Forum Activity for @Jennifer Davis

Looking to purchase 65lb grinder/melanger

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

I am looking to purchase a 65lb chocolate grinder/melanger. I would love to hear suggestions.

I currently have 3 small grinders. 2 Santha and 1 cocoatown. The Santha grinders have been a pain and we have had to rebuild them and make changes constantly so I am leery about purchasing one of theirs unless someone has had any other luck with them.

Would love your feedback and ideas.

updated by @Jennifer Davis: 06/29/23 16:49:02

Whats going on with my chocolates?? Quality Control-Appearance concerns

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Great Info from you two.

Whats going on with my chocolates?? Quality Control-Appearance concerns

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Its untempered, fresh from the grinder

Whats going on with my chocolates?? Quality Control-Appearance concerns

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

I did get a new baffle but I still have the issue. I am thinking about sending in my tempering machine to have them just look it over.

I am convinced it is moisture coming from somewhere on my production line. Maybe a few places. Here are a few more pics. After I grind the chocolate I store it in ziploc bags which I then store until we are ready to temper.

On these pics you will see what appears to be moisture that was caused by sealing the bags too soon. Does it look that way to you?

Also, What is the best way to store chocolate that has just come out of the grinder?

Whats going on with my chocolates?? Quality Control-Appearance concerns

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Thank you Clay!

Whats going on with my chocolates?? Quality Control-Appearance concerns

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Thank you. What's strange is that the " bloom" is happening so fast. Sometimes within a week. This never happened before but I think you are right about the moisture. Just wondering why now all of a sudden.

Whats going on with my chocolates?? Quality Control-Appearance concerns

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

I was hoping that some of you could chime in on what is happening on my chocolates. I have been in business for 4 years in the SAME location. I am still in my certified home kitchen.

What we are finding lately (the last 3 months or so) the chocolates have not been holding their flavor very long. Also, and the most concerning, is what appears to be a fast spreading "bloom". So much so that I have had to pull chocolates that are only a few weeks old (in some cases only a week) and sell them as seconds or use them as samples.

I am attaching a few pictures for you to look at.

Humidity: The weather has been changing from winter to spring. THere has been some rain so I know this is adding to the humidity.

from fridge to room temperature: I have always stored my "centers" before dipping and chocolate after dipping and wrapping in a typical refrigerator. We have 5 now. It has always worked in the past even with the "shock" it sometimes goes thru when we pull them out of the cold into room temperature (65-68 degrees). When choc's would start condensating we would immediately stop for the day but this only happened on the most extreme days (high rain or high heat outside).

I have since turned up my refrigerators as far as they can go to lessen the possibility of condensation.

Candy Pads: We store our chocolate with candy pads in between each layer. We have recently switched to regular food service film between layers. Lately wherever candy pads have touched the "bloom" (for lack of something better to call it) makes it look worse. However the 'bloom' is down the sides of the chocolate too where the pad didn't touch.

Tempering:We have a Rev 3210. We have only just begun making sure we are continuing the tempering process after dipping by leaving the chocolates out for several hours before they go in the fridge.

We think we have a moisture issue which is why we turned UP the storage refrigerators to lessen the condensation.

Swirls:As long as we keep the temperature consistently between 88-90 while dipping we are usually ok but in the picture you will see that swirls are also an issue. Especially over the last 9 months or so. As a matter of fact they have gotten worse until recently.

Any info you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Like I said, we have pretty much been doing the same thing with the same recipe for a few years but all of a sudden we are having this problem.

Thanks!

Jennifer Davis

The Great Unbaked

p.s. this is RAW chocolate if it matters.

updated by @Jennifer Davis: 04/12/15 03:48:17

Tempering & surface texture issue, swirls, circles & matte finish.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Derrick,

Thank you so much! You have given me a lot to think about and test. Thanks for taking so much time in responding to me.

Jennifer

Tempering & surface texture issue, swirls, circles & matte finish.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Thanks Ashley, any bit of info I could get would really help. I do use Himalayan salt. It is very fine however and I grind it for 2 days along with the other ingredients. Thanks for chiming in

Tempering & surface texture issue, swirls, circles & matte finish.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Hi everyone,I have been having more problems the past year with the finish of my chocolate truffles than I had previously. I have a rev 3210 and a rev2 tempering machine with a warming bowl for after it's tempered. Why is my chocolate surface so inconsistent if I'm using professional equipment?To give more info...my truffles are square not round (not sure if that matters just want to give enough info for a diagnosis). The truffle centers, or "innards" as we call them are out of the fridge when I dip them. I thought this might be the issue so we tried them a little warmer. Too warm and they are hard to dip. Still seem to have the problem. The surface just seems to have swirls and little round dots. From everything I've read that points to it not being tempered properly.I will assume the matte finish, as opposed to shiny which I would prefer, is due mostly to the temperature when dipped?The ingredients in my dipping chocolate are cacao paste, cacao butter, vanilla bean, sea salt, coconut sugar and the last 10 minutes sunflower lecithin (liquid) but only about 1/2 to 1 tsp to a total batch of about 8 lbs of chocolate. This grinds for at least 2 days so it's pretty smooth.Any advice would be greatly appreciated.Thanks so muchJenniferP.s. This is raw chocolate we are dealing with if that matters
updated by @Jennifer Davis: 04/13/15 09:08:00

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Ok, I tried tempering again the other day. I used Cacao butter 3oz, Cacao Paste 3/4oz, 1/4 oz coconut Nectar (liquid/raw) 1 1/2 oz coconut sugar, powdered, 1/4tsp van extract, 1/2 oz cacao powder.

