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Post by Alan on Mar 2, 2006 9:23:04 GMT -5
Dear all,
I've used some scented (non-deodorized) cocoa butter, but am thinking about using some unscented or deodorized cocoa butter. For those of you that have used both, have you been able to tell the difference, which did you prefer, and did it depend on the source of the non-deodorized cocoa butter? Any other thoughts?
Sincerely,
Alan
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Post by Sebastian on Mar 2, 2006 12:18:01 GMT -5
They can be very different. Or not different at all. How's that for being completely and entirely unhelpful Deodorizing is done to 'level the field' as it were, so that butters taken from various geographies and from various processing conditions can be normalized by taking out much of the aromatic flavor compounds. This results in a very flat product that doesn't contribute much flavor at all. Now, some butters are naturally very flat, and don't contribute much in the way of flavor to begin with - to compare a deodorized butter vs these probably wouldn't yield much difference. However, there are also butters that have a great deal of natural flavor in them - that flavor can be very good or not so much - depends on a huge array of things (not the least of which is what you consider to be 'good'). Something to keep in mind is that deodorizing will destroy all the antioxidants that naturally occur in your butter, so this can have a pretty direct affect on your flavor stability over time, depending on what type of product you're making. If you find a nice source of natural butter, it can make a very good chocolate absolutely wonderful.
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Post by Brad on Mar 2, 2006 14:15:47 GMT -5
I have both types and have found the aromatic butter overpowers the delicate flavours of the beans. Maybe I'm a bit anal about my approach to making chocolate, but my philosophy is that I'm making chocolate with ONE TYPE of bean, so that I can taste the subtleties it offers. Aside from a little vanilla, anything else that influences that flavour detracts from the desired end result.
If I were ever to begin mass producing chocolate, I would probably use a non-deodorized CCB to create a consistent tasting, blended chocolate - which is what most chocolatiers are looking for in volume.
That's my two-bits.
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Post by Alan on Mar 2, 2006 17:44:56 GMT -5
Dear all,
I just came across a product called MYCRYO that is apparently cocoa butter in powder form. I had never heard of this at all, but apparently adding it to your chocolate at a proportion of 1% will automatically temper your chocolate. I'm assuming that it is basically like seeding chocolate with tempered chocolate except that it is more effective since it is 100% cocoa butter. Have any of you used this, and how does it work? It sounds like it might be worth buying, especially because it is relatively cheap at $10/lb. Though it isn't magical because one still has to pay attention to the temperature, I am wondering if it might be good to use it just for extra assurance.
What say the experts?
Alan
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Post by Sebastian on Mar 2, 2006 20:55:08 GMT -5
It won't automatically temper anything. It's called seeding your chocolate, and is a process that's been used in the industry for generations. This is a Barry Callebaut product that's the fat version of freeze drying, and instead of adding tempered chocoalte to do the seeding, you add the 'freeze dried' tempered cocoa powder. it's effective, but no more so than adding tempered seed chocolate, and much more expensive.
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Post by Alan on Mar 3, 2006 8:51:20 GMT -5
It won't automatically temper anything. It's called seeding your chocolate, and is a process that's been used in the industry for generations. This is a Barry Callebaut product that's the fat version of freeze drying, and instead of adding tempered chocoalte to do the seeding, you add the 'freeze dried' tempered cocoa powder. it's effective, but no more so than adding tempered seed chocolate, and much more expensive. Dear Sebastian, Thank you for correcting my use of the word "automatically." Of course it is still manual, but I simply meant that one wouldn't have to worry about forming seed crystals oneself, as they would be present in the product when it is added to one's untempered chocolate, and might render the process of tempering, for those of us that haven't had much experience, slightly more foolproof. At any rate, I prefer to continue on using the tabling method so as to become a bit more skilful at tempering without the help of a machine or other product. Thanks for your thoughts. Alan
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Post by sugaralchemy on Mar 3, 2006 14:38:17 GMT -5
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