Creating Truffles and Caviar

[filipe]

I'm willing to make some chocolate truffles - both white and dark - which I wanted to slice in very thin layers like if they were Alba or Perigord truffles. So I need to find a way to create either dark rays on the white ones and white rays on the dark ones. Anyone has a good idea to achieve that effect? Mixing ganaches like in a marble cake?

On the other hand I would like to use the spherification procedure that Ferran Adriá's uses to make his melon fake caviar or his coffee fake caviar to do some "chocolate fake caviar". For that purpose he uses calcium chloride. Has anyone tried this with chocolate?

At the end I would have a truffle and caviar desert, all made with chocolate (but without the truffle aroma...). To me it sounds funny anyway

[tan319]

The Calcium Cholride is used to "set " the caviar, to produce the thin skin.

In order to do that you must use Sodium Alginate, a sea kelp derivative.

I've heard of people doing this on a bigger scale with chocolate, like a cake, but used gelatine in addition to Alginate.

[filipe]

The Calcium Cholride is used to "set " the caviar, to produce the thin skin.

In order to do that you must use Sodium Alginate, a sea kelp derivative.

←

Got confused... if the thin skin is "caused" by the use of Calcium Chloride, for what purpose is the Sodium Alginate needed? I thought that the C.C. would be enough to set it...

[jackal10]

The skin is formed from the Alginate, which is polymerised by the Calcium ions in the dissolved calcium chloride. Drops of the solution containing the alginate are dropped into a bath of the chloride. A skin is formed where they meet. The thickness of the skin depends on the time in contact with the chloride, since diffusion of the calcium ions through the polymerised alginate is quite slow.

[filipe]

Thanks a lot jackal10. I would surelly mess up everything eheh.

Now the difficulty will be on finding the alginate here in Portugal... Do you know where I can buy it online?

[pedro]

Take a look at Texturas elBulli.

[tan319]

The Calcium Cholride is used to "set " the caviar, to produce the thin skin.

In order to do that you must use Sodium Alginate, a sea kelp derivative.

←

Got confused... if the thin skin is "caused" by the use of Calcium Chloride, for what purpose is the Sodium Alginate needed? I thought that the C.C. would be enough to set it...

←

Sorry I confused you.

Heres a link to an earlier thread on Alginate and CC

here

About 12 or 13 posts down you'll see a post from me with a basic recipe I used in an application although not chocolate.

BTW, dig that Texturas link, pedro, thank you.

A lot of these products like Gellan or Calcium Chloride are often hard to get after the samples run out because the "buy" is often for Fifty pounds of it or whatever.

[akwa]

hello team

if you can find me enough people who want this stuff

im pretty sure i can arrange to have it bought in bulk and subdivided

please forward me contact info with product request

no guarantee

but possible breakthrough in availability

no one i know needs 50 pound sacks

you could gelify new jersey

not that that would be a bad idea

wg

The Calcium Cholride is used to "set " the caviar, to produce the thin skin.

In order to do that you must use Sodium Alginate, a sea kelp derivative.

←

Got confused... if the thin skin is "caused" by the use of Calcium Chloride, for what purpose is the Sodium Alginate needed? I thought that the C.C. would be enough to set it...

←

Sorry I confused you.

Heres a link to an earlier thread on Alginate and CC

here

About 12 or 13 posts down you'll see a post from me with a basic recipe I used in an application although not chocolate.

BTW, dig that Texturas link, pedro, thank you.

A lot of these products like Gellan or Calcium Chloride are often hard to get after the samples run out because the "buy" is often for Fifty pounds of it or whatever.

←

[filipe]

Akwa

I'm trying to buy both Sodium Alginate and Calcium Chloride in small packs. I've found a chemical products supplier (they supply school chemistry labs and similar) and they do have Calcium Chloride. About the Alginate, they'll try to get it and then let me know about it. Only next year I guess.

Anyway, that might be a good hint : to find these products no near food suppliers but near lab suppliers...

When I have it clearer I'll tell you the amounts and the price so that we can compare eheh