I would like to create a menuof my chocolates that features a picture of each flavor as well as have pictures ofmy chocolateson the website. How have you photographed your chocolates? Did you do it yourself? Is special lighting needed so they look 3D & shiny? Did you hire a photographer? Do you use a food photographer? Any help or insight would be appreciated.
Thanks for the tips. I'll try them this weekend. TheChicago house co-op is a great idea 
. I still seem to be having trouble when using the seed method to temper.I get the temperature up to about 115 Fthen use 20%by weight for seeding which helps drop the temperature to about 95 F but it takes forever (orit just seems like it )for the temperature to drop down to 80F (Then I bring it back up to 86 F to work with it). Any tips on helping the chocolate cool faster?
of advice and the support - Jo-Ellen
Thanks so much for the reply -
I'm glad I'm not crazy in thinking it was taking way too long to temper my chocolate, whew I'll try the heat gun trick next time the chocolate gets to thick. I would love to take a class unfortunately I live in central Wisconsin, not exactly a booming metropolis. I have been musing over the idea of looking for a course in Milwaukee or Chicago. It seems like to way to go at this point. Again, Thanks for the help. Jo-Ellen
Hi - I am relatively new to making chocolates and have learned through books and the internet. 80% of the time my chocolates turn out very wellbutI am at the point where Icould really usesome sage advice to help refine my process. If you could help me out I'd really appreciate it.
1. It often takes me 2hrs to hand temper about 2 lbs of chocolate using the seeding method. Is it normal to take so long? The room temp is 68 F and I'm getting blisters from stirring.
2. How do you know if your chocolate is over-tempered? What is the best way to correct over-tempered chocolate?
3. My chocolateappears (to me at least) to get very thick when it finally gets into temper (I always do a temper test before using it) and then because of its viscosity it gets very had to mold into shells. I've tried adding cocoa butter. Any other remedies you could recommend?
4. I have read that molded shells should be put in the fridge to set and I've read to absolutely not use the fridge. I've read that coolng chocolate to fast causes bloom but I've also read that cooling chocolate to slow also causes bloom. Which is correct? What is the best way to mold shells?
Thanks, Jo-Ellen
