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Post by atreides on Feb 2, 2010 7:01:24 GMT -5
Is cocoa butter the only butter that can be tempered and form crystals? What about butters made out of nuts?
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gap
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Post by gap on Feb 2, 2010 16:27:39 GMT -5
As I understand it, it is only cocoa butter that allows you to temper chocolate - it has some special properties which allow the crystals to set in many different ways . . . the ideal way being "in temper"
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 4, 2010 19:27:38 GMT -5
There are many polymorphic fats, ilipe, shea, palm are some of the more common ones (relatively speaking, none are very common). No nut fats will be in this family.
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gap
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Post by gap on Feb 7, 2010 16:12:03 GMT -5
Sebastian - is it sufficient that the fat is polymorphic? What I mean is, will using an alternative fat that you mention still give chocolate the sheen and snap that we associate with well crystallised traditional chocolate?
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 8, 2010 6:27:23 GMT -5
It can - again, depends on a lot of factors. but broadly speaking, yes you can make a product that is, by and large indistinguishable from real chocolate, by using a blend of fats. No matter which fat you 'supplement' the cocoa butter with, you'll still need to treat your 'chocolate' as you did before (ie tempering, cooling, etc)
You do, of course, need to label it appropriately.
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gap
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Post by gap on Feb 8, 2010 16:51:20 GMT -5
Interesting - thanks for that. I'm not in the business of making actual chocolate from scratch, but I use a lot of it, so it's good to know these things.
Cheers
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 8, 2010 18:16:44 GMT -5
No problem. BTW, i'm going to be in New Zealand for a couple of weeks - won't have much time in Australia, else i'd stop by your shoppe. If you've got any reco's on NZ 'must visits', i'm all ears!
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Post by Brad on Feb 8, 2010 19:48:50 GMT -5
Sebastian;
Are you ever home enough to enjoy that beautiful fireplace mantle you imported from Canada???
LOL
Brad
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 9, 2010 6:24:21 GMT -5
Had a fire in it Sunday as a matter of fact - it's as lovely as the day it arrived I'm fortunate enough to have visited most of the world. It's a pace i'm not sure i want to continue though - perhaps i should open my own shop
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Post by itsallaroundyou on Feb 9, 2010 13:00:11 GMT -5
Sebastian, I was recently in New Zealand, and was fortunate enough to have my hostel be around the corner from this shop: thesweetestlittlechocolateshop.co.nz/they stock only new zealand made chocolates, and was a great source of info (and tastings) for most of the artisan chocolate shops in the country. After talking for a while with the proprietor, I left with a list of shops to visit on my trip to the north and south island. I found that Schoc Chocolates (http://www.schoc.co.nz/) had the most interesting and diverse flavorings (you can taste just about all of them in the shop linked above), but when i got to their brick and mortar shop, i found that they didn't make their chocolate from bean, but used callebaut. I visited a handful of others, but Schoc stood out as the most memorable. Have a great trip, wish I was going back! -Mike
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 9, 2010 13:58:39 GMT -5
Thanks mate - I'll do my best to check it out
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gap
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Post by gap on Feb 10, 2010 16:27:37 GMT -5
Unfortunately I can't really add anything on the NZ chocolate scene . . .
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Post by beanless on Feb 21, 2010 20:01:56 GMT -5
Hi Sebastian
Where are you heading in NZ - if you are heading anywhere near Queenstown I'd been keen to catch up and have a chat. I'm fairly new to the chocolate making and would appreciate chatting to someone else doing the same thing. As far as I know only Whittakers and maybe Richfields are making there own choc from the bean here - stock standard Cadbury type chocolate. There are many chocolatiers some of which I have listed elsewhere in the forum and as Mike mentioned Shoc Choc have a great selection.
Cheers Ali
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 21, 2010 20:34:19 GMT -5
i'll be all over the place, im' not very familiar with the geography, but if you send me your contact info, i'll do my best to get in touch with you if i'm giong to be near where you are during non-work times for me...
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