Forum Activity for @Clay

Tudose:

The Chocolate Alchemy web site has one of the most concise and complete explanations of the process. You will find more information in their discussion boards. There is probably as much or more information here on TheChocolateLife but it's not as well organized.

One piece of equipment to consider is a cocoa bean cracker to crush the beans after they have been roasted and before you winnow. One popular cracker is the Crankandstein.

Deborah:

I can't recommend any of the home kitchen units in a professional kitchen because you don't get what you don't pay for.

There is a unit that is designed for the pro kitchen - the HotMix Pro . Advanced Gourmet is the rep here in the US for these units. I'd contact the manufacturer and see who the Australian rep is.

Al -

The only reason I can see for their being an R200 Legend and an R200 is that they are NOT interchangeable. In fact, the prices are quite different.

Selmi is being smart at reusing the sheet metal for one machine on another and changing only the badging. However, there has to be something different between the Legend and the PLUS EX (probably internally) to account for the price difference.

If you really want to know the difference, contact Selmi. In the US that would be Tomric, but you are in the UK.

Al -

The Legend is the old Selmi Ghana. The Plus is what replaced the Ghana. Both the Plus and the Legend are on the Selmi web site.

Jonathan -

The "new" Selmi Legend is the old Selmi Ghana. It's been reintroduced as a low-cost alternative to the Plus. The Legend R200 may not the same as the R200 for the Plus, so I would be careful about ordering a used R200 and make sure it fits the Legend before you buy it.

1) The only way to make sure the R200 is in workable condition is to put it on a working machine. The only thing you may see that's visible that you want to check on is to make sure that there are no obvious kinks in the belt. Of course, the kinks may not be noticeable until the belt is in motion.

2) The EX refers to the fact that the auger is removable. The Color is the same price price as the Legend but has a working bowl capacity of 12kg versus 25kg. Also, the Color does not accept the standard R200 enrober attachment. Most continuous tempering machines will accept inclusions up to a particular size (about 3mm) and up to a certain percentage, by weight, with respect to the quantity of chocolate (usually no more than about 10%). I would check with Selmi to make sure what the max size of inclusions is, but that's what the FBM supports. The major disadvantage of the Legend over the Color is that the Legend does not have the removable auger. This will make changing over from one chocolate to another a more laborious and time-consuming process. Keep in mind that changing over chocolate is not something you want to do on a daily basis and especially not more than once per day.

3) The tempering times quoted are not from a cold start. They are from the moment you press the tempering button with a full bowl of chocolate at the set melting point. You need to be aware of this in your timing calculations.

I represent FBM to ChocolateLife members around the world and we have installed a decent number of machines in Australia in the past two years. The FBM Compatta is a 12kg working bowl machine similar to the Color at about the same price. A major difference is that the Compatta accepts an enrober attachment and the Compatta's enrober is more than 2000 less expensive than the R200.

FBM recently introduced ProXima, a new version of their flagship 25kg machine, Unica. One of the reasons I work with FBM over Selmi is that I feel that the important parts of the machines - the internal engineering of the tempering pipe, the tempering auger, and the rest of the tempering system - is superior to Selmi. Yeah, the Selmi has better-looking sheet metal, but in the end, I think most people need a machine that works more than they want a machine that looks good. Plus ChocolateLife members get 10% off list prices, making them even more price-competitive.

Thomas:

Every chocolate has its own tempering curve. The ones that Chocovision use are just guidelines and do not work for all chocolates.

Plus you are working with liquor that has no added cocoa butter? It's going to be a lot harder to find the proper temperatures to work with. It's an art, as much as it is a science.

The reasons you are getting different temperature readings between the infrared thermometer and the sensor inside the machine is that you're not measuring the temperature at the same place.

Nicole -

Clear photos would help!

Maggie -

A couple of things suggest themselves to me:

1) Try blow drying (low temp setting) both the sensor probe and the connector pins on the baffle immediately after washing.

