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Post by Howard on Sept 17, 2006 22:38:27 GMT -5
liquor - 58.25 oz 52.08% Cocoa butter - 14 oz 12.52% Sugar - 39 oz 34.87% Lecithin - 0.5 oz 0.45% Vanilla - 2 inch piece ~0.09%
Liquor + cocoa butter = 64.6%
It's conching/refining now. Tasted after 1/2 hour of mixing - this is fruity, aromatic, richly chocolatey, with an amazing finish that keeps going and going. Plan is to conch/refine for about 62 hours before tempering and molding. I absolutely loved these nibs after I roasted them. It was hard to keep from snacking on them.
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Post by Howard on Sept 19, 2006 14:24:01 GMT -5
Tasted after 36 hours of processing at 118 deg F. It's very mellow in color and flavor. My kids don't believe that it's not milk chocolate. I'm not sure I understand why it's not as dark as I expected. It's also much sweeter tasting than I expected. Hmmmmmm. Let's see how this develops over the next 24 hours or so.
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Post by Alan on Sept 19, 2006 15:33:00 GMT -5
Tasted after 36 hours of processing at 118 deg F. It's very mellow in color and flavor. My kids don't believe that it's not milk chocolate. I'm not sure I understand why it's not as dark as I expected. It's also much sweeter tasting than I expected. Hmmmmmm. Let's see how this develops over the next 24 hours or so. That Cuyagua is so light and sweet because there is a significant amount of Criollo parentage in the trees in that particular area. Cuyagua is right next to Choroni, which is just west of Chuao. As you probably know, Chuao is one of the most notable cacaos in the world, and it is in large part because of the strength of the Criollo genes and the quality of the terroir in that particular region. If you haven't tried a Chuao bar, then you could try one of the last remaining Valrhona Chuao bars or the famed Amedei Chuao bar or the lesser known and somewhat controversial Bonnat Chuao bar.Though the flavor profile of Cuyagua isn't exactly the same as Chuao, you'll see the relationship. In fact, Cuyagua reminds me more of Chuao than of Ocumare which is geographically closer to it.
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Post by Howard on Sept 19, 2006 22:34:15 GMT -5
Tasted again after 44 hours - the color is darker, the flavor is deeper and darker, less sweet, still amazingly fruity and complex. Truly alchemy at work, there must be a stage when the sugar is completely incorporated into the mix. I'm going to conch with no tension for another 16 - 18 hours , then temper and mold. It's hard to keep my hands off this stuff. Best I've made so far without a doubt.
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Post by Howard on Sept 19, 2006 22:39:32 GMT -5
I'll look for those. I think, though, that my first impression was just because the chocolate was underprocessed. There was a clear and dramatic change in the color and flavor in between tasting at 36 hours and 44 hours. What fun!
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Post by Alan on Sept 20, 2006 8:08:21 GMT -5
I'll look for those. I think, though, that my first impression was just because the chocolate was underprocessed. There was a clear and dramatic change in the color and flavor in between tasting at 36 hours and 44 hours. What fun! Yeah, I guess that would make a difference when you're working with such a large percentage of lighter colored ingredients (sugar and cocoa butter). The Cuyagua that I've been doing is 75% liquor and 25% sugar, and it actually starts very dark, gets lighter, and then stays that way. It does look quite a bit like dark milk chocolate. Anyway, back to the Chuao, I don't want to prejudice you, but my favorite of the three bars I mentioned is the Amedei, but it is also the most expensive. On-line it's going for about $12 for a 1.75 oz bar. Maybe they'll have it in Chicago for a reasonable price though. CL
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Post by Howard on Sept 21, 2006 9:34:15 GMT -5
I used the "turbo temper" method of tempering which was pretty efficient but....
Well, another batch of chocolate that tastes fabulous but looks terrible. Not so much swirls this time but a gross cloudy brown grey powdery look. Some swirls. I was so careful to keep the temperature between 88-90 F and to mix and mix and mix to keep the whole thing homogeneous too. I just don't know what to do and I'm very frustrated. There is clearly a great snap, the stuff is tempered. It's very tasty too. But it looks terrible. I'm tempted to re melt it all and turn it into truffles.
The chocolate stayed nice and homogeneously dark brown until the very end of the cooling when it suddenly just changed. And not all of it changed. I have two flats of squares that look pretty nice. But the rest of 6+ pounds of fabulously tasting cuyagua dark chocolate looks terrible. the bars especially look bad.
