Ganache???

Hi,

I have question in regards to the word ganache...where does it come from (origin) and what does it mean?

Help!!!

G

It's a french word. It's supposed to mean "fool", there's was a helper in a pastry shop who spilled hot cream over chocolate by mistake and the chef called him "ganache" but the cream was a complete success. they don't use the word in its original context anymore though

Daniela...yeah I heard that story too but I need true facts!! I saw that the word came from the French language, where it means literally, jowl, from Italian ganascia, modification of Greek gnathos jaw more at -gnathousFirst Known Use: 1977...I found this in the Merriam Webster site.

The name also refers to the lower jowl of a horse...

But I need true facts...ANYONE!!!

BTW...How many cocoa beans does it take to make 1 kilo of dark chocolate?

Gustaf:

On this last question: it depends on the recipe. What is the percentage of cocoa? Dark chocolate could be in the range 35% cocoa to 100% cocoa.

Also, if cocoa butter is added to the recipe you need to know the extraction ratio of non-fat cocoa solids to fat in order to know how many beans were used to generate a specific amount of cocoa butter.

And then - you need to know the fat ratio of the beans themselves. 47% fat? 53% fat?

And then - what variety of beans are you talking about? Industry is more or less standardized around 100 beans == 100 grams. However, some varieties, like the wild beans from Bolivia, are upwards of 140-160 beans per 100 grams. It takes many more Bolivian wild beans to make a kilo of chocolate than CCN51, which are much larger.

Not sure why you want to know the answer, but the question is only answerable within a narrow range, and only after you have values for the variables involved.

Thanks Gordon!! do you konw of any food historians that can solve the ganache question?