2) Check the connector pins on the baffle. Do they look at all corroded? I would get your water tested to see what's in it, and then use a very gentle cleaner as well as maybe a pH neutral bottled water (just on the connector) to see if that solves the problems. I would also be very careful about getting water into the holes where the baffle connector pins make contact. They may be corroding, too.

An external thermometer is not the answer here as the machine is not displaying the right temperatures. You'd need to run the machine completely manually, which means -- for the quantity of chocolate you mention -- that it'd be faster and easier to hand-temper. You should probably know how to hand-temper anyway if you don't already because that will help you diagnose what is going wrong.

Miguel -

The DR is an unusual case. Not many people know that most ships returning from the New World to Spain stopped in the DR before crossing the Atlantic. Thus, the DR actually has one of the highest instances of genetic diversity in cacao outside of a gene bank and at the place of origin, which appears to be in the Upper Amazon River basin along the modern-day borders of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil.

This diversity works against the notion that 90% of the DR's production is criollos and from personal inspection on visits I would say that true "pure" criollo production is probably on a par with Venezuela and other origins - not so much. The DR grows about 5% of the world's cocoa - but about 70% of the world's organically certified cocoa. It could not reach those levels of production if 90% of it was criollo.

There are dozens if not hundreds of different varieties of cacao in the DR. For classification for export purposes they are divided into two classes (so we don't confuse them with varieties) - and Miguel is right that they are Hispaniola and Sanchez and for the reasons specified.

CONACADO is one of the, if not the, largest independent co-ops on the island. Other sources include Rizek Cacao (which handles the beans coming from Hacienda Elvesia, one of the better known growers on the island) as well as the Roig family. You may also hear names like La Red.

The DR is a great origin for cacao and by working with the various families, growers, and co-ops you will see the depth and breadth of what is on offer. I heartily recommend visiting and seeing for yourself.

Mack -

What Sebastian is referring to is the fact that even if the package says it's "raw" the chances are exceedingly high that at some point between the time the pod is harvested and the paste is finished, that the cacao has been subjected to temperatures exceeding (104F, 110F, 118F - pick your max temp as there is not universal agreement) for an extended period of time. One place that's suspect that is usually not checked is the instantaneous shear temperature under the grinding mechanism.

One area Sebastian is alluding to is that "raw" chocolate almost certainly has a much heavier microbial load due to the fact that it's never been subjected to temperatures that can kill micro-organisms that have the potential to make people really sick.

Here is one of the more popular articles on raw cacao on TheChocolateLife. The author, Ben Ripple, of Big Tree Farms, is a supplier of "raw" cacao.

You should not expect to purchase raw cacao from a farmer directly. Prices are high(er) because this is a niche market and that will automatically lead to higher prices.

Simplest kind of wrapping is flow-wrap. A decent machine will cost at least $20k. If you want to wrap with foil - then it will cost a lot more. Even if you buy a good used machine for cheap, making it work in production can cost thousands.

Finally, there is no such thing as Criollo Arriba - at least in the sense that you're using high-quality Criollo beans. Arriba is a name given to the typical flavor of Nacional beans from Ecuador. Nacional is a member of the Upper Amazon Forastero grouping. However, if the seller means "criollo" in the linguistic sense - it's Spanish for local, as in comida tipica y criolla, typical native food - then all that means is Arriba beans that are grown here (presumably Ecuador).

The rotary phase converter is about $600-750 as I recall.

Melanie -

If you do decide to go this way - the 10HP machine will work. I don't know the relative pricing.

Mike - thanks for the heads up on these guys. I have not come across them before.

Which is why I always recommend that my potential FBM customers get an electrician involved to know exactly what the customer has to work with.

The voltages on the Selmi and FBM machines and others are going to be 208~240VAC 60Hz -- that's 220V +/- 10% --either single or three phase.

FBM handles single-phase power by putting inverters on the motors that need to run in reverse plus changing out components that handle the input voltage from the wall. Some internal components are 60Hz specific. Given what Louise said about Selmi charging 700 to support single phase they are probably doing the same thing.

Jonathan -

We looked into static phase converters as they tend to be less expensive. However, they are not good in situations where the load varies considerably - in the case of a tempering machine, where the cooling compressor kicks in. Now if it were just a melter where the load was more or less constant - then you could use the static converter.

