Forum Activity for @Patty Medina

Premade truffle shels- necessity or copout?

Posted in: Opinion

Hi - I've purchased the 32 impression round truffle molds from JB Prince. They are about $50 each. It's a 2-piece magnetic mold. You fill the bottom sphere up, place the top part on (a half-sphere w/hole), and if you are doing it old school, hit the table a few times on each side of the mold to make sure it covers the whole thing, (but I would suggest the vibrating table), then place it upside down on a cooling rack so the extra chocolate drips out of the hole. Put parchment paper underneath to capture the extra chocolate to use again. With 10 molds I can make about 320 molds at a time. The investment is about $500.

The thing is this - I'm tired! And it is an investment of time. I have to use the same molds for my white, milk and dark chocolate, so it's kind of a 1-2 day investment if you need them ASAP.

I spoke with my chocolate distributor and he said he can get them pre-made for me from Callebaut, but he thinks they are made with "covering" chocolate, which I do not want to use. I'm waiting to hear back to confirm.

So my question is - would anyone know of a company that sells the pre-made shells made out of pure, good old fashioned, cocoa butter only, couverture chocolate?

Thanks!

Patty Medina

medinachocolatier.com

Cool Tool: Chocoflex Spherical Truffle Mold

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

Another great idea and time saver, thanks!

Cool Tool: Chocoflex Spherical Truffle Mold

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

Thanks Ilana -BTW, do you purchase your Valrhona shells from the company itself or a distributor?It sounds as though you are dipping each round truffle individually, yes? That's how I've been doing it for a few years now, but not with the shells, just hand rolled ganache and then dipping (twice) to avoid cracks.The new technique I learned has been a real time saver. But it requires that you re-think how you want your round truffles to look. For myself, I've decided that my hand-dipped chocolates (cut on the guitar) will be the ones I decorate with either transfer sheets, etc., and the round truffles will be more textured.What I learned is this - Once you have all of your round truffles closed and are ready to dip, wearing your food handler's gloves, dip the palm of one of your gloved hands into the bowl of chocolate (or tempering machine), so that you have a nice thin coating. You then grab about 5 truffles with the other hand, place them in between both palms and roll the truffles until they are completely covered with chocolate. You then let them roll out of your hand (from your palm down along your fingers) onto a tray, rack, bowl of chopped nuts, etc, wherever you want them to go next. Allowing them to roll out of your hand as opposed to using a dipping fork, creates texture on the truffle, and my experience was that it did a good job at taking the focus off of the closed hole in the side of the truffle.We did a few truffles - textured only with dark or milk chocolate, one rolled in sugar, one rolled in chopped almonds, and being able to roll 5 truffles in 5 seconds and be done with it, allowed us to do a couple hundred in about 20 minutes. The only trick is that if you are also going to be covering in sugar or nuts, you need a second person. It's hard to do yourself if you've got chocolate on your palms. (Although I was able to pull it off myself when in a jam, it required using my wrists, don't ask )Hopefully that gives you another option to consider to take the focus off of that pesky hole. With the rolled, textured method, you don't have to worry about where the hole will end up.Cheers, P-

Cool Tool: Chocoflex Spherical Truffle Mold

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

Thank you Kerry and Lana -Yes, I think it's important to be able to visually gauge how much ganache is going into the mold thus avoiding air pockets, etc. as well.I interned with a Swedish Chocolatier in New York a few months back and was surprised to see that he was using Valrhona shells for his round truffles. (For some reason I thought he'd make them the classic hand-rolled way) But I have to say, they were so incredibly easy to work with and a real time saver, (which is important if you are renting kitchen space by the hour). And also important is having a consistent weight per piece. So, I was sold on the shells, and thought I'd try to make my own.I'll try both the Chocolate World and Chef Rubber molds and see which one works best.Thanks again!
updated by @Patty Medina: 09/10/15 03:49:28PM

Cool Tool: Chocoflex Spherical Truffle Mold

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

Hello Everyone -Can anyone tell me if there exists on the market a shell mold that's comparable to the ones used for "pre-made" shells being offered by some chocolate companies? It seems as though it should be an easy find, but I haven't had any luck as of yet.Thanks,Patty Medinamedinachocolatier.com