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Post by msgodiva1 on Aug 22, 2010 16:56:27 GMT -5
Hello, I'm looking for someone to make white chocolate without diary or goat's milk. I'm deathly allergic to both (and corn and gluten and soy) and want, *need* the white chocolate to resurrect a couple recipes. I can't afford to buy a Santha right now. I've tried the commercial vegan white chocolate and they've all been utterly vile, horrid things that shouldn't be mentioned in the realm of chocolate or confectionery. Would anyone be willing to try a batch with coconut milk or coconut flour? Please? Or know why not to? Thank you for sharing your expertise and alchemy!
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Post by Brad on Aug 22, 2010 23:44:39 GMT -5
Powdered milk is just as fundamental to white chocolate as cocoa butter is. After all, there's only 4 ingredients: cocoa butter, sugar, powdered milk, and vanilla.
You can't use coconut milk because it has water in it, and... well... it's not milk.
I think you'll find that any version of "white" chocolate that doesn't contain these ingredients is absolutely disgusting. You may just have to cut your losses on those recipes.
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Post by msgodiva1 on Aug 24, 2010 22:20:28 GMT -5
That is heart breaking, but thank you for responding.
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Post by Sebastian on Aug 27, 2010 5:21:15 GMT -5
I've actually had a camel's milk chocolate made in egypt that was very good (well, one was good, another was pretty bad), but it can be done. I have no idea if you'd be allergic to camel's milk of you're allergic to cow and goat milk.
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Post by msgodiva1 on Sept 7, 2010 15:47:27 GMT -5
Sebastian, would you be willing to make a batch with powdered coconut milk? I'll happily pay for the ingredients.
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Post by kellymon on Sept 8, 2010 14:49:08 GMT -5
Hi, I'm not really a fan of white chocolate, but I have been experimenting with using "creamed coconut concentrate" in some flavored fillings for dark chocolate treats. The CCC is from Tropical Traditions, organic virgin fine ground raw coconut that is allowed to settle and then the water is seperated from it. What you are left with is the ground meat and oil. I have mixed this with ground fresh kaffir lime leaf and cacao butter to make a kaffir lime/coconut/cacao infusion that I use like a filling or ganache.... pretty good stuff I wonder if that would help make an acceptable vegan white chocolate? (without the lime of course) I am curious though... what are you trying to make? Do you want actual vegan? That would include sugar that has not been filtered through bone char like most commercial sugar is...... I use Florida Crystals brand for that reason....... I might be willing to experiment, but I have to warn you, this is just a hobby for me and It's sometimes hard to fit something new into the schedule of projects.... peace, robert
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Post by Sebastian on Sept 8, 2010 19:57:37 GMT -5
msgodiva - i've never made a chocolate with coconut milk, so i don't pretend to have any expertise in making a formulation of that type. I'm afraid i don't have a lot of time on my hands (i travel a lot for work), but if you were able to procure the raw materials for me (roast and winnow the beans) and have everything ready for me, i could certainly take a shot at creating a formula and process it. I make no promises on how it will turn out and you'd need to understand that you may not hear from me for weeks at a time (some places i travel to aren't very... accessible...)
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Post by msgodiva1 on Sept 9, 2010 10:04:57 GMT -5
robert (Kellymon) Vegan only because it has to be dairyless or I'll have a hospital-worthy reaction. I'm not vegan. If experimenting bone-char filtered sugar would be easier, I'm ok with that. The ganache sounds divine. The Tropical Traditions site is what gave me hope that a dairy-soy-gluten-corn free white chocolate is possible...powdered coconut milk. Sebastian: Because only the cocoa butter is used in the recipe I had hoped to start with cocoa butter pieces from Sweet Earth Organics, what I lack is a Santha and the funds to buy one right now (unemployed for more than a year, waiting for disability). Plus if the vegan version isn't feasible, then I won't buy one. @both: I'm patient, plus get the travel issues. This request is over a decade in the making. Also no pushing the alchemist-artist, that never works! If either of you can fit this into your schedules I'd be thrilled. My goal with the white chocolate is to use it in frostings, ganaches, truffle coating, bark, etc - usual baking and confectionery - where it will be melted and mixed in with other ingredients. My email is LLaBrant@aol.com if you'd like to discuss in more detail off the forum. Thank you both, so very much, for taking the time to respond.
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Post by oaxacalote on Sept 9, 2010 22:05:42 GMT -5
I've been discussing the possibility of a vegan milk or white chocolate with a friend. I'm unsure how the formula would work without the fat from dairy and due to the low melting point of coconut fat. Please keep us posted of any results! I'll do the same if we have time to experiment.
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Post by ephramz on Sept 10, 2010 3:49:31 GMT -5
I'm oaxocolate's friend he mentioned. I've made a vegan milk chocolate with powdered coconut milk. It tasted great but was much less shelf stable than milk chocolate and went bad in ~6 months as the coconut milk went rancid out of the fridge. Would you be using this soon?
msgodiva1, why do you need a santha for this? You could just see if it works as a combo by melting the cocoa butter, and adding the coconut milk powder, sugar, and vanilla in and then solidifying it. Granted it won't be as smooth as if you put it in a santha, but if you're using it for baking it's not super important and you won't have to bother tempering it really anyway.
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Post by msgodiva1 on Sept 10, 2010 11:20:48 GMT -5
ephramz Eventually, I will use some of the white chocolate to coat truffles. And I'll try a small batch without a Santha. One vegan recipe I tried, the chunks dissolved during the baking process, leaving large pockets in the finished products and a very greasy product at that. So I thought the extended conching time might fix that? Thank you all for your assistance! This is turning into an enjoyable challenge.
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Post by ephramz on Sept 13, 2010 23:18:05 GMT -5
msgodiva1, melting in the baking process is probably due more to the high heat and/or lack of tempering. Tempered white chocolate will be able to stand up to the heat of an oven much longer than untempered, but whether anything can stay unmelted in a hot oven is questionable since even tempered chocolate melts at 120° F easily if not sooner. I think the only way chocolate chips stay vaguely in tact in cookies and such is that they either have some non-standard chocolate additive that keeps them from melting so readily, or the dough around them hardens first so even if they melt, they are kept in place and then reharden once out of the oven and cool.
for coating truffles, you probably do want something smooth, like what conching would do, but you could probably get away with grinding and sifting your sugar and milk-powder replacement in a coffee grinder or burr grinder. See what the mouthfeel of something like that is.
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