Melanie -

Your headline is misleading: you don't need to convert from 3-phase to single phase at all. Any 3-phase supply automatically includes single-phase power - it's all in how you take the power off the panel (the number of breakers and wires; single-phase 220V will use three wires and three breakers and 3-phases uses four wires and four breakers).

If the Selmi Plus a 3-phase machine and you're moving to location where there is only single-phase power, then you need a ROTARY phase converter because of the variable nature of the load (e.g., the compressor cycling on and off). I suggest you contact American Rotary ( www.americanrotary.com ). You are going to want to purchase their 10HP (AD10-S) converter. I don't remember the price and I have never quoted shipping to Hawaii. We have several people running these on changing loads with FBM machines for well over a year without any problem. What is a problem is if you order one that's too small. Then some of the issues that John mention may crop up.

From my experience, it is NOT possible to convert a machine that has been shipped from the factory at one electrical configuration to another electrical configuration in the field -- cost effectively, or at all. Even if you could it would require many hours in the hands of an experienced (on Selmi equipment specifically) electrician. In my experience, it is much cheaper to change the external power supplying the machine than to change the power inside the machine.

VSDs will not work for this application because of the control electronics of your machine. If you were directly driving just the motors, maybe. But you're not - the electronics of the Selmi are. You'd need to attach the VSD to the CPU in the Selmi and that's not an option.

Another option for the rotary phase converter is to power a panel instead of directly power a machine. This way you can wire and power more than one 3-phase machine off the same converter. If the combined load is to great (you trip the circuit breaker) then it's easy to switch between the two at the panel. Plus the electrical inspectors prefer this method over running long cords.

And the INTERNATIONAL CHOCOLATE SALON 2014 Awards for The Best Chocolatiers and Confectioners in America go to:

about 70 companies in three levels ranging from 6-Stars to 3-Stars. Click on the link above to see all the winners in all four categories.

And congratulations to all of the ChocolateLife members who received recognition.

:: Clay

I've uploaded the Tasting Panel's notes for each chocolate as an attachment to this comment.

Last week, at a program held at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City, the Fine Chocolate Industry Association's Heirloom Cacao Preservation (HCP) announced their first four designees .

And the Heirloom Cacao Designees Are ...

** Alto Beni, Bolivia provided by Volker Lehmann of Frontier Ventures Bolivia

** Tranquilidad Estate, Beni, Bolivia provided by Volker Lehmann of Frontier Ventures Bolivia

** Hacienda Limon, Los Rios/Cotopaxi, Ecuador provided by Samuel Von Rutte, ORECAO SA

** Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, Maunawili Experiment Station provided by Daniel ODoherty, Cacao Services Agricultural & Scientific Consulting

What is Heirloom Cacao?

[From the FCIA web site:] Heirloom does not mean the beans are present or preserved in collections, old, or wild. Antiquity is welcome but not conditional -- just because a bean is from a tree that has been grown for generations does not mean that it tastes good.

Heirloom cacao are the diamonds of cacao -- cacao trees and beans endowed with a combination of historic, cultural, botanical, geographical, and most importantly, flavor value.

Heirloom beans have terrific overall balance -- complex and intense, long and pleasant -- and unique flavor worthy of preservation, protection, and propagation. While no specific flavor characteristics are required, Heirloom beans must be distinctive in their characteristics and present special/unusual but well-balanced flavors produced through the beans genetics, terroir, and post-harvest processing.

The Process

While the HCP is committed to understanding the genetics of Heirloom cacao, genetics do not drive the process.

Instead, bean samples are submitted for evaluation . At this point they may be rejected for obvious post-harvest processing and other defects (and many, if not most, are, from what I could infer).

Once the beans have passed this initial screening, they are roasted, ground into liquor, and turned into chocolate. There are agreed-upon standards for roasting profiles and chocolate recipe (percentage, ingredients).

The liquor and chocolate are assessed by a professional tasting panel over the course of several tastings spanning days or weeks.

