag of Valrhona Bahibé milk chocolate for my birthday last week. I decided to mold a few bars of this Valrhona, and compare the results with Alunga bars produced under the same conditions. I use a melter that I built from two stainless pots welded together, with a pump circulating water into the enclosed space between the two pots. I use my Anova to maintain the water at a constant temperature. The setup allows me to change the temperature in a few seconds by diverting the return water stream to the sink, and filling the Anova jar with hot or cold water from the sink faucet.

I found a major difference in the workability of the chocolates from Barry and Valrhona. After adding Mycryo at 32C, and letting it cool to 29C, Alunga would start firming up, and leaves a short working time. On the other hand, Bahibé was very fluid down to 27C. At that point I decided to mold telling myself that the chocolate is probably bad, despite having a September ‘22 production date. I put all the bars for about 10 minutes in the fridge, and to my surprise everything un molded with ease, and both products had the same snap and finish.

Afterwards, we did a blind tasting, and the consensus was in favor of the Valrhona, both taste and texture. However after comparing costs at 43$ vs 17$ per kg, everybody agreed that there is not that much additional value, especially if we are not doing comparative tasting. I will use the Valrhona for work that needs extended time, like intricate molds.

I am presently building a pot that will hold cocoa Butter at a constant temperature, to replace Mycryo as a seeding agent. It is based on Kerry’s outstanding work with Eztemper. I’ll post my results when (and if) I have something that works.

Your homemade melter sounds much more useful than my Mol d'Art.  The Mol gets up to temp fairly rapidly, but the wait for chocolate to cool seems interminable.  A few days ago I had a tank full of chocolate, melted it overnight, and lucked out with it near the temp when seed should be added.  I thought I would be ready to mold in a few minutes, but such was not the case.  It was something like an hour before the temp was low enough.  A Mol d'Art with circulating water that can be heated or cooled would be great, but I guess that's called a Selmi (or similar tempering machine).

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, Jim D. said:

The Mol gets up to temp fairly rapidly, but the wait for chocolate to cool seems interminable.  A few days ago I had a tank full of chocolate, melted it overnight, and lucked out with it near the temp when seed should be added.  I thought I would be ready to mold in a few minutes, but such was not the case.  It was something like an hour before the temp was low enough. 

 

Are you taking the pan out of the melter to cool?  I put mine on my marble slab or even in the fridge if I'm in a hurry.

[pastrygirl]

you can also add more fat to the Alunga to make it more fluid, or mix Alunga & Bahibe to suit your price point.

 

 

[Yulsam]

Belcolade is in the same 

2 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

If you want something more fluid at 27º C and less inclined to break the bank - consider Becolade. 

Does Belcolade show the fluidity drops like Callebaut or something similar. There was nothing on the Valrhona bag.

[Yulsam]

Belcolade is in the same price range as Barry Callebaut.

[Kerry Beal]

Drop for drop I find it much more fluid than Callebaut