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Post by Alan on Feb 11, 2006 20:26:37 GMT -5
Hello all,
I am looking for input on making a 75% criollo (ocumare) chocolate with no cocoa butter, lecithin or vanilla; just beans and sugar. As much as it seems like it should be extremely simple, I wonder if such a delicate cocoa is actually only deceptively simple in any formulation.
So, I am wondering if anyone done such a thing, or something similar, and if so, was it successful, and do you have any tips?
I have also posted a question in the "roasting" forum related to roasting Criollo, the part that seems to be most difficult, with my sights on this formulation, so if you have any tips there, I would appreciate that too.
Sincerely,
Alan
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 11, 2006 21:45:24 GMT -5
It's hard to come by hard and fast rules with chocolate. Criollo doesn't guarantee quality. And even good physical quality Criollo beans may taste like feet. And that's not taking into account how flavor can change given differences in fermentation, roasting, and conching. Given that, it's difficult to give 'thou shalts' with chocolate. Personally, I almost always feel that a little bit of vanilla makes a good chocolate better, although you'll find plenty of purists who'll disagree with me. The goal, for me, in adding vanilla isn't necessarily to obtain a vanilla flavor, but vanilla has this wonderful ability to 'round out' flavors and result in a nicer overall flavor profile.
Re: Roasting - my personal preference is to low roast flavor beans.
Something you may wish to consider playing with would be to make sugar solutions (pick highly reactive sugars, such as fructose, for example) and soak your nibs in the soln, then roast them. The sugar and proteins in the beans will react under the heat of roasting and can deliver very unique flavors. Order of addition of ingredients can drive significant flavor profile differences.
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Post by Alan on Feb 11, 2006 21:54:46 GMT -5
It's hard to come by hard and fast rules with chocolate. Criollo doesn't guarantee quality. And even good physical quality Criollo beans may taste like feet. And that's not taking into account how flavor can change given differences in fermentation, roasting, and conching. Given that, it's difficult to give 'thou shalts' with chocolate. Personally, I almost always feel that a little bit of vanilla makes a good chocolate better, although you'll find plenty of purists who'll disagree with me. The goal, for me, in adding vanilla isn't necessarily to obtain a vanilla flavor, but vanilla has this wonderful ability to 'round out' flavors and result in a nicer overall flavor profile. Re: Roasting - my personal preference is to low roast flavor beans. Something you may wish to consider playing with would be to make sugar solutions (pick highly reactive sugars, such as fructose, for example) and soak your nibs in the soln, then roast them. The sugar and proteins in the beans will react under the heat of roasting and can deliver very unique flavors. Order of addition of ingredients can drive significant flavor profile differences. Dear Sebastian, I knew that it was going to be more complicated than it seemed at first. Thanks for the tips. I'll try to read as much as I can about criollo and about roasting before I try out this formulation. I won't have the beans, at any rate, for some weeks. Thanks again, Alan
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Post by Alchemist on Feb 13, 2006 8:17:54 GMT -5
Sabastian is right. Criollo does not mean it will be great. Some of the worst cocoa samples I have had were Criollo,
But OTOH, you are talking about the Ocumare I have, and, well, it is good one.
Sabastian gave you some alternatives, but you can do just what you are planning. Mostly what it means is you will have little room for error in your roasting, and you will want to keep it to a light delicate roast.
What I might suggest if you don't mind the small waste (better than a large waste) is to put about 4-6 oz in the oven at 300 F and pull a sample every 2-3 minutes, taste them, and then it will give you an idea where you want your roast. This crop of Ocumare has a tendency to go acrid and bitter if over roasted. I would expect about 15 minutes at 300-325F will do it nicely but each oven is different.
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 13, 2006 9:16:33 GMT -5
That's an excellent point to note. Heat transfer/distribution in many home ovens can vary wildly. Even w/in the oven - one side may be much hotter than the other, or the back may be much hotter than the front. I've never mapped out the heat distribution in a smaller toasting oven, but that might be something to consider using as well. I wonder what would be the result if you tried roasting in, say a roasting oven or crock pot, with an insert to lift the beans off the surface. Longer times/much lower temperatures, heat is all upward convection....
I hope I didn't give anyone the impression that John's ocumare wasn't good quality (i've had it, it is excellent).
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Post by Alan on Feb 13, 2006 10:59:55 GMT -5
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Post by Alchemist on Feb 13, 2006 12:39:37 GMT -5
No, Sebastian, you did not give any indication the Ocumare had issues. I was actually just agreeing.
Alan, it is not so much leaning away from oven nib roasting as I don't do it that often. Mostly I roast in my homemade drum roaster, and do whole beans.
The Jamaican beans I have in right now are the only ones I do in nib form. As whole beans I always end up with bitter notes from the temperature gradient in the drum.
I actually to like nib roasting in the oven, I just have this long list of items to update on the site, and that is one of them. Just not enough hours in the day to get it all done. The basics are there, and so order processing, cocoa bean supplies and other day to day stuff seems to take priority.
So, what can I tell you about nib roasting?
Oh, BTW, not to bash my own beans, but I know you are looking forward to the Ocumare. Frankly, my favorite bean is the Ghanan Forastero. The Ocumare is good, but frankly, it is too fruity and aromatic for me. I like the deep luscious notes of the Forastero.
And again, I am not a Criollo basher, but my experience to date has been that it is sort of like the holy grail. It's reputation and prestige is larger than the bean itself. It's two big claims to fame are it's rarity and it's subtlety of flavor, and that is often a disappointment to some people.
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Post by Alan on Feb 13, 2006 14:22:33 GMT -5
Dear John,
I should probably buy your sampler pack after the Ocumare comes in, and then see what I think. I generally always like well-crafted criollo bars though, so I probably wouldn't be disappointed, but it would be nice to be able to compare all of your beans anyway.
Regarding roasting nibs at a lower temperature (225-250), I was simply thinking that, since I'll likely be buying nibs rather than whole beans, this might be a way to roast criollo without as much of a risk of burning it or without a risk of stopping too early and finding some semi-raw beans.
I think that I really need to just experiment with roasting and see what I like. I simply don't want to ruin $60 worth of fine flavour beans due to over-roasting or something dumb like that.
Sincerely,
Alan
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