Before the Heirloom designation is awarded, the site where the beans were grown must be visited and inspected .

James:

There are many ways to make chocolate from the bean. The route that most small startups take is using a so-called wet grinder as a "universal" - a grinder/refiner/conche. The reason for going this way is simple - it's very inexpensive to get started.

The wet grinder uses two grinding stones against a stone base. Pressure is exerted on the grinding stones which takes the very large particles of cocoa and sugar and refines them to the desired size while at the same time doing flavor and texture development.

Now, there's no need to fixate on 15 microns - it's not just the particle size, it's the particle size distribution, which looks a lot like a bell curve. No matter what you do in a wet mill you are going to get a distribution of particle sizes - some will be larger than the center/peak and some will be smaller. The location of the peak and the shape of the curve are related and important. It's also important not to have too many particles that are too small as this can make the chocolate gummy and pasty.

Now that that's out of the way.

The real engineering differences between the small tabletop Santhas and CocoaTowns are not all that great. They have small motors (too small), tend to have lousy drive belts, and plastic parts that wear down quickly. The main difference is in the way pressure is applied. The Santha has a knob you turn (adjustable) and the CocoaTown has a spring-loaded lid. There are lots of posts here on TheChocolateLife about the replacement belts and bushings for the small machines.

One of the main price differences you'll see between the CocoaTown and the Santhas has to do with size. The CocoaTown comes in one large size (a 65 liter working bowl). The Santha has more sizes; the 20 and 40 liter machines are the most common. The size difference accounts for most of the price difference.

Well - not really. When you buy a Santha Spectra 40 it comes with an electronic speed controller. When you buy a CocoaTown ECGC65L it does not.

So which is better? It's hard to say. If you are just starting out, you're probably best off with one or three of the small tabletop machines to learn the process so to speak. Once you're comfortable that you know what to do and that you have a business, it's really all about how much production you need. If you are doing 200kg a month that's one answer. If you're doing 200kg a week it's a different answer. If you're at 200kg/week or more you also want to start thinking about bringing other machinery into the mix - a pre-grinder for the nibs and sugar and a dedicated conche so you're using the wet mills only as grinder/refiners -- or, you've moved on to an entirely new suite of equipment.

:: Clay

One way might be simply mechanical. An anti-static mat and wrist strap . Total price under $20.

The other thing might be what you're using to polish the molds with (which is ... ?).

Stephen:

Is that 100-200kg per hour? 100-200kg per day? 100-200kg per week? And this is for installation in Uganda?

This is an archive copy of the email newsletter for those who do not get the newsletters. For comments and questions, contact the organizers directly or post on the Event Listing on TheChocolateLife .

Hello from the depths of Winter here in the New York area:

I am excited to be able to share with ChocolateLife members some advance program details for the upcoming Chocoa Trade Fair, Conference, and Festival in Amsterdam at the end of March, 2014. News that warms me up - and that I hope will warm you up, as well.

Chocoa was founded in 2013 to promote sustainable cacao and chocolate. They have set the goal that all chocolate in the country will be sustainable by the year 2025. But the cacao and chocolate trade is larger than any one country , even though Holland plays a central role as a major producer of semi-finished and finished products as well as serving as one of the largest ports of entry for cocoa beans from around the world.

That's why, for Chocoa 2014, we have organized programs for the international community during the first Chocoa Trade Fair and Conference (to be held March 27-28). One of the features of the Trade Fair that I am especially excited about is the focus on connecting chocolate makers - especially craft producers - directly with growers, and vice versa.

We are looking for your support and participation:

IF you are a chocolate maker who is looking to connect directly with growers , then Chocoa 2014 provides you the opportunity to meet one-on-one (with translation support)with growers. You will be able tosample beans and ask questions of the farmers about their trees, farms, post-harvest processing practices and more. Over the course of the Trade Fair you can meet many growers from many different parts of the world. While you may not wish to conduct business or place orders during Chocoa, you will have made connections that will guide your trips to origin making them more productive and fruitful.

