Preventing Mold on Chocolate

[sote23]

Hi,

I went a little crazy a few weeks ago and made alot of chocolates. i made the ganache and enrobed some, and put others in magnetic chocolate molds.

My question is, i'm not using any preservatives at all. i stored them in tupperware containers. after about 2 weeks, some chocolates got white mold on the outside of them. some have mold on the inside. i'm pretty sure, storing them in tupperware is not the right thing to do. how are you supposed to store chocolates, once they've been enrobed or molded? also, what preservatives would your recommend?

thanks

[escry]

The speed with which fresh cream ganache chocolates go off is a function of water activity, hygiene, temperature, ph and exposure to air.

1) The less water content, ie cream to chocolate ratio, the lower the water activity

2) The more sugar, especially invert sugars, the more moisture is bound and the lower the water activity

3) Preservatives such as sorbitol are even better at binding free water than sucrose, fructose or glucose

4) The more hygienic the preparation and storage, the less chance of introducing new bacteria

5) The lower the temperature of storage the less slowly bacteria will grow

6) The lower the ph (the higher the acidity) the slowly bacteria will grow

7) Most bacteria requires air to reproduce - make sure that little air is introduced into your ganache when mixing and store the finished chocolates in an air tight box with as little air as possible around the chocolates

8) The chocolate shell / enrobing is porous, the thicker it is the slower the absorption of air

The best way to preserve fresh cream ganache chocolates (for up to four weeks) is to

i) use a hign ratio of chocolate to cream

ii) include about 10% invert sugar

iii) consider adding 1% sorbitol

iv) clean everything with antibacteria solution just before use

v) store your chocolates close to 10 degrees Celsius (much lower, ie in a fridge and you risk your chocolates reaching their dew point)

vi) where your recipe allows have a low ph, eg fruit inclusions (also some herbs, such as rosemary have good natural preservative effects)vii) store your chocolates in an airtight cardboard box such that the chocolates fill the box, leaving little room for excess air

viii) moulded chocolates tend to have a thicker shell than dipped/enrobed chocolates and therefore offer greater protection from 'breathing'.

Pay special attention to iv), v) and vii) as these will not affect the taste of your chocolates, all other measures do.

Alternatively invite as many of your chocolate-loving friends as possible.

[sote23]

thanks for the reply. i've heard of some chocolatiers freezing their product. any ideas on that?

The speed with which fresh cream ganache chocolates go off is a function of water activity, hygiene, temperature, ph and exposure to air.

1) The less water content, ie cream to chocolate ratio, the lower the water activity

2) The more sugar, especially invert sugars, the more moisture is bound and the lower the water activity

3) Preservatives such as sorbitol are even better at binding free water than sucrose, fructose or glucose

4) The more hygienic the preparation and storage, the less chance of introducing new bacteria

5) The lower the temperature of storage the less slowly bacteria will grow

6) The lower the ph (the higher the acidity) the slowly bacteria will grow

7) Most bacteria requires air to reproduce - make sure that little air is introduced into your ganache when mixing and store the finished chocolates in an air tight box with as little air as possible around the chocolates

8) The chocolate shell / enrobing is porous, the thicker it is the slower the absorption of air

The best way to preserve fresh cream ganache chocolates (for up to four weeks) is to

i) use a hign ratio of chocolate to cream

ii) include about 10% invert sugar

iii) consider adding 1% sorbitol

iv) clean everything with antibacteria solution just before use

v) store your chocolates close to 10 degrees Celsius (much lower, ie in a fridge and you risk your chocolates reaching their dew point)

vi) where your recipe allows have a low ph, eg fruit inclusions (also some herbs, such as rosemary have good natural preservative effects)vii) store your chocolates in an airtight cardboard box such that the chocolates fill the box, leaving little room for excess air

viii) moulded chocolates tend to have a thicker shell than dipped/enrobed chocolates and therefore offer greater protection from 'breathing'.

Pay special attention to iv), v) and vii) as these will not affect the taste of your chocolates, all other measures do.

