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Post by reelchemist on Nov 1, 2007 22:58:49 GMT -5
I have heard a few people mention that they age their dark chocolates. I am curious as to what changes in flavour are observed and the theory behind it?
Personally I have noticed a change in a dark Vanuatu chocolate I made, there are caramel and liquorice notes that appear to be becoming more pronounced.
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Post by reelchemist on Nov 16, 2007 6:04:54 GMT -5
Again I see a lot of visits but not much opinion on the subject. To answer myself for those who may want the answer also there is a nice interview with Art Pollard just posted on the Cacaolab blog that touches on this subject. Coincidently this is what I have been finding with my efforts, there are major changes in the chocolate flavour and aroma over about 3 weeks. My Vanuatu choc developed some seriously nice caramel notes and in the Mexico I made the 'acid' mellowed or morphed into a really distinct blood orange note. Really cool! So not really an answer but as Art points out aging of a chocolate is a really important thing to consider or to be aware of in making a chocolate. People that have been making dark choc for a while will probably know this all too well as it is quite a distinct effect.
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Post by jamescary on Mar 31, 2008 19:20:45 GMT -5
I just found this thread as I began wondering the same thing when I saw several makers talking about aging.
reelchemist, are you aging your chocolate after you've tempered it?
Should the chocolate be aged at a specific temperature?
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Post by reelchemist on Mar 31, 2008 22:35:17 GMT -5
The changes I have noted are in chocolate that is tempered. I don't usually wait too long before eating my chocolate but when I make a big batch it takes a little while to eat it all so it ages and I notice a difference. That is about as scientific as I get on the subject I am affraid. There was another thread somewhere on here where one or two people mentioned that they let their dark choc age for a couple of months before eating it.
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Post by jamescary on Apr 1, 2008 10:41:26 GMT -5
I wonder what could be happening during aging. Isn't most aging of foods done to allow microbes and enzymes do their job a little longer? Does chocolate still have anything left to do any of this?
I guess it could start picking up flavors of those things around it. But I thought that's usually just done for alcohols and vinegars.
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Post by Howard on May 1, 2008 22:08:13 GMT -5
Quite unintentionally I made a batch of cayugua 60% about 1 1/2 years ago. Then we moved several times. I kept the non-tempered chocolate in a plastic container in the various refrigerators we had until last week when I finally got around to tempering and molding it. I don't know if it's different than it was 1 1/2 years ago but it was FABULOUS. Just another data point.
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Post by Brad on May 2, 2008 1:37:44 GMT -5
Howard;
If you've managed to keep it in the refrigerator that long and it tastes good, you're very lucky. Chocolate is NOTORIOUS for absorbing flavours from it's environment. I stopped giving my girlfriend chocolate a long time ago because she'd always put it in the fridge, and then it'd end up tasting like stale produce after a week or so - a TOTAL waste of good chocolate.
Personally, I would avoid the fridge or freezer like the plague.
Brad
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Post by Howard on May 2, 2008 14:05:38 GMT -5
Intrerestingly, the chocolate tasted very good and tempered well but now, just 5 days later it's losing it's temper and the flavor is changing into not very good at all. I wonder if it's the age. But it's clearly falling apart.
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Post by Brad on May 2, 2008 18:14:09 GMT -5
Howard;
Dark chocolate typically has an almost indefinite shelf life if stored properly. In fact I've been told that Switzerland has a law in place that requires chocolate companies to have a certain amount of "reserve" liquor on hand at all times, and that some of the liquor is as old as 15-20 years before it's used.
It's usually the milk products (milk fat) that goes bad over time in milk chocolate.
One other thing: Fridges usually have a much more moist environment than dry storage. Your chocolate if stored in the fridge for extended periods of time will change in humidity, and that (I'm guessing) could cause you grief.
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Post by beanless on Mar 29, 2009 15:56:52 GMT -5
Hi there I was wondering how you store chocolate for ageing? I thought of putting a batch of dark in a wine cellar for even temp but what do you wrap it in - tin foil? My partner suggested blanketing a batch with argon gas to prevent oxidation or is it oxidation that it needs - any thoughts? Ali
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Post by reelchemist on Mar 29, 2009 17:41:28 GMT -5
I have noted a couple of things when aging chocolate (Vanuatu - Forastero). I have found that storing it in a big block and then melting and tempering gives chocolate bars that still need some time to 'settle down' about 3 weeks. They seem to have a bitterness/astringency for a little while, I haven't come up with any chemical explanation for it but it does mellow out after a while (this is what I mean by settling down). I consequently like to age my chocolate as the 70g bars that I eat. Has anyone else found this with aging? I know places like Patric Chocolate age in big blocks and melt and make bars for sale after aging. Patric Chocolate use Madagascar origin which doesn't have the level of tannins that the Vanuatu beans I am using have which are probably the reason for the observed bitterness/astringency. I should probably experiment with my aging on these other origins before making a blanket descission.
I would also be carefull in storing in tin foil and in a cellar. This actually depends on the smell of your cellar you don't want that dank musty smell getting into your choc - it will pick up this smell very easily. I would go for air tight if storing in a dank cellar. Otherwise yep I age mine in foil, in a pantry cupboard that doesn't have any smell.
Argon is probably over kill as gases will only interact with the surface of your chocolate.
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Post by beanless on Mar 29, 2009 20:15:28 GMT -5
Thanks for that. My partner is a winemaker hence the option of sealing with gas. What sort of temperature can tempered chocolate take during storage as my house gets quite warm year round - up to 30ish in summer which is why I thought of the cellar?
I didn't quite understand whether by ageing in tempered 70g bars you found you didn't or did get the astringency/bitterness that you got ageing in untempered large bars. How long are you ageing for - I have read up to three months for a dark choc and I can only imagine the quantity I will have to make to keep some for that long!!
Also can I ask if you are getting your Vanuatu beans from Tava. I am sourcing from John at moment but finding it quite expensive with shipping etc.
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Post by reelchemist on Mar 29, 2009 21:34:14 GMT -5
I get most of my beans from Tava but I have also worked my way through every origin that John stocks. I haven't tried any from the guy on the chocolate life yet but he said that he could ship anywhere. Buying anything from the USA at the moment is really bad, so I have been using mostly Tava beans to save on costs until the exchange rate improves.
As mentioned at the top of the thread I have adopted about 3 weeks aging - this is where the major changes take place. I was finding with my dark vanuatu bars that if I aged them in a big block then made them into bars they had that astringency to them which dissappeared on aging again. By aging as the 70 g bars I just eat them after three weeks without needing to mold them again, thereby avoiding this increased astringency problem.
As I said I store my chocolate in a pantry cupboard - it is small and all I keep in there is wine and chocolate and it keeps quite cool. I live in Adelaide and we recently had 6 days over 40 degrees C and the choc was fine in there. It certainly isn't optimal as the temp still fluctuates quite a bit but it won't get hot enough to have a meltdown.
As for the quantity you need to make to save it for 3 weeks well I don't always wait. I find that it doesn't really matter if you make a dark milk chocolate anyway (say 10% milk, 30% sugar), actually these do age also becoming more chocolatey (Vanuatu), but I am not that concerned with the dark milk as I tend to put things with it like mint, fruit, nuts, nibs and coffee - for crowd pleasing choc bars. The trick is not to give too much away, that way by the time you get to making another batch a previous batch is becoming 'ripe'.
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