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Post by kohsamuichocolatier on Sept 18, 2022 10:08:49 GMT -5
Greetings from Koh Samui, Thailand! I'm seeking advice on how to flavor my chocolate with essential oils, specifically peppermint, orange, and lemon. My oils are 100% pure and organic. In the case of each, how many drops would you put in per unit of chocolate (say, per 100 grams)?
My chocolate ranges from 10-25% sugar, the rest being cacao solids (nibs and cocoa butter). My plan is simply to melt my tempered chocolate, add and stir in the essential oil, and retemper the chocolate.
Any and all relevant advice is greatly appreciated. Cheers and happy chocolate-making!
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Post by Ben on Sept 18, 2022 12:37:31 GMT -5
I haven't done this, but it probably all depends on how strong the flavor is and how strong you want the flavor to be in the chocolate. I'd just weigh out a small amount of chocolate, add a drop and see how it is. If not strong enough, add another drop. If too strong, add more chocolate. From this, you should be able to pretty easily determine the ratio of chocolate to oils that you like.
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Post by Thomas on Sept 18, 2022 17:49:55 GMT -5
I agree with Ben.
I use orange oil with a 70% dark and also lemon in a milk chocolate. For the orange oil it's about 60 drops per 1 kg but for the lemon its 140 drops per 1 kg of milk chocolate. While this is good for me and my chocolate, it will definitely vary for you. I always taste as I add drops just to make sure it's what I want. I add the oil after I batch temper my chocolate, stir it up, and then pour into my molds.
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Post by kohsamuichocolatier on Sept 18, 2022 23:44:03 GMT -5
Thanks, Ben and Thomas. I think this is what I'll try today with a couple of hundred grams of my latest batch of 82% dark chocolate. Thomas, I'm surprised that it takes that much oil. Are you using 100% essential oil, or essential oil in a carrier oil?
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Post by Thomas on Sept 19, 2022 8:42:04 GMT -5
Thanks, Ben and Thomas. I think this is what I'll try today with a couple of hundred grams of my latest batch of 82% dark chocolate. Thomas, I'm surprised that it takes that much oil. Are you using 100% essential oil, or essential oil in a carrier oil? I use 'NOW' brand essential oils. I don't know the concentration. I was using the lemon in a milk chocolate that was much sweeter than the dark and orange combination which was a 70% dark.
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Post by kohsamuichocolatier on Sept 20, 2022 10:50:18 GMT -5
Today I made an orange chocolate and a peppermint chocolate, using my 82% chocolate as a base. To 500 grams of melted chocolate I added 35 drops of oil, in each case. The orange came out lighter, so I'm considering increasing the oil to 40 or 45 drops. The oils I'm using are 100% pure, from steam distillation. For both chocolates, I think I ought to use a sweeter chocolate, though 82% is satisfactory for the peppermint.
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