Hello,

I have the following problem:

For months now, I have my mind set on making a chocolate with a Belgian endives filling.

I have made about 10 varied attempts so far andI cannot get it right.

Several pralines gavenice results, but one could not distinguish the Belgian endives, even though a lot of these vegetables went into the filling.

I tried complicated and very simple, but even in a plain white chocolate ganache, the vanilla in the white chocolate overpowered the endive-flavour.

I cannot get the taste of the endives strong enough so that isdistinctive enough.

Can anyone help me, give me any ideas, suggestions,...please?

Or do you know of an interesting foorpairing element that could lead me in the right direction?

Your ideas are very much appreciated.

Thanks

updated by @an-vertonghen: 04/10/15 17:35:07

Have you tried making extracts/tinctures?

I know that some companies are doing three extractions (water, alcohol, and oil) of some flavorings and then combing them. The result is stronger and more complex than when using the food on its own.

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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

No, I haven't tried a tincture yet. I did make a compound, but that was very sweet.

I will try to find out how to make a tincture and see where that takes me.

Thanks for the idea.

This bad boy (see link below) from PolyScience costs over $9k, but if you are going to make extractions on any regular basis, and you have the budget, you might want to take a look at it. I've been lusting after it for a while now. If things come together with a project I'm working on, I hope to be able to grab one this fall.

Rotary Vacuum Evaporator

Rotovaps are certainly one way to do it, and you can often find used ones on eBay for a lot less than the new list price.

Another way is to simply macerate (soak) measured amounts of material in measured amounts of solvents for measured amounts of time (for repeatability) - then filter off the material (e.g., grated endive). As long as the solvents are edible you should not have any issues. You may find that a water extraction is useless, for example, but that alcohol pulls out interesting flavors. You can also play with techniques to prepare the material. You could chop the endive with a knife or shred with a microplane grater.

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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/