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Post by Noah H. on Feb 25, 2021 13:16:28 GMT -5
Hey all, I was given some dried herbs at Christmas, including rose hips, hibiscus, lavender, chai spice, orange peel, and some others. I don't drink much tea, so I want to try and incorporate these into chocolate batches, but I'm not sure how to approach it. Does anyone have experience with using dried herbs for flavoring? Should I diffuse the herbs in warm cocoa butter, then remove? Maybe refine the chocolate with the herbs and strain after? On a similar note, I'm wanting to use oils to flavor my finished chocolate. What kinds of things should I look for in a flavoring oil? Any and all input is welcome!
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Post by Chip on Feb 25, 2021 14:39:15 GMT -5
Noah H. H. One way that I have tried and had a modicum of success is infusing the herbs into cocoa butter. Use a double boiler, put the cocoa butter and herbs in the top, and let it cook for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour. Then strain the cocoa butter and it should be infused with the flavor of the herb. ANother way I have read about is to actually "cook" the herbs directly in cocoa butter: put them both in a shallow pan, bring the cocoa butter up to where it melts, and keep it there for about 1/2 hours. You don't want too hot or you will scorch the butter. That's about the limit of my knowledge. Or as Forrest Gump would say "That's all I have to say about that."
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Post by mark on Feb 25, 2021 22:45:11 GMT -5
We make a Chai bar and I add the dried spices directly to the melangeur. Just make sure they're really dry, no moisture left. I coarsely grind them as adding a whole cinnamon quill is going to cause issues, right?
For some of our other bars I add dried, very finely ground herbs to the chocolate just before molding. This also works, but you can obviously feel the slight grit from the herbs on your mouth.
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Post by Noah H. on Feb 28, 2021 16:35:52 GMT -5
Noah H. H. One way that I have tried and had a modicum of success is infusing the herbs into cocoa butter. Use a double boiler, put the cocoa butter and herbs in the top, and let it cook for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour. Then strain the cocoa butter and it should be infused with the flavor of the herb. ANother way I have read about is to actually "cook" the herbs directly in cocoa butter: put them both in a shallow pan, bring the cocoa butter up to where it melts, and keep it there for about 1/2 hours. You don't want too hot or you will scorch the butter. That's about the limit of my knowledge. Or as Forrest Gump would say "That's all I have to say about that." Thanks for the input! I will likely try this out as I add extra cocoa butter to my batches anyway. What herb to chocolate ratios have you found to work well? Obviously it'll vary between herbs. Say I were to use the dried lavender pedals, how much might be noticeable without becoming too overpowering?
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