Can I blame the tempering method? Can the cocoa butter be separating? Should I use more/less lecithin? More/less cocoa butter? Should I try to cool the chocolate in the oven (a cold oven but maybe it would have a more stable cooling temperature?) I did try a fan on a portion during cooling but that made it worse. AHHHHHHHHHHH, very frustrating.
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Post by Alan on Sept 21, 2006 10:05:36 GMT -5
I used the "turbo temper" method of tempering which was pretty efficient but.... Well, another batch of chocolate that tastes fabulous but looks terrible. Not so much swirls this time but a gross cloudy brown grey powdery look. Some swirls. I was so careful to keep the temperature between 88-90 F and to mix and mix and mix to keep the whole thing homogeneous too. I just don't know what to do and I'm very frustrated. There is clearly a great snap, the stuff is tempered. It's very tasty too. But it looks terrible. I'm tempted to re melt it all and turn it into truffles. The chocolate stayed nice and homogeneously dark brown until the very end of the cooling when it suddenly just changed. And not all of it changed. I have two flats of squares that look pretty nice. But the rest of 6+ pounds of fabulously tasting cuyagua dark chocolate looks terrible. the bars especially look bad. Can I blame the tempering method? Can the cocoa butter be separating? Should I use more/less lecithin? More/less cocoa butter? Should I try to cool the chocolate in the oven (a cold oven but maybe it would have a more stable cooling temperature?) I did try a fan on a portion during cooling but that made it worse. AHHHHHHHHHHH, very frustrating. Well, I sure haven't had any luck with any of the turbo tempering methods that I've tried. I have often ended up with chocolate that looks even worse than yours apparently does. However, I have almost never had any serious problems when tempering using the marble-slab method. I really wouldn't be able to explain to you why I've experienced such a drastic difference, but it's the case. Do you have access to a large marble/granite slab from some local granite supply place? I got a really huge one for about $50, and it fits perfectly on the coffee table--makes it look nicer too. Anyway, I guess the other option is to keep working on the turbo-temper method, but I can't give you advice there as I simply haven't had luck with it.
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Post by Howard on Sept 21, 2006 11:07:05 GMT -5
Marble slab method it is. Do you think granite will work as well? I'm building a new kitchen and it will have a large granite workspace.
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Post by Alan on Sept 21, 2006 11:49:21 GMT -5
Marble slab method it is. Do you think granite will work as well? I'm building a new kitchen and it will have a large granite workspace. Well, from what I understand, granite works just fine. In fact, I use something called Silestone, which is a quartz man-made granite look-alike that doesn't really look like granite. It works perfectly well. Maybe there is someone sitting around out there who has had luck with that "turbo-tempering" method, but the marble slab method is tried and true. It's what chocolatiers have been doing for ages.
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Post by sugaralchemy on Sept 21, 2006 13:17:10 GMT -5
I'm not sure what kind of problems you guys are having with turbo-tempering. It is 100% reliable for me and the fastest, cleanest, least wasteful method I've ever seen. Maybe I'm just more skilled with how I do it? Or there's some secret I'm forgetting to mention? I'm not entirely certain.
I just can't imagine make such a mess with the granite, or anything else at this point. I also love this approach because it works no matter the ambient temperature *so long as you cool the chocolate in the fridge* - see point #1.
The good news is that even if you do screw up, you can always re-temper.
In a situation like you describe - with terrible color - that is usually due to the FINAL chocolate not being homogeneous. For example, when I would temper with the Santha, it would often take so long to get the chocolate out with a scaper that the portion of the chocolate was already cooling and substantially disrupted as I took it out. So It would sound like you need to mix the chocolate *completely* and ensure there's no residue on the side of the bowl or anything before pouring.
However, the situation you're describing could be attributed to any number of causes, so I think you need to work down the list:
1) If you try and allow the chocolate too cool and the ambient air temperature is too warm, it will become a mess. Ideally, I would want chocolate to cool about 70° F. You may have issues around 77° F - you will have to use the fridge to cool. I say better safe than sorry here, because I have destroyed the best temper in the world by cooling the chocolate at too high ambient temperatures. Remember if the air is too warm, a fan won't help - there's no water in the chocolate so it doesn't experience evaporative cooling.
2) During the first heating phase, you somehow did not get the entire mass of chocolate above 92° F. If in doubt, go a few degrees warmer. And mix very well. I use a silicone spatula to get the edges. The entire vat should reach it's maximum level of fluidity at this point.
3) During cooling, the chocolate should become pasty though and though. I aim for toothpaste consistency.
4) During the final warming, I recommend a microwave that has a rotating platter. The biggest issue is that if you overheat portions of the chocolate, you destroy all the seed crystals in those portions.