Alternatively invite as many of your chocolate-loving friends as possible.

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[choux]

Freezing chocolates is fine, just make sure they are airtight or they will get that nasty stale 'freezer' taste. The thing to watch for is thawing them, you have to watch for condensation. Take them from the freezer and put them in the fridge for a day, and then onto the counter for another day before taking them from the container. Most will look just fine, do a test run to make sure.

[Desiderio]

I never had any mold problem or even bad taste with my chocolate .I store them in air tight container ( but usually they are sold even before I have time to store them ).The one that I kept to check the shelf life were just fine after a month ,mostly thought were butter ganache and not whip cream ones.I use inverted sugar and I am thinking of buying some invertase as well as some sorbitol.I think for me the long shelf life its due to the climite , its very very dry here its very rare to see mold on anything,I sotre the chocolate in the basement where the temperature is around 16C,and I have notice that the chocolate get a real good snap to them when I store them there .

Wybauw has a good section on his book " fince chocolates" on shelf life and how to enhance it , and mostly was explained above by escry.

[sote23]

i know it probably varies, but what is the general guidelines on how long they can be frozen. what qualifies as an airtight container? is regular tuperware air tight?

Freezing chocolates is fine, just make sure they are airtight or they will get that nasty stale 'freezer' taste. The thing to watch for is thawing them, you have to watch for condensation. Take them from the freezer and put them in the fridge for a day, and then onto the counter for another day before taking them from the container. Most will look just fine, do a test run to make sure.

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[sote23]

i'm in CA, and it's not the desert here, but it's pretty dry humidity wise. I wish i had a basement, not many homes here have them. i will look into the book. i was in a few chocolate shops over the weekend, and most of them are just storing them on trays, covered losely with plastic wrap. the chocolates i did open up, some had mold on the cap part of the mold. some had mold on the outside of my enrobed chocolates. i had them stored in a kitchen area and it did get up to about 87f here last week. i was very surprised that some got mold, and the others that didn't lost all flavor.

I never had any mold problem or even bad taste with my chocolate .I store them in air tight container ( but usually they are sold even before I have time to store them ).The one that I kept to check the shelf life were just fine after a month ,mostly thought were butter ganache and not whip cream ones.I use inverted sugar  and I am thinking of buying some invertase as well as some sorbitol.I think for me the long shelf life its due to the climite , its very very dry here its very rare to see mold on anything,I sotre the chocolate in the basement where the temperature is around 16C,and I have notice that the chocolate get a real good snap to them when I store them there .

Wybauw has a good section on his book " fince chocolates" on shelf life and how to enhance it , and mostly was explained above by escry.

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[escry]

I let my sheets of ganache rest for 24 hours 17 degrees Celsius (62F), and again allow my enrobed chocolates to set up at this temperature. However, my enrobing room temperature is 22 degrees Celsius (71F). This is also the temperature to which I allow my cut gananche centres to reach before enrobing. Finished chocolates left open at 17 degrees Celsius (62F) rarely go mouldy, but at 22 degrees Celsius (71F) mine certainly do. At 30 degrees Celsius (87f) those bacteria are just going to have a picnic!

[sote23]

so i take it the hotter the temperature, the worse for the chocolates. were i live in CA, i the summer it gets very hot. we get many days over 100 f, i can't imagine how bad they will be in that kind of weather.

I let my sheets of ganache rest for 24 hours 17 degrees Celsius (62F), and again allow my enrobed chocolates to set up at this temperature. However, my enrobing room temperature is 22 degrees Celsius (71F). This is also the temperature to which I allow my cut gananche centres to reach before enrobing. Finished chocolates left open at 17 degrees Celsius (62F) rarely go mouldy, but at 22 degrees Celsius (71F) mine certainly do. At 30 degrees Celsius (87f) those bacteria are just going to have a picnic!

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[escry]

The other negative I have found about hot weather - customers lose their apetite for chocolate.

[sote23]

I bet your right. they turn to ice cream.

The other negative I have found about hot weather - customers lose their apetite for chocolate.

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