IF you are a grower (or broker working with small farms) who is looking to connect directly with chocolate makers and other processors of cocoa , then Chocoa 2014 provides you the opportunity to meet one-on-one with chocolate makers from around the world. You will be able to share your beans, cocoa liquor, and your story with them and get them to come and visit the farm and factory so they can gain the first-hand knowledge they seek about their sources.

IF you are a chocolate maker or grower looking to connect with importers, distributor, brokers, and agents ,then Chocoa 2014 provides you the opportunity to meet one-on-one with key contacts from around the world.

If you are a company that provides products or services to chocolate makers or growers , then you can have a stand and have a presence at the Fair as well. Chocoa is actively looking for Sponsors to help support all of the events being organized for Chocoa this year. Sponsors will be able to raise their profile to a targeted professional audience not just at the Trade Fair, but also the Conference for professionals, the Festival that is open to the public and to the participants of an exclusive master class for chefs. Sponsorship rates are very reasonable for the value and exposure provided.

For chocolate makers, growers, and sponsors alike, the Chocoa Conference program offers the opportunity to meet and learn from stakeholders involved in all aspects of the cacao to chocolate supply chain. There will be representatives of banks, logistical firms, and more to help you meet the challenges you face growing your business, especially with respect to securing your cocoa bean supply. The Chocoa Festival provides the occasion to share your work and your passion with thousands of chocolate lovers from around Holland and Europe.

If you are a chocolate maker, grower, or a potential sponsor interested in participating in Chocoa 2014 , contact the organizers at tradefair@chocoa.nl for more information as well as to ask for registration forms. The organizers are working with Dutch government and private organizations to provide assistance to get Visas (where necessary) and expedite the shipping and customs clearance of bean samples to make participating in Chocoa 2014 as easy as possible.

I hope to see many of you in Amsterdam at the end of March,
:: Clay

Alan -

There is a distributor for Santha in the USA now - they are in California in the SF Bay area. (Even though their site is named SanthaUSA,com you're dealing with the company in India.) They are offering spare parts and technical support over the phone.

The site is called HotDishes and they sell a range of products including the Santhas. Their Customer Service page.

:: Clay

Maggie -

I think that Jim and Pam may both be partly right.

The questions I have are:

1) How cold is the room you're working in?
2) What are the pans made of?
3) How big are the pans?
4) Are the nuts at room temperature (or colder)?

It's easy to over-temper in a Chocovision machine, just as it's easy to under-temper. A machine like that is no replacement for actually knowing how to hand-temper and how to tell if your chocolate is in temper. The default temperatures may not be the best ones for your chocolate.

If the room is cold and you're using stainless steel bowls and they are big bowls and you're dumping cold nuts into the chocolate -- well that would cause it to set up very quickly - especially if you are setting the bowls down on a stainless steel or marble table. Just suck the heat right out of it!

The bowls should be at the same temperature as the chocolate in the temperer, or as close to it as you can manage. You can use a heating pad under a marble slab (or between two sheet pans - this is best!) to create a warm surface to work on.

The nuts should also be as close to the temperature of the chocolate as possible. If you have a small bread proofer that would work, as would an incubator or an oven with just the light on. I would be careful about microwaving as the heating could be uneven and you don't want fat to migrate to the surface of the nuts.

Journey -

There is a US distributor for the Santhas (in the San Francisco area). They offer the same price as on the Santha web site but their prices include shipping. Also, parts are available through them - not from India - and they offer technical support on the phone.

The belt upgrade that Ben mentions is a good idea and not that expensive to implement. LMK and I can put you in touch.

Sebastian -

I've thought of several ways to transfer heat to a thermal mass inexpensively and then use that heat to reduce drying time but using Fresnels never occurred to me. It's a very good idea.

One reason I did not think seriously consider Fresnel lenses is that they can concentrate solar energy and can get hot enough to set wood on fire at the point of focus on a bright day. Can I assume your daughter is not focusing on the beans or the surface of the drying pad? Out of focus? Using the energy to heat some thermal mass and then that heat is transferred over the beans (using air)?

