Mycryo

[Edward J]

[quote name="Jie.  Eddy Van Damme suggests microplaning a block of cocoa butter, producing a finer-grained product (and less money spent for Mycryo).

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[jmacnaughtan]

I don't understand this logic. Mycryo is 100% cocoa butter, but cocoa butter is not mycryo. To make mycryo, regular cocoa butter is heated and then atomized into a frozen chamber. The resulting powder is pure beta 6 crystals. Regular cocoa butter may or may not be in proper temper.

I buy in kessko c.b for cdn$99.00 per 5kg box, so roughly $20/kg. From the same supplier I can buy mycryo for $15.00 for a 550 gr. Tin, so roughly $29.00/kg. True, the mycryo does go through additional processing, but I can't justify the close to 50% price difference.

 

You could temper yourself a bar of cocoa butter, then microplane it in.  It should have the same effect, and would avoid the lumps you get in packs of Mycryo.

 

Admittedly, it is too expensive for professional or very regular use.  But if you're just doing occasional chocolate  work  or small quantities, it's handy to have around.  According to the label, you can even sauté in it too.

[pastryani]

 The following is not an advertisement, but I recently acquired Kerry Beal's Eztemper machine that produces cocoa butter with exactly the right texture to mix in instantly with either melted chocolate or ganache.

Oh Jim D (and indirectly Kerry, for that matter) - why oh why have you introduced me to this magical machine that has now made its way to the top if my Xmas list??! I've seen its name here and there, but now that I've read more about it and so many people swear by it, it's SOOO tempting!! But I can't justify such a hefty investment, at least not until I start doing this chocolate thing as a business. Or could I...??

;-)

[lambrecht gourmet]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2015 at 2:57 PM, pastryani said:

I've researched how to use Mycryo to temper chocolate, but I'd like to find out what your experiences have been.  Does it work well?  Does it ensure a good quality temper? 

I produce a very large amount of different flavor Toffees each year.  I have tempering machines for milk and dark chocolate, but not white.  I find Mycryo allows someone not as highly trained to be able to handle tempering white chocolate for my Macadamia/White Chocolate Toffee.  This is important as I'm about the only person who can actually temper chocolate without using a machine and it frees me to do other things.  It does (as Chocolat mentioned), have  times it doesn't blend well for whatever reason.  Because I'm making Toffee, it isn't that big a deal.  It still tempers. 

[RichardJones]

I missed this topic when it first appeared. I've used Mycryo a bit. Just my personal response to the points above:

 

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Does it work well?  Does it ensure a good quality temper? 

 

I've found it very reliable. It produces a good amount of pre-crystallisation when used according to the instructions.

 

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I find it doesn't mix in very well. I have a few bits left that look like sand. 

 

Personally, I've never had a problem with it not melting.

 

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You can deepfry with regular cocoa butter.

 

Shallow frying is the recommended use I've seen pushed and the 'unique' feature here is that you can apply Mycryo to the surface of your product by dipping it onto a plate of Mycryo (think the same technique you would use to flour/breadcrumb something) to get a thin layer of cocoa butter all over. I know some chefs do use this. Equally, it's not quite the revolution the manufacturer would like you to believe...

 

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That's exactly my point.  How do you get the couverture to precisely 35 C?

 

There's quite a wide window you can add the Mycryo at for satisfactory results. It is quite similar to seeding but you don't have to go around fishing out unmelted bits with a dipping fork... :-)

 

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Eddy Van Damme suggests microplaning a block of cocoa butter, producing a finer-grained product

 

This is a good method too but my microplane won't produce something finer-grained than Mycryo!

 

I think that covers the points raised but don't get me wrong: I'm not a wild defender of Mycryo. There are many different ways to temper and each has its advantages. You just need to pick the right one for whatever application you have. Mycryo is great if you've ended up without seed chocolate, for example, or you only want to temper a small amount, or you don't want to mess around with Microplanes and scales. Mycryo is the most hassle-free method to temper I can think of - but there isn't much in it. The drawback is it is expensive - but it's cheap enough to have some in storage somewhere in case it might be useful.

[Edward J]

If you read my post on this thread, I explained how mycryo is made and the differences betweeb mycryo and regular cocoa butter.  How then can you endorse "tempering" by merely grating a bit of regular cocoa butter--which may be, or may not be, in temper itself?

[RichardJones]

On 1/5/2016 at 5:41 PM, Edward J said:

If you read my post on this thread, I explained how mycryo is made and the differences betweeb mycryo and regular cocoa butter.

 

Hello Edward. The post you mention isn't showing up but I'm familiar with how Mycryo is made.

 

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 How then can you endorse "tempering" by merely grating a bit of regular cocoa butter--which may be, or may not be, in temper itself?

 

I'm not quite sure the link you are making here with the production process for Mycryo. But I can endorse it because, quite simply, it works. It's a method which also comes endorsed by chefs as respected as Eddy Van Damme (eg in this post).

 

It ought to go without saying that you need to use cocoa butter that is in temper, just as you need to use chocolate that is in temper for classic seeding.

[martin0642]

I'll throw my 2p in ....(or cents..)

 

Personally I like Mycryo; for tempering small batches of home made chocolate (when you don't have any tempered already) I think it's great...and it makes a mean steak

 

But - it's pricey compared to alternatives. I think if I was tempering any more than 2kg (about 5lbs) of chocolate I would rather either table it - or better still; make some tempered bars to use for seed. (Or even better still.......get an Eztemper machine..but that's waaaaaay out of my price range right now..*sigh*)

 

Basically - it works. I haven't had any problems at all using it.