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Post by meera on Mar 18, 2020 5:29:03 GMT -5
I have started making chocolate at home from organic cocoa beans. My first two attempts have tasted quite good. However the challenge is to make a bar which is heat stable as I live in a hot climate. I don't mind too much for my own personal use as I can keep it in the fridge. However would like to be able to give the chocolate to others, and maybe eventually start a small business as my local organic farm does not have a local market for organic beans and instead sells them to a commercial factory.
Firstly - the tempering process - I cannot get the chocolate down to a low enough temperature as I don't have air conditioning. I have tried to do it over ice, however the temperature went down too much too fast. Does anyone have any suggestions for an alternative method? Which of the tempering methods available would be easiest for me?
Also I know that some chocolate in hot countries is in fact heat stable (even 70% cocoa chocolates). Does anyone know which are the methods to encourage heat stability? Also what about any non toxic additives? Chocolate here contains Polyglycerol polyricinoleate. Does that confer heat stability? I have researched online, however not found too much information.... Many thanks.
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Post by Ben on Mar 18, 2020 8:18:54 GMT -5
Hi Meera,
I'm not familiar with any techniques or additives that will keep chocolate from melting in hot temperatures (which isn't to say they don't exist--just that I don't know them), but I would suggest attempting to temper using ice again. Without air conditioning or a tempering machine with active cooling, it is probably the easiest technique. Another option is the freezer method, but I think the ice bath is easier.
Why do you say the temperature went down too fast? As long as you are cooling to the correct temperature without the chocolate solidifying, you should be ok. If you did get some solidifying, you could try using an ice/water bath with less ice to slow the cooling phase. Or you could just put it in the ice bath for short bursts to control the cooling time--pulling the chocolate bowl out of the bath if the cooling rate gets to fast.
-Ben
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Post by meera on Mar 26, 2020 10:37:42 GMT -5
Many thanks for the reply. I thought the temperature went down too fast because some of it solidified almost immediately. Also I couldn't really see any difference when the product solidified before and after tempering which made me think I had not got it right. But I am just learning. I read on a website that cadburys make their chocolate heat stable by refining the chocolate after the conching step. I am a bit unsure how I would do that. I made the chocolate in a wet grinder (it looks the same at least in pictures as a melanger, has rotating stones which grind up the cocoa etc for several hours). I am also still not sure if I am supposed to do separate chonching after having it in the grinder and if so how....I have looked on you tube and see some people boil the chocolate.
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Post by Ben on Mar 26, 2020 15:16:29 GMT -5
Ok. Strange that it solidified so fast... I'd just use less ice and be sure that you're constantly stirring.
I'm not sure how refining the chocolate after conching would make any difference heat-stability-wise. The cocoa butter would still melt at the normal temps. Do you have a link to that site where you read that?
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Post by meera on Mar 27, 2020 2:30:46 GMT -5
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