:: Clay

Angenieux -

I wonder if there is a way to construct an inexpensive dryer. This would probably use less energy than freezing the beans, especially if you have many sacks of them.

http://www.grainpro.com/?page=grainpro-collapsible-dryer-case2
http://www.grainpro.com/?page=grainpro-solar-bubble-dryer

Krista -

I came across a company called CustomPaperTubes at the Fancy Food Show last week. Don't be fooled by the name, they also make clear plastic tubes .

You can also contact Billie-Ann Plastics , which does custom products as well.

:: Clay

Russ -

The least expensive way (depending on the number of molds you have) is to use a dehydrator, which will also make sure your molds are perfectly dry. Believe it or not, Cabela's (the outdoor gear store) offers some good-sized ones that are remarkably inexpensive. Set the temperature as close as you can to the working temperature of the chocolate as Jim mentions.

Another option is a used proofing cabinet - just make sure that you don't hook up the water. You can usually find used proofing cabinets in a local restaurant equipment supply house that deals in used equipment.

The point is that there are many options at many price levels for every budget and situation. I've seen vertical cutter mixers in production - so I know they work. You get very large batch capacity (compared with most food processors). Used, they can be had for $3500.

Perhaps ironically, I was told that the first Cuisinart food processors were private label Robot Coupes. Problem was, they never broke or wore out. So they were redesigned with smaller motors and in plastic.

Of the options, the Corona grain mill is the one I can't recommend even if motorized. These days they are made with cheap materials and, in particular, it's hard to put pressure on the grinding plates and get a consistent texture. That's from personas experience using them in Belize.

The machine shown in the video Olive and Sinclair video is fairly large and couldn't be considered a replacement for a Champion juicer. What you're probably looking for is a tabletop appliance like the Nixtamatic. Here's a video of one in action. Still hands-on, but not so much as the Champion.

Grinding masa with the Nixtamatic

Alan -

I think the point is that at the scale you're working at now, anything larger or more expensive than the WonderMill Wonder Junior just doesn't make sense. It's about $250 with the drill attachment, though I would try to motorize it using the optional pulley) and you're not going to get better price/performance in a pre-grinder.

This doesn't make a "proper" liquor. However, anything you can do to reduce the particle size before you put it in your melangeur is going to speed the process up considerably. As Ben notes, warming the stones gently is also a good idea (use a small resistance heater that doesn't get hotter than about 100F, put it in the bowl a couple of hours before you want to use the melangeur - or overnight - and cover with something that will help keep the heat in.

From a tech perspective I think colloid mills are a better bet for oily products like cacao than hammer mills. I would be careful, however, about buying machines from China. There's a thread on the new melangeur from Kudvic where Victor talks about some of the issues he had with Chinese-made machines that led to his developing his. His experience echoes mine pretty closely.

Krista:

One reason to use purees over making your own is consistency. The large producers have the expertise and equipment to make products with consistent flavor from batch to batch and year to year. That's hard to do of you're buying or growing your own fruit and making small batches. That said, making your own, when the fruit is handy, gives you control you don't have when you buy a puree.

In my experience, I tend to like some flavors from one vendor and other flavors from others. If I were to get into business making fruit-flavored confections I would probably source from multiple providers even though it makes buying more challenging.

One thing to consider, especially for fruits like passion fruit and guanabana is that there are several brands that are very inexpensive that you can find in the frozen section of supermarkets that cater to the Hispanic community or that are in Hispanic neighborhoods. Often these are unsweetened and they tend to be very cheap compared with fancier imports. They may or may not be to your taste but for a couple of bucks per flavor it's not expensive to experiment.

LOTS of ChocolateLife members on these two lists.

I got to taste most of the winning confections as a judge last September and got a chance to taste most of the chocolates last night. A stand-out collection across the board.

Congrats to everyone.

