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Post by 1chunkey on Sept 11, 2006 11:33:59 GMT -5
Hi, I am totally new to this and I have purchased almost everything from John, from the Santha to the Juicer, I also have a new tempering machine. I have just made my first batch of chocolate as per Johns recipies and everyone has eaten it all in one day !! So now I am all fired up I am looking at getting beans closer to home, whilst looking round the internet etc, I found that some were talking about seed chocolate ?.....what is seed chocolate and what does it do ?? I also found some sites that talked about using pre made belgian chocolate and adding more cocoa butter and powdered milk to make more milk chocolate, I am keen to start a very small business but I am not sure what is the best way, do you do it from the bean all the time ? or are there any half way measures that do the same ?? and can you store the liquer so you can use it when you want and why is all the weights by % and not by ounces or something ?? Please can someone spell it all out for me so I know whats what ?? Andy
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Sept 11, 2006 18:26:40 GMT -5
There are a lot of questions here but I'll give it a go and then see what others have to say/correct:
I have only seen "seed chocolate" referenced when talking about tempering chocolate. In this case, seed chocolate is chocolate already in temper. It is added to melted chocolate during the tempering process to help the correct crystals form in the chocolate and achieve correct temper.
It is possible to buy Belgium made chocolate (eg., Callebaut brand) but I'm not sure why you would add cocoa butter and milk powder - you could just buy the chocolate in milk form already. Maybe someone else has some ideas?
As for making chocolate from the bean etc - it all comes down to what you want to sell. If you want to make chocolate pralines/bon bons/truffles etc then you probably want to focus your attention to that part of the business, rather than making the chocolate itself from scratch (although some find the time to do both - depends on staff numbers). If you want to sell solid chocolate bars, then making the chocolate yourself from scratch would be a good marketing point but there are others out there who blend various couverture chocolates to produce a "blended" bar.
I can't help with the storing of liquer but as for measurements, % is just the best way of presenting the information people want. For example, we may want to know what proportion of our chocolate is made of chocolate mass rather than how much is in there in an absolute sense. Eg., 70g of cocoa mass in a 100g bar (70%) is a strong dark bar - well 70% is for me :-) - whereas 70g in a 250g bar (28%) would probably be a mild milk chocolate bar.
Hopefully that answers some of your questions and some other members can add their bit as well.
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Post by seneca on Sept 13, 2006 13:16:03 GMT -5
As far as storing liquor, you really don't have anything to worry about. Just find a decent container and keep it around until you need it--As long as your storage environment isn't terrible hot you'll be fine.
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Post by angioplasty on Sept 29, 2006 7:39:21 GMT -5
With this, Id not recommend keeping it in the fridge, as the temperature difference between the cold liqueor and the room, might cause condensation and seize it if you are working it further.
Id think a mason jar would work as well, you can seal it too, possibly vac seal it if you have one of those gadgets and it should work.
Aaron
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