It was just ok. I think it actually tempered though as it had a nice snap to it. It was still a little soft when I rubbed my finger over the final product. THe taste was so so and the texture also so so. I left it out on the counter and the kids ate it so it must not have been that bad.

When I was melting over double boiler there were what appeared to be unmelted fragments on the bottom of bowl. Upon closer inspection (taste) it was one of the sugars. Must have been the coconut sugar wasn't powdered enough i'm assuming.

Taste is not creamy enough. I"ve had much better raw chocolate...and much worse! Still working on it... I have sunflower lecithin on order and want to try a few drops of it also. I think it needed more sweetener.

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

HI David,

I will go over that discussion you talked about. I experimented a little yesterday with tempering the cocoa products that go into my original chocolate recipe. Then I added it to my other ingredients such as cashew butter etc... It actually created a product that was able to withstand being out of the fridge! I was so excited.

What I want to do is create a new tempered chocolate coating to replace the untempered one I was using before. Thats what I will work on tomorrow after I make all the fillings. I want to use this tempered chocolate to create a bar that doesn't need refrigeration. It also must taste great, something that I haven't come across much with the raw bars I have tried.

What I'm curious about is do you use the whole bean and grind it up, the nibs, cacao paste bar, or just cacao butter and cacao powder? Or a combination? I've had a tough time coming up with an un-bitter chocolate using the nibs and paste bar. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I"m wondering if I could use coconut sugar AND liquid Agave. I need to find out the ratio of sugar to chocolate. Its confusing as the books that I have read on cooked chocolate says to use bittersweet, semi sweet etc... THe sugar is already in the bar and its just melted and tempered. I dont have that luxury with raw chocolate as I'm not aware of any bar that can be melted down that is already raw. Besides I do too much chocolate to make it economical for me to buy one already made even if there was one. I want to make my own.

Thanks for your help. I will be a success soon. People are counting on me

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Thanks Nat,

Great info from everyone on this post.

Coconut sugar: I am going to use the un-raw stuff and powder it in my vita mix. Yesterday that worked great. Its not raw but very nutritious. The other stuff I was talking about was "raw" coconut sugar from Coconut Secrets, its wetter so had a difficult time powdering it. Maybe I will use Agave and coconut sugar. I like to mix my sweeteners in other recipes. I think it makes for a great product. BAck to chocolate>>>

I've heard some people talk about conching but I dont know much about that. I dont have any machines. I am using a double boiler method. I feel so "green" here next to all you experts.

I'll let you all know how it turns out. thx

Jennifer

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

there are a few bars and truffles I have tried that are raw and are actually tempered and very good. Most though leave alot to be desired like you said.

I dont know much about conching but I hear it drives up the temperature and is hard for the person who does not have industrial equipment. I would have to read up on it though.

Where theres a will theres a way!

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Yeah, I know what you mean by trying to temper stuff with Agave. I know its possible as there are others doing it. Maybe they dont use large amounts?? I am concerned that if I use coconut sugar it wont break down enough in the chocolate as temperature cant reach too high. There is a raw coconut sugar new on the market by coconut Secret but it is wetter than the others. HHHHmmmmm....

I have some raw cane sugar that I can make into a powder and try. It seems to work good in some of my recipes. Maybe a combination of Agave liquid, Agave powder, Coconut sugar. I am going to work with this and post my results. Thanks everyone!

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Thanks for replying. I did read this and it gave lots of great advice. I think I just need to experiment some more. I dont see anyone using chocolate paste/liquor. The raw bar that I have is hard so I thought if I added some more cacao butter to it and a bit of agave, vanilla, lecithin it might work however it has a very strong flavor I have had a hard time overcoming.

I will try a few things and post my results.

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

I am wondering if anyone out there can give me some advice on tempering raw chocolate. Is there a 'best' way to do this? WHich items can I use with the greatest success?

Raw cacao butter, cacao powder, cacao paste?

Sweeteners would likely be raw agave and/or raw coconut nectar. I could use some raw cane sugar if needed. Also not opposed to using coconut sugar, although not raw it is highly nutritious.

I would also be using some raw sunflower lecithin, vanilla beans and/or extract. possibly some carob powder.

I've read lots of posts on this site and they have helped but not completely answered my questions to where I feel confident.

Any help would be appreciated. I currently make and sell raw refrigerated chocolate and its great but want to also produce something that is shelf stable.

Jennifer

The Great Un-Baked!

updated by @Jennifer Davis: 12/13/24 12:16:49