CHOCOLATE
Askinosie Chocolate, 62% Dark Milk Chocolate, Fleur de Sel, Missouri
Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker , Madagascar Wild Pepper 70% Dark & Madagascar 70% Dark, Vermont
Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate , 72% Belize, Toledo , California
Fruition Chocolate , Dominican 70%, New York
Guittard Chocolate Company , Collection Etienne Eureka Works Meritage Blend #27 | 100%, California
Madre Chocolate , Triple Cacao, Hawaii
Patric Chocolate , Signature 70% Blend & Mocha OMG, Missouri
Rogue Chocolatier , Silvestre, Hispaniola, Balao, Massachusetts
Videri Chocolate Factory , 90% Dark Chocolate Ecuador Camino Verde , North Carolina

CONFECTIONS
Alma Chocolate , Sea Salt Hazelnut Crunch Bar, Oregon
Cacao Art Chocolates , Tupelo Honey and Cardamom, Florida
Chocolats Latour LLC , Rosemary Almond Brittle, Ohio
Coco Delice , Beer Bon Bon , California
Feve Artisan Chocolatier , Hazelnut Crunch Bar, California
Fruition Chocolate , Brown Butter Bourbon Caramels, New York
Kakao Chocolate , Lavender Truffle, Missouri
Nosh This , Almond Toffee, California
Nutty Stephs, Inc. , Salted Caramel Bar, Vermont
Patric Chocolate , Mint CRUNCH Chocolate Bar, Missouri
Sapore della Vita , Caramel Sauce, Florida
Serendipity Confections , Chocolate Covered Butter Caramels with Fleur de Sel, Colorado
Trini Treats, LLC , Coconut Fudge, New York
WR Chocolatier , Mocha, North Carolina
Xocolatl de David , Raleigh Bar & Brown Butter Bar, Oregon

The complete list of winners (including all the other categories) is here .

Peter -

You want to make compound?

And when you say small-scale, what quantity of production are you talking about per day/week/month?

The basic technique of mixing cocoa powder, sugar, and fat together and refining it should be able to be done in a "universal" or wet grinder. (The 3-in-1 you refer to.) You don't need to (and probably can't) conche, so you may want to consider using alkalized (Dutch processed) cocoa powder.

As for tempering, you don't need to as the CBEs and CBRs are solid at room temperature. You just need to keep it melted, put it into a mold, and cool. No tempering required. You can do this manually or get a melter/depositor to speed things up. Once the molds are cooled, de-molding is the same as with chocolate, turn over and bang against a surface until the bars release.

:: Clay

Here in the US among the raw chocolate makers I have worked with, 47.7C (118F) is the accepted max temperature. It's important to note that there are no definitions written into food law - anywhere in the world that I am aware of - that set a standard for what raw is and raw isn't. It's also not clear (to me) that it's a single temperature. Lettuces are far more delicate than nuts and probably shouldn't be subject to anything over 40C for any length of time.

Where are you getting the butter and powder from? Have you personally inspected the production processes? Can you guarantee that the butter and powder are never subjected to temps above 42C? How about the temps of the fermentation pile? They naturally want to get to 50-52C to do the best fermentation. Drying? In full sun the temps on the drying pad can easily reach 60C.

What I (and others) think you need to be more worried about is the microbial load because there has been no kill step (this is one aspect of roasting). Make sure you do a plate test!

On the continuous tempering machine front:

FBM machines from the Prima (7kg working bowl and a list price of under 7,000) on up can handle 3mm inclusions and all machines with working bowls under 45kg come with a vibrating table, measured depositor, and a removable and reversible auger as standard equipment. The FBM Compatta has a 12kg working bowl with the same standard features as the Prima and has a list price of under 10,000 before a ChocolateLife member discount of 10%. (Not including shipping from Italy and any local customs fees).

Jonathan:

The majority of continuous tempering machines employ 2 temperatures. They do not cool below a certain point and then warm slightly. There are some 3-zone machines.

I have attached five pages from a draft of a manual I am working on for FBM that describes how continuous tempering works in their machines. It makes reference to specific FBM products so that might be a little confusing to people who don't know the product line. In general the process is the same for all of the continuous tempering machines in this class. This is just a draft and just a few of the pages, and in reading through it I can see several typos and things I want to change that aren't as clear as they need to be.

The scraping of the auger against the interior of the tempering pipe provides the mixing force, so there is agitation. FBM's auger geometry is designed to maximize crystal formation and mixing; the geometry of the augers in other systems don't appear - to me - to be as well designed.

