chocolates for retail

[akwa]

I am developing a line of chocolates and am quite ignorant as to the necessary ingredients to ensure a two month shelf life.

I have some base recipes that I am comfortable but would appreciate any advice regarding "preservatives" or storage techniques.

All the ganaches are simply

Cream

Invert sugar

Chocolate

Butter

Thanks

[Trishiad]

air and water are the enemies here. the invert should help. the fresh cream candies that i make have a shelf life of about 2 weeks.

[jdogginla]

There is alot involved......too much to put into words. I would suggest geting Jean Pierre Wybauw's book. Very detailed. I just took a class from him taught at the French Pastry School.

[akwa]

Anybody have a Wybauw formule in a nut shell

Thanks

wg

[Trishiad]

hee hee hee, while I love information delivered in nut shells, I'm afraid it's

not really possible this time. Wybauw's formulas are based on the water content of specific ingredients and combinations. I guess if you want to post your actual recipe I could figure it out for you but the formula will change with the addition of any other ingredients.

I'm afraid you're looking for a simple answer to something many chocolatiers are still trying to figure out. Some of the big producers actually create their ganache in a vacuum in order to eliminate air and increase shelf life. Good luck,

trish

[Louisa Chu]

Why a 2 month shelf life? Why not the standard 2 weeks for gastronomic chocolates?

[Steve Klc]

Will, you could just call up Jacques Torres and ask him if he'd show you his system--he does the vacuum method trish mentioned and he's a good guy when it comes to sharing with other pros. That is if you haven't already blown your startup equipment budget.

[chefette]

so this will be part of going the research lab route to puzzle the mysteries out, refresh yourself and break new ground. perhaps it's worth it to obtain the electron microscope after all to track progress of bacteria in ganache?

or you could freeze them.

[escry]

I am constantly trying to achieve an extra week or two with my fresh cream ganache chocolates. Technique is important:

1) clarify your butter

2) double or triple boil your cream, simmering for at least one minute

3) avoid getting any air into the ganache whilst emulsifying

4) make ganache under vacuum (if you can)

5) cover ganache during crystallization

6) allow guillotined centres to stand for three hours to dry before enrobing

7) raise ganache centres to warm work room temperature before enrobing

8) use a slightly thicker enrobing (though I prefer a really thin enrobing)

9) store in an airtight container at 10 deg Celsius (50 deg Fahr.)

10) tightly pack your chocolates into their boxes to reduce contact with air

11) get them onto the shop shelf quickly

12) air condition your shop - walking into La Maison du Chocolat on a warm summers day is THE best way to cool off

13) those chocolates that aren't on show - keep these at 10 deg Celsius

So too is your recipe. Basically, you wish reduce the level of free-water in your ganache. You can do this by:

1) adding less moisture in your recipe; or

2) adding an humicant (invert sugar) which binds water, making it unavailable for mold growth

Here, however, there is a trade off. Adding invert sugar will make your ganache sweeter. You can compensate for this by using pate de cacao (100% cocoa, sugar-free couverture). Unfortunately the full array of geographic and genetic cacao varieties is, in all practicality, unavailable as pate de cacao.

I am currently experimenting with using invertase (an enzyme) to convert the constituent sucrose within my couvertures to fructose and glucose (ie invert sugar). This, in theory, should allow you to use the best couvertures of your choice, add no further sugars, but still bind the free-water in your ganache.

Has anyone tried this?

Thirdly, you can add preservatives, eg potasium sorbate, but you don't wish to go there!

[Steve Klc]

Best summary I've read in a long time, thanks for taking the time to share in such detail and welcome to eG. Years ago I worked for a week with Francois Joneaux in the Michel Cluizel factory, and between us we covered and confirmed just about everything on your list except the invertase and vacuum--that wasn't yet in the lab, which was just being constructed. Our biggest divide was attaining flavor which didn't compromise storage--Francois was very traditional and I kept trying to tempt him by reducing sweetness, pushing flavor a bit more forward while keeping a texture and subtlety he approved of. Like you, he eschewed the more well-known chocolatiers who sold out to preservatives and deep freezing.

Instead of pate de cacao, have you ever tried using the Cluizel 85% to blend in? And do you feel your flavors are so subtle that you could still taste that you used a varietal behind them in anything other than a natural ganache?

Please report back with your invertase tests, that's fascinating to me and I'm sure many others reading along.

[escry]

And do you feel your flavors are so subtle that you could still taste that you used a varietal behind them in anything other than a natural ganache?

...

Please report back with your invertase tests, that's fascinating to me and I'm sure many others reading along.

I certainly find that different varietals, eg Madagascan criollo (and to a similar extent the actual blend, eg Valrhona's Manjari) suit different infusions. The acidity, and red fruit notes of Manjari suits fruit infusions / inclusions. I have also found this "wine-like" characteristic is familar to other Madagascan Criollo-based couvertures. However, this is doesn't answer your question ...

I personally prefer very subtle infusions. Very much taste the distinctive cocoas first, then appreciate the additional subtle nuances of the infusion or inclusion. Unfortunately, I don't buy my chocolates, so my infusions / inclusions are not quite as subtle as I would like, though they are still very much at the subtle end of the spectrum.

...

I'll certainly report back on my invertase trials. Though invertase will happily break down, slowly, any sucrose added to a ganache, into fructose and glucose, I have so far found it more difficult to break down the sucrose within the couverture. Any chemist out there have an explanation?

