fred
Novice
Posts: 144
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Post by fred on Mar 13, 2020 15:19:47 GMT -5
John has an amazing array of cocoa beans available over at Chocolate Alchemy, and I've tried maybe a handful of them so far. I also really like John's description of the beans flavor and other information he provides about them.
I would definitely be interested in other people's experiences with different beans from John. My plan is to eventually try all of them, but it might be nice to know what to expect. Does anyone know if reviews of the different beans exist somewhere (or maybe here)?
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Post by jerryrva on Mar 17, 2020 13:18:18 GMT -5
I see no one has responded to your question yet. I don't have much to offer as I just started making chocolate last month. But I will offer my observations on DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ZORZAL DIRECT TRADE ORGANIC 2019. Upon opening the sealed bag you are overwhelmed with intense vinegar. Much more so than the two other kinds I got. I used a Behmor as directed by John's suggestion. Mine started popping at 16 minutes and went crazy. I had to restrain myself from stopping at 18 minutes as I wanted to let it go as long as he suggested. It was still popping at 19 pretty good and I decided to hit cooling. Being as it was my first time roasting cacao beans I wasn't sure about aromas coming off as the roast neared the end. I do know the kitchen was not smelling very good with the strong vinegar smell.
I ran a Spectra 11 for 12 hours and the progression of flavor and texture progressed as expected from what I have read. Due to living arrangements, 12 to 16 hours is all I have time to run a melanger and keep the peace. I went with a Champion to make the liquor and used sugar I further ground down in a burr coffee grounder set for espresso. So that helped cut the time I needed to meet my standard for chocolate after what I am sure is too short for many of you. But my final product was as nice for mouthfeel as many of the fine chocolate bars have paid over $10 for.
As for flavor, I am too much of a newbie to expand upon the flavor wheel other saying it was a delightful fruity taste that mellowed out nicely after a week of storage. I did a 70, 25 sugar and 5% cocoa butter that has pleased previous milk chocolate lovers who find Lindt 70% from Target not to their liking. As for me it was a great bean to start my chocolate making adventures with and I will be roasting more once I work my way through the others I have.
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fred
Novice
Posts: 144
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Post by fred on Mar 19, 2020 16:36:58 GMT -5
jerryrva - thank you for this! I'm really impressed you went all the way from beans to bar! In theory, if you have to stop the melanging, you could put it in the oven at a very low temp (like no more than say 120F) and that should re-melt the whole melange so you can start it up again for as much more time as you'd like. Sounds like it came out really well, congratz! BTW, I was almost wondering if it makes sense to make a review "template" kind of like what they use for wine and beer Apps, but I'm not sure I'll get enough takers.
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