Post by martin0642 on Oct 21, 2015 16:40:46 GMT -5
Hi folks - I'm new here (and to chocolate making) so be gentle
So; I have my Premier grinder, I have my cocoa nibs (i'm getting the hang of it from that stage before I throw myself into roasting and winnowing) and i'm starting to make chocolate....and so far it seems to be going pretty well! Certainly getting some great feedback from my slavering ..biut (hopefully) discerning tasters.
But something isn't quite "right"....I'd like my chocolate to have a bit more depth to its flavour and i'm not sure how to go about that. There is a shop in town that sells artisan chocolates for truly stupid prices (seriously...£30 for a 150gr bar....erm...no. Even Valrhona and Amadei aren't that stupidly priced) which seems to be based on their method of leaving the chocolate to "mature" for one month to develop the flavour. Does this sound like something wirth doing? Has anyone here tried leaving it for a while? I can't find anywhere that seems to do this so I'm wondering if it is in fact worth it. I know some foods improve dramatically when you do this but I would be surprised if chocolate did as much.
Some background - I used to be a chef so I'm not coming at this from a complete novice perspective...but I do have a lot to learn about chocolate work!
In case anyone asks - my method so far has been:
Grind the nibs with sugar (and cocoa butter if needed, depending on the % chocolate i'm making) for a minimum of 48 hours straight.
The resultant liquor is then heated and tempered and made into whatever chocolates i'm making at the time.
I'm using organic roast cocoa nibs, natural caster sugar (or natural sugar which i've already ground down myself to at least caster sugar consistency) and organic cocoa butter.
Tempering is done using either Mycryo or seeding with Valrhona patisserie drops (and lots of stirring and anxious temperature watching)
Ahy thoughts folks?
(Also - excellent forum...i've learnt a lot here! )
So; I have my Premier grinder, I have my cocoa nibs (i'm getting the hang of it from that stage before I throw myself into roasting and winnowing) and i'm starting to make chocolate....and so far it seems to be going pretty well! Certainly getting some great feedback from my slavering ..biut (hopefully) discerning tasters.
But something isn't quite "right"....I'd like my chocolate to have a bit more depth to its flavour and i'm not sure how to go about that. There is a shop in town that sells artisan chocolates for truly stupid prices (seriously...£30 for a 150gr bar....erm...no. Even Valrhona and Amadei aren't that stupidly priced) which seems to be based on their method of leaving the chocolate to "mature" for one month to develop the flavour. Does this sound like something wirth doing? Has anyone here tried leaving it for a while? I can't find anywhere that seems to do this so I'm wondering if it is in fact worth it. I know some foods improve dramatically when you do this but I would be surprised if chocolate did as much.
Some background - I used to be a chef so I'm not coming at this from a complete novice perspective...but I do have a lot to learn about chocolate work!
In case anyone asks - my method so far has been:
Grind the nibs with sugar (and cocoa butter if needed, depending on the % chocolate i'm making) for a minimum of 48 hours straight.
The resultant liquor is then heated and tempered and made into whatever chocolates i'm making at the time.
I'm using organic roast cocoa nibs, natural caster sugar (or natural sugar which i've already ground down myself to at least caster sugar consistency) and organic cocoa butter.
Tempering is done using either Mycryo or seeding with Valrhona patisserie drops (and lots of stirring and anxious temperature watching)
Ahy thoughts folks?
(Also - excellent forum...i've learnt a lot here! )