5) Is your thermometer really accurate? Try checking it with ice + water and boiling water. Are you leaving it in the chocolate long enough to read the full temperature? Try aiming for a more safe number... go a few degrees hotter than necessary in the first heating, aim for say 85° or 86° F in the second warming.
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Post by sugaralchemy on Sept 21, 2006 13:34:47 GMT -5
One other thought... is it possible you're accidently "tainting" the final chocolate with an instrument covered with undesirable chocolate crystals? I normally use a plastic utensil I leave in the chocolate through the entire process, as to avoid this. A bad color but OK texture could be due to somehow accidently seeding the chocolate with undesirable crystals.
Your formulation looks great. I can't imagine any more lecithin being very helpful, and obviously you don't have access to other emulsifiers. In fact, the level of lecithin you're using may be excessive - I might shoot for around 0.2-0.3%.
Lecithin primarily lowers plastic viscosity, and as levels go up, it actually increases plastic viscosity. Google these terms if you don't know what they mean. So too much lecithin can be a bad thing, in terms of viscosity.
Turbo tempering is so fast, I would suggest you just try again! Even with only a portion of the chocolate.
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Post by Brad on Sept 21, 2006 14:55:57 GMT -5
Howard;
I fought with tempering for almost an entire month before I got it right. There were nights I was up until 6:00am fighting with a batch of chocolate trying to get it to temper. I got so frustrated I actually bought a tempering machine.
Having tried pretty much every method under the sun and stars to temper chocolate here's what I found:
Sugar Alchemy's method of tempering is the best. Period. Even better and quicker than my tempering machine (Chocovision's Rev 2), which incidentally doesn't completely stir the chocolate.
Some important tips: 1. Make sure your thermometer is dead accurate. 2. heat your mass in the microwave to at least 112 degrees. 3. I cool all my chocolate to 84.7 degrees. 4. Once the chocolate is about 86 degrees, I stir continually until it's the 84.7 I mentioned. 5. I use 5 second increments in the microwave to bring it up to 89 degrees. I never go higher.
For dark chocolate, here's the key: Stir, pour, stir, pour, stir, pour, and do it quickly. Then set the chocolate in a cool area (preferrably around 65 degrees) for at least 5 hours. I do mine just before I go to bed, set them on a table in the basement, and when I wake up, everything is perfectly tempered.
The key is to keep stiring while you are molding the chocolate up. It takes very little time for the chocolate on the top to cool a few degrees and lose temper while you are playing with the molds. This will cause streaks in the chocolate.
Once you have a method down, it will seem like one of the easiest parts of chocolate making to perform! Trust me. I'm there right now, but it took a while.
Oh... Do you want to buy a Chocovision Rev 2? I don't use mine any more.
Brad.
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Post by sugaralchemy on Sept 21, 2006 15:10:38 GMT -5
Brad, thanks for your kind words. I think it has something to do with making so many batches, I'm always seeking to optimize the process and this was the result.
For anybody reading, just be careful not to overheat your chocolate. 112° F is fine, but keep in mind that chocolate is much more prone to "hot spots" than a lot of other foods. I think hotter is usually better so you completely un-temper the chocolate (although some delicate flavors can be impacted), but whatever you do, just don't burn it! Even a tiny bit of burnt chocolate will ruin the ENTIRE batch.
Brad, I'm a little surprised you drive your melted chocolate down to 84.7° F. Obviously, you can work that way, but why? I find it much faster to just cool until somewhat pasty. It proves the crystals are forming and requires less thermometer work. In my attempts to optimize, I actually only rarely use a thermometer in the first heating, never during cooling, and religiously during the second warming. And as I've said, I've never had a tempering failure this way.
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Post by Brad on Sept 22, 2006 19:26:41 GMT -5
SugarAlchemy;
The reason I go to 84.7 is because most of the chocolate I make is still very fluid even at that temperature. When dealing in such a small window of temperature variance, "pasty" is open to too much interpretation (at least for me). Maybe I'm just too anal retentive. However I am much more comfortable working with exact specifications, especially after fighting with the tempering process so much for so long.
Another reason why I go so low, is because the formula I use for milk chocolate necessitates it. I get the crystal structure I want at that temperature, and have found that it works well for white chocolate and dark just the same. As I believe in keeping things simple, if one temperature works for all, then I just stick with it. Usually I have several things going in the kitchen at the same time, so the less I have to think, the better off I am.
Anyway, that's my two bits. The most important thing though, is the stirring if you are molding the chocolate up and letting it sit for even a few minutes. Without proper stirring, I guarantee you will get swirls and uneven tempering every time - especially in dark chocolate.
TTFN
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