As for the temperature differential thing part of it has to do with the amount of time the process takes. In a Chocovision machine, for example, it might take 30 minutes for the chocolate to cool from 115F to 89F. That's a lot of time for crystal formation. In a continuous tempering machine like the ones from FBM the process happens in well under 20 seconds. In the larger FBM machines (the Unica for example) you can control the speed of the auger which means you can increase the dwell time in the tempering pipe and this allows you to work colder - there's more time for proper crystal formation and, importantly, spreading the crystals through the chocolate.

In my experience the temperatures you need to melt the chocolate to are in the 45-50C range (max 122F). There are some chocolates that need to be heated up much higher and some that don't need to be heated up as much. It all depends on the physical properties of the chocolate. The chocolate is going to dictate the temperatures.

Nikki -

First off, why 42C? Most of the people I know who are working in the raw world here in the US use 47C (118F) as the max temperature. 42 is only 107F and that may not be high enough to thoroughly (and quickly) melt out crystals that have been formed in the couverture you are using (even if it is untempered).

Continuous tempering machines (Selmi, FBM) may not be the right answer for you as they work on the difference between a melting temperature and a working temperature. If your max working temp is 42C then you might not have enough temperature differential to form crystals - especially if the room you're working in is about 20-22C. I would certainly run tests through a Color to make sure before buying one.

You are also mistaken about the way continuous temperers operate - they do not work in batches. The hourly throughput of a continuous tempering machine is between 3-5x the bowl capacity, assuming that you can keep the working bowl "topped up" as you work. Thus, a 10kg machine is capable of producing 30-50kg of tempered chocolate per hour, not 30kg per day.

From experience, I can tell you that most continuous tempering machines are very bad at working with chocolate that has a higher viscosity than commercial couverture chocolate. This is because of the geometry of the auger in the tempering pipe. If the auger has a thin core and wide wings then it's going to be even more difficult to temper the chocolate properly - you will get uneven crystallization and it will be difficult to keep the tempering cycle intact during the working day especially when you are using the depositor. I've been working with FBM to address some of these issues for bean-to-bar chocolate makers and it took us a while to come up with the changes to the basic machines to make it work (it helps - a lot - if you can adjust the speed of the auger).

As for inclusions. The limit for continuous tempering machines (Selmi, FBM, whoever) is going to be pieces that are no more than 3-4mm in their widest point, and somewhere between 10-25% by weight. If you need larger pieces than this, or more pieces by weight, you're going to need to find another technique to fill the molds as the depositor is likely to clog easily.

The count is the number of pieces per pound (or kilo - depending on where the manufacturer is located).

1000 count per kilo means that each piece weighs 1 gr. 1000 count per pound means each piece weighs .454 gr.

John:

Of course, the de Zaan rep is going to position his chocolate in the most favorable way possible to their brand - "better" than Callebaut (whatever that means and there are lots of possible interpretations - I would ask them to describe what specifically they mean when they say "better" -- it will be different) at a lower cost than the premium brands.

In the end, what matters is whether you like the taste of it - we can't make that judgment for you, and whether or not you like the way it works, technically (viscosity, temper, etc). If you don't like the taste, or it doesn't work for you, then the price does not matter.

One of de Zaan's salespeople, Philippe Tytgat ,is a member here on TheChocolateLife, you might ask him.

One other note is that de Zaan is a part of ADM ( Archer Daniels Midland ). They are one of the largest producers of chocolate and semi-finished cocoa products in the world. Definitely part of "big agriculture" -- they own ConAgra and other companies. (Take a look at the section on agricultural subsidies in the Wikepedia article.)

So - it's not surprising they can compete with Callebaut on price, the question of whether or not the quality is the same as Valrhona or Felchlin is a subject for debate.

Me, personally? I prefer working with smaller producers even though the prices are usually higher. Low(er) prices almost always indicate commodity beans which indicate that the farmers are not being paid a living wage for their crop.

I have not heard about using alcohol, everyone I know who does this uses cocoa butter.