Confections! (2006-2012)

[Kerry Beal]

If the propellant that comes with the airbrush isn't food safe, what are you supposed to use with it?  Is there another brand that is safe?

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I do know some people who use the propellant with the airbrush. The other option is to get a compressor to go with the brush (price of airbrushing just took a jump up!). I got a fairly small compressor with a reservior from Canadian Tire - I had to go to an art store to get the couplings to hook it up to a badger because the brush only comes with the couplings for the can.

The advantage of the compressor I bought is the ability to adjust the airflow. My old compressor which was not powerful enough to handle my first airbrush, was too powerful for the little badger and I had major aerosol issues. This new one I can dial down the air flow as much as possible to attempt to minimize the aerosols.

I think there is discussion of compressors on a thread somewhere, there we are - it starts at post 188 in the chocolates with a showroom finish thread.

A moisture trap is important (not that I've gotten around to getting one yet).

[Desiderio]

The small badger compressor , since they are for hobby use , dont need a moisture trap , they are already set for that .I got mine out of ebay, its a badger one.

I dont understand really what is the aerosol problem Kerry is talking about.You mean the cloud of color that it forms while using the airbrush?

[Kerry Beal]

The small badger compressor , since they are for hobby use , dont need a moisture trap , they are already set for that .I got mine out of ebay, its a badger one.

I dont understand really what is the aerosol problem Kerry is talking about.You mean the cloud of color that it forms while using the airbrush?

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Yup, that cloud of colour is likely getting sucked into our lungs and is probably not good for your health.

[John DePaula]

If the propellant that comes with the airbrush isn't food safe, what are you supposed to use with it?  Is there another brand that is safe?

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When I first got my badger brush, they were having a "garage sale" on their web site. I bought three. When they arrived, low and behold, the aerosol can displayed a nasty list of ingredients. At the time, I went online and I thought I found some articles about the chemicals being banned in California because they're unsafe and could cause birth defects. Then later, I couldn't find the articles again; so I could be mistaken... Anyway, I chose to never even open the cans since they didn't seem to be food-safe. (And yes, I know that there are some Pros out there who use it.)* Instead, I bought a cheap airbrush compressor; not the best, but suitable I suppose.

*And that brings me to (yet another) pet peeve of mine: All the time, you see these big name guys on TV or in books saying, "hey, yeah, just go down to the hardware store and you can find all of these interesting shapes from which you can make chocolate moldings." I know that common sense isn't as common as it ought to be, but Puh-lease, recognize that most of the stuff at the hardware store isn't intended for use with food.

Play safe, children.

[John DePaula]

The small badger compressor , since they are for hobby use , dont need a moisture trap , they are already set for that .I got mine out of ebay, its a badger one.

I dont understand really what is the aerosol problem Kerry is talking about.You mean the cloud of color that it forms while using the airbrush?

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Yup, that cloud of colour is likely getting sucked into our lungs and is probably not good for your health.

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Thanks for the heads-up about this, Kerry. I don't really do a lot of airbrushing, so I haven't noticed this problem, but it makes sense. Especially if you have asthma issues.

[Desiderio]

Yes indeed , expecially when you play with other people health as well gotta to pay attention even more.Better spend more and be safe than sorry.No cans propellant, we were talking on that as well on teh chocolate with showroom finish I believe .

Check ebay for thos little aircompressor.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Badger-80-2-AIR-COMPRE...1QQcmdZViewItem

[tammylc]

Thanks Vanessa - I was looking around eBay to see what they had, but I wasn't sure what capacity I needed. A small one like that is fine, then? It looks to be only 1/20 horsepower. Is there an upper limit on horsepower?

[tammylc]

Play safe, children.

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John, that reminds me. Elsewhere, you suggested using a small *food-safe* foam paint roller for putting the foot on ganache slabs. Any suggestions on how one would know that such a thing is food-safe? It's not something they're usually advertising on items in the paint section...

[Desiderio]

Thanks Vanessa - I was looking around eBay to see what they had, but I wasn't sure what capacity I needed.  A small one like that is fine, then?  It looks to be only 1/20 horsepower.  Is there an upper limit on horsepower?

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Tammy I use one of this.I reserched for a while before deciding that a small hobby one would have been the best for the work I need to do.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LX8241

[John DePaula]

Play safe, children.

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John, that reminds me. Elsewhere, you suggested using a small *food-safe* foam paint roller for putting the foot on ganache slabs. Any suggestions on how one would know that such a thing is food-safe? It's not something they're usually advertising on items in the paint section...

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Actually, I don't know of a food safe paint roller. I don't know that they're unsafe, but still... I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Try your local cake decorating store - they may have something or be able to recommend one.

[tammylc]

A bunch of experimentation with mold decoration, some of which turned out better than others (although I have to say that even the not-so-pretty ones look better in reality than in the photo).

I can see that this airbrush thing has great potential... And that I need to buy more colors of cocoa butter. Tis the season for red and pink, but I'm going to be sick to death of those colors by the time I'm done!