One of my latest efforts looks more promising. I melted the couverture and held it at 45 deg Celsius (113 deg Fahr) for five days. To the melted couverture, I added one part per 1000 invertase and 50 parts per thousand water (at 45 deg Celsius) to the amount of sucrose in the couverture. (Note: you are adding just enough water to avoid the chocolate seizing.)

After five days I tempered and set this chocolate, and used it to make ganache in the normal way.

This ganache has now been made into chocolates and is sitting with three other recipes/techiques in my cooler. Another set is sitting in a hot kitchen - perhaps the most abusive environment for chocolates. Tastings and chemical analysis will follow over the next few weeks.

[akwa]

excellent advice all around

i am reviewing the results before responding with further questions

i am looking forward to sharing results which should unfold over the next two months

thank you to everyone

i am particularly interested in preparing in vacuum

re two months, i am anticipating a relatively lengthy order to delivery to consumption potential

[Sebastian]

Escry - out of curiosity, how in the world do you know *which* sucrose ethe invertase is acting on? Enzymes aren't that specific, if they are meant to act on sucrose, it doesn't care where the sucrose comes from, only that it can get to it...

A potential explanation for what I think y ou're trying to say may be that the sucrose in pure chocolate is essentially going to be sequestered by the fat, and if the enzyme can't get through the fat to the sugar, it's not going to do anything to the sugar..

[escry]

Escry - out of curiosity, how in the world do you know *which* sucrose ethe invertase is acting on?  Enzymes aren't that specific, if they are meant to act on sucrose, it doesn't care where the sucrose comes from, only that it can get to it...

A potential explanation for what I think y ou're trying to say may be that the sucrose in pure chocolate is essentially going to be sequestered by the fat, and if the enzyme can't get through the fat to the sugar, it's not going to do anything to the sugar..

←

Sebastian, spot on. When I add sucrose to a ganache, invertase is effective. When I don't add any sucrose the invertase is ineffective at inverting the constituent sucrose of the couverture. This latter approach is the one I'm trying to crack.

So, if the sucrose is sequestered by the fat, how can I help the enzyme get through the fat? The approach I outlined above looks promising, but further thoughts and theoretically understanding most welcome.

[Sebastian]

further mixing, unfortunately, is about the only way to increase the odds the the invertase will come in contact with more sugar, and that's probably not the direction you want to go unless you're doing it under vacuum..

[akwa]

sourcing for invertase?

equipment necessary for processing under vacuum?

steve re 85% i use frequently, and i dont think the varietal is lost if paired with complementary flavor only if contrasting

thanks

wg

[escry]

Akwa

Reading the excellent post on "Chocolates: pretty and perfect?" I am reminded of one last, but vitally important consideration for extending shelf life: "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link":

1) Ditch any chocolates that are less than perfect - hairline cracks in the enrobing or in the ganache are sure to allow air to come into contact with the moisture in the ganache.

2) In a box of chocolates, know your weakest recipe with respect to shelf life, and work on this one first.

With respect to sourcing invertase, as I'm in England, I can't really help much, except to recommend sourcing invertase that is already mixed with a carrier: usually glycerine. Working with neat invertase is potential harmful - requiring ventillation, goggles, mask, no spills, and dillution of waste 10,000 times, etc. - with no gain. Not to mention having the ability to weigh 0.05g (0.002 ounce) of invertase.

[tan319]

Some of the big producers actually create their ganache in a vacuum in order to eliminate air and increase shelf life.  Good luck,

trish

←

Can you ( any of you, that is) explain the vacuum method for ganache?

Are we talking vacuum as in sous vide-ish vacuum or something altogether different?

Thanks in advance!

[escry]

The machine I know for mixing under a vacuum is a Stephan mixer. I found this picture by doing a google search.

[akwa]

The machine I know for mixing under a vacuum is a Stephan mixer. I found this picture by doing a google search.

←

great link

do you know the machine called a gastrovac?

it looks very similar to me and I am getting one next week

i will contact the distributor

it is of course much smaller

great thread

wg

[tan319]

can you post a link to the gastrovac, akwa?

I know that Stephans is a SERIOUSLY expensive machine!

[NhumiSD]

can you post a link to the gastrovac, akwa?

I know that Stephans is a SERIOUSLY expensive machine!

←

Hope Iam not too off track, but Iam curious as to doing it under vacuum. Is to just prevent any Oxygen from oxidizing the ganache? Could you degas a warm solution of ganache? In my work, I always have to degas things and we just have a chamber with an 0-ring for a good seal, and a pump hooked up. It will degas and remove the air bubbles trapped in your ganache, especially when its a warm ganache, the viscosity would be low.

Iam guessing you wouldnt want to add any natural preservatives or an oxidizing agent of any kind?

-NhumiSD

[akwa]

have no problem with preservatives

have the wybauw book and regarding moisture it seems to be the standard relative humidity charts i received in 1999 from a Richard seminar

awesome book to be sure clear and convincing but still want more

little reference implied to vacuum, less recipes including real preservatives and therefore still rides the fence. No question one of the superior books on the subject.

what strength invertase do you recommend? liquid or solid?

also re vacuum technique: i am waiting for the inicon blender which has this pressure elimination capacity, could you make a traditional ganache and then vacuum seal to remove the air, and then freeze before processing?

or would it be more practical to make ganache, freeze, and then vacuum?

[Trishiad]

why would you freeze it?

[Wendy DeBord]

I came across this older thread that's quite interesting.