Post by andrei on Sept 13, 2022 3:19:34 GMT -5
Hi guys,
First of all, I am Andrei and I am new in this hobby, but not really new in other connected fields, as nutrition, chemistry, tempering other materials, and a few more. Basically I am an old man, who likes to learn, so of course I know a lot of things... most of them useless.
Now, I have an issue with my latest chocolate-hazelnut spread batch. It's not the first I made, but it is the first with this exact recipe.
After about 36-48h my spread developed something that appears to be small bubbles of solid fat, separated from the rest of the spread, in the whole mass (not only on the surface). Photo below.
Yes, I am aware that there is also an older thread about this, but it stops without any solution. It is this one: Older thread
I hope it's not a problem I am posting a new one, instead of reviving an older thread.
Anyways, the ingredients of my spread were:
Hazelnuts (roasted)
Cocoa nibs (oven roasted)
Sweetener (Erythritol+Stevia) 1:1 sweetness compared with sugar
Whole milk powder (spray-dried)
C8 MCT oil (liquid)
Sun flower lecithin
Salt
Vanilla powder.
The mix was refined in a Premier melanger for about 15 hours, until the particle size went under 23 microns.
The room conditions were about 24°C and about 55% humidity.
After refining, the spread looked fine, no fat bubbles, no separation. I poured it in sealed jars and put them in the fridge for a few hours and then in the cellar, at 18°C.
The second evening it looked like in the photo above. No change in taste and the little bubbles melt in the mouth, without having a sweet taste, so my guess would be that they are one of the fats, not the sweetener.
My conclusions and what I did, until now:
It cannot be the C8 MCT oil, because it usually stays in liquid form, also it is too much to be it. I only used about 2% MCT oil, and it seems to be a lot more bubbles there.
I should be one of the other fats, I would say the cocoa butter or the milk fat.
Anyway, I melted everything again and stirred it for a few minutes, and left it at room temperature. Now I wait to see what happens...
Does anyone know why is this happening and how can it be prevented? I read a bit on the subject and it was unclear. Too fast cooling, too slow cooling, temperature variations, wrong storage temperature...
Thank you very much for your patience to read all this. Any opinion is honestly appreciated.
Andrei.