Edited February 5, 2007 by tammylc (log)

[Trishiad]

Oh come on, I LOVE the bright red sparkly snot.

don't you all?

[zpzjessica]

I have a fabulous recipe that I make: chocolate-covered candied matzah!

It's so beyond delicious, although it's very sweet so be prepared

I made a batch last night, although it has already been devoured by my coworkers so the next time I make some, I'll be sure to post a picture!

If you want the recipe, send me a personal message - don't want to give away all my secrets!

[lapin d'or]

Yesterday I received some moulds I had bought from the chap in Belgium who sells on ebay. I tried the fish mould out straight away as this one is my favourite. I just did it completely plain as not much time. I don't know why but I really like the look of chocolate fish. The tail fins were trapping lots of air so I need to perhaps paint that bit in first.

One of the moulds he sent was a bit damaged but he quickly got back to me to say he would send a replacement so I was very happy with that.

I must learn to size pictures but this is my first attempt at posting a picture so bear with me.

Jill

[Kerry Beal]

I too have a thing about fish molds, every one else thinks that makes me a bit peculiar. When I get back home on Wednesday I'll try to remember to post a picture of my huge metal fish mold so you can appreciate it lapin.

The painting will help with the bubbles as well as banging the molds more than you usually do. Also use the tempered chocolate at the top of the working temperature range so it is a liquid as possible.

[dantodd]

Here's some of what I've been working on last night and this afternoon:

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Hi Tammy,

Looks good. I have a similar problem with some (15 or 20%) of my dipped caramels leaking at the corners. Any idea why this happens?

BTW: I've had issues with colored chocolate staying tacky and staying in the mold or rubbing off the bon bon. In my case it as because I used gel colors and it ruined the temper.

edit: Hope you're surviving the cold. My folks are in Brighton.

Edited February 7, 2007 by dantodd (log)

[tammylc]

Looks good. I have a similar problem with some (15 or 20%) of my dipped caramels leaking at the corners. Any idea why this happens?

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In a couple of instances, I was over aggressive in trimming "feet" off the dipped caramels, and that caused the leaking. But I think generally it happens in areas where the chocolate is a little too thin - so maybe we just need to be more careful to get a nice even coating?

Kerry can probably weigh in with a more experienced answer...

[alanamoana]

a lot depends on the texture of your finished caramel. i had problems when i made a particularly firm caramel which i cut into squares. i left the edges sharp and when i coated them in chocolate, they leaked at the corners.

so, after that, i rounded the edges of the caramel (particularly the bottom corners) and then dipped. this made a pretty big difference. you might not get as sharp of a shape (nice square), but you'll avoid most leakage this way.

[tammylc]

Thanks for the great tip, Alana! That makes a lot of sense...

[dantodd]

Thanks for the great tip, Alana!  That makes a lot of sense...

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Just wanted to add my thanks.

[lapin d'or]

I made a passionfruit ganache today but the initial taste is quite sour.

I used a Jacques Torres recipe off the web and this uses 7oz of passion fruit to 17oz milk chocolate. I had to sub apricot liqueur for the passion fruit liqueur as no where around me sells it. The other ingredients were cream, corn syrup and butter.

Could my passion fruits have been under-ripe as the initial taste of this mixture was very sour. I added a little extra glucose (in place of corn syrup which I cannot get) to try and counteract it. The after-taste is pleasant as you get the perfume of the fruit but the first sour hit comes as a bit of a shock.

Any thoughts on this one, and how to mellow the flavours out, would be very welcome as I love the aroma of passionfruit.

Kerry if you have a picture of your fish mould I would love to see it.

Jill

[Desiderio]

The passion fruit ganache I make is pretty fruity but smooth and pleasent.

I use frozen passion fruit puree, its better because it gives you a consitent result all the time , instead of the fresh fruit ( you can predict how sour , ripe etc will be )

I dont think the apricot liquor made much difference , since passion fruit marries well with apricot.

I will suggest to use frozen puree' next time , I am sure it will come out just fine.

good luck

[mrose]

You might add a bit of sugar to sweeten it up a bit. Also maybe a bit of lime juice.

I have used this recipe but have found that 1/2 cup of a passion fruit puree gives a good flavor but is not too strong (can be consistently reproduced). The Alize enhances the taste, use the orangish colored one.

Mark

[lapin d'or]

Thanks Vanessa & Mark,

I will try and get hold of some prepared passion fruit juice. I can get this mail order but not locally. I was hoping to avoid more delivery costs but I will just have to buy enough to make it worth while. I want to try passion fruit marshmallows so I should get through it quite easily.

I like the idea of adding in some lime and will start with a little less passion fruit next time.

Jill

[Rhubarb]

Good gracious...I think Valentine's production is finished...

Now comes the real hard part...forcing myself back into the kitchen to come up with something for my girlfriend that she hasn't already seen...