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Post by gameson on Dec 6, 2012 2:56:14 GMT -5
Is there any difference in the chocolate finished product if I use different type of sugar?
Can I just use the sugar available in supermarket? Or I have to buy a specialty sugar (for example confectionary sugar) to mix with the cocoa liquor?
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Post by Sebastian on Dec 6, 2012 7:20:01 GMT -5
Regular table sugar will work fine. The coarser your sugar crystals, the longer you'll need to grind it more. Powdered sugar from the store will require less grinding, but it also has corn starch in it as a flow agent.
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Post by cheebs on Dec 6, 2012 13:37:31 GMT -5
I use pure, medium-crystal unbleached cane sugar. It's a light beige color.
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Post by lilypa on Jan 26, 2013 17:54:15 GMT -5
I've used organic unbleached cane sugar, Rapadura sugar, and Mascobado sugar. The Rapadura sugar adds a heavy molasses taste to your chocolate. If you want that extra flavor go for it. I don't really like that.
However, the Mascobado unrefined cane sugar smells quite molassesy but doesn't seem to impart that flavor to the chocolate. Doesn't taste like molasses much either eating it straight. It does add a bit of a vanilla-ish flavor. Definitely costs more than the organic cane sugar.
I'm going to try a test soon of two batches of beans split from the same roast and then refining one with the unbleached cane sugar and the other with Mascobado sugar to see if there's much of difference in taste.
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Jan 28, 2013 21:49:28 GMT -5
I use pure icing sugar - in Australia you can get pure icing sugar (no corn starch) and icing mixture (contains corn starch).
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Post by feedme on Feb 7, 2013 23:01:15 GMT -5
I tried using coconut sugar..... but the cost is about 16nz a kg. It gave the chocolate a nice caramel touch very yummy!
But I just use a raw cane sugar Manduvira cooperative in Paraguay
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Post by jhoff on Feb 16, 2013 3:46:28 GMT -5
Can you use brown sugar or will it cause the chocolate to seize? I'm wondering if it has a high water content?
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 16, 2013 7:08:51 GMT -5
It does have a higher moisture content, and will also have higher levels of other types of sugars that are hygroscopic. net/net - you can use it, but it will make it more difficult.
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Post by jhoff on Feb 21, 2013 17:29:21 GMT -5
I did use brown sugar and didn't have any problems at least none that I noticed The brown sugar was fairly dried out tho.
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dove
Neophyte
Posts: 4
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Post by dove on Feb 27, 2013 13:29:49 GMT -5
Regular table sugar will work fine. The coarser your sugar crystals, the longer you'll need to grind it more. Powdered sugar from the store will require less grinding, but it also has corn starch in it as a flow agent. Hello. This is my first time here and would like to say thank you to everyone for the information you've provided. It's very helpful. I have a question about adding sugar to liquor or paste. I am using only organic ingredients and have access right now to a cacao paste made from Criollo beans and a cacao liquor which is probably made from Forestero beans (maybe the Trinitario, though?). Sorry if I'm spelling any of those names wrong. The liquor is in the form of buttons and the paste looks similar except that the pieces aren't uniform. My question is how do I turn the liquor and paste into eating chocolate if I don't have a refiner to use for adding in my organic cane sugar? Will the end product be grainy if I don't use a machine? Any kind of machine is out of the question right now, so does anyone have any tips for making chocolate from liquor without access to a grinder or tempering machine, aside from just powdering my sugar in a food processor? I thought I would just put the ingredients in my double boiler and melt and stir to combine, moving into tempering from there. Will this work? Do I need to make a simple syrup with my sugar to eliminate graininess? I worry about water content with that, but from what I understand, large producers use liquid sweetener for a variety of reasons. I assume the chocolate isn't seizing because they're using a large amount of liquid? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
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Post by gameson on Feb 27, 2013 19:36:09 GMT -5
You still need to conch it even if you are buying a cacao paste. You need the Santha Wet Grinder to refine the paste with the sugar. If you just melt and stir to combine, the chocolate will still not smooth
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dove
Neophyte
Posts: 4
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Post by dove on Mar 1, 2013 9:26:18 GMT -5
Okay, thank you. I was hoping there was a way around that, but I guess not.
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Post by Brad on Apr 26, 2013 14:05:56 GMT -5
Any sugar without water content will work, but it will still need to be ground with the liquor or paste. Sugar will never dissolve in chocolate like it does in water.
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Post by lyndon on May 4, 2013 3:29:41 GMT -5
I've purchased some coconut palm sugar to use, but once it arrived in the post I realised it's not very sweet and it tastes sort of odd. I am not sure I will put it in any chocolate now in case it ruins the flavour, but it goes well on my weetbix
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Post by shrey on Jun 6, 2013 2:11:40 GMT -5
Hi,
If you want to make "CHOCOLATE" then you should use "CONFECTIONERY SUGAR" because regular sugar contains the sugar crystals and if you want to make the chocolate from the regular sugar then you need to melt the regular sugar and if you melt it over-cooked then it tastes bad and it will make your chocolate crap. So, try to use "CONFECTIONERY SUGAR" instead of regular sugar.
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