Forum Activity for @Lemm Huang

How is cocoa butter produced?

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Wow, that's an eye opener.Langdon, thanks once again for enlightening me.

How is cocoa butter produced?

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Hi Langdon,Thanks for the quick reply. It's clearer now.Your answer leads me to a few other questions, though?What do you mean by recovery rate?The idea of deodorizing is relatively new to me. What's so bad in the cocoa butter that requires it to be deodorized? and what causes it? What sort of chemicals are we looking at here? How do I tell whether I have a nasty cocoa butter? (This last question is especially important to me, since I use cocoa butter often now).

How is cocoa butter produced?

Posted in: Tasting Notes

There's quite a few sites on the net advertising cold-pressed cocoa butters. On another post somewhere (which I cannot seem to find), someone mentioned that it was not possible to produce cocoa butter unless it was pressed at least 140 F (???).If there's such a thing as "cold-pressed" cocoa butter, what temperature is considered "cold". Is it 115 F, 122 F,...etc.Does the definition of "cold-pressed" oils when applied to olive oil apply to cocoa butter?And about the Broma process, which I understand is a dripping process in a warm room; at what temperature is this room?Are there really any additional health benefits to get cold-pressed cocoa butter versus the regular one.
updated by @Lemm Huang: 05/05/15 02:02:59

Molding Chocolate

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

Wow...it's been a long time since I've been on this forum. I've since found out that you need to cool the chocolates a lot faster. This will reduce the blooming. It explains why pre-cooling the molds helps. You will get better results putting it right in the freezer and time it for about 5 minutes. After the chocolate is tempered, the faster it cools, the less time it has to form blooming.

Molding Chocolate

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

Wow, just awesome.Thank you very much, Alan.First, you trying to diagnose without see things at my place was pretty accurate, using only a few small thermoform molds and lack of air flow in the kitchen.Now to clarify the issue of moisture and pre-cooling of the molds, here is what I did at home.1. I took the tempered chocolate and poured it into the molds and left it on the counter top to cool. Blooming appeared significantly on the underside.2. Then I took empty molds and put it in the fridge to pre-cool. Then I took them out and poured tempered chocolate into them before leaving them on the counter top to cool. I get no blooming on the underside.Although the temperature is warm at 72 F, the relative humidity is very low, so low that our hands and lips are chapped, caused by the propane heat that keeps our house warm. We do not have a humidifier.It seems to me that the cold surface of the pre-cooled molds causes the tempered chocolate to cool faster, leaving less time for the cocoa butter to separate.Another strange thing I forgot to mention at the start of this post is that when I pour untempered chocolate (about 100 F) into the molds that are not pre-cooled and leave them on the counter, I also get hardly any bloom (only a few little white spots). It's pretty shiny, but it melts much quicker in your mouth of course.To conclude, I think relative humidity is so low, it can be ruled out. Therefore pre-cooling the molds would only hasten the cooling of the chocolate.I shall try all this again in the summer when it gets humid.Again, I really appreciate your feedback. I'll be refrigerating now.

Molding Chocolate

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

Alan,Thanks. What you said settles it.But, I still find it amazing that a thin piece of plastic should make so much difference. The spaces in the mold were tiny and not deep (3 grams each, 5mm). If it were possible to measure the temperatures of the chocolate in the mold and the one on the parchment paper cooling down, I highly doubt that there would be any difference.

Molding Chocolate

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

Thanks John for giving me some sign to tell the difference between sugar and fat bloom.You got me curious now for that last phrase of your first sentence, "for lots of reasons". Would appreciate more info...please.Rae, I have tried to cool them in the fridge and it does get rid of the bloom. It was the wax and parchment paper experiment that got me. And yes, the tempered chocolate was snappy and shiny.

Molding Chocolate

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

Thanks for all your responses.As I mentioned, I don't get this problem when I pre-cool the molds in the fridge and then I leave the chocolate to harden at room temperature.What I still don't understand is why I did not get bloom when I poured it on parchment or wax paper leaving it to cool at room temperature?I had a thought recently that the chocolate mixture cools down in the molds, and minute traces of moisture forms from condensation but is trapped by the chocolate mixture itself - this extra trapped humidity causing the bloom. That's probably why I don't get it with wax and parchment paper. Perhaps the plastic mold keeps the mixture warm longer than the more exposed mixture on wax or parchment paper. Heck, I don't know....Another question that could be related: How do you tell the difference between cocoa butter bloom and sugar bloom?

Molding Chocolate

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

I've already posted this question on the Homebrew Group, but without a response so far. I'm posting it here in hopes that I will get some feedback.I am still getting fat bloom even after tempering the chocolate. I've tried molding at different temperatures (86 F to 89 F for dark chocolate) and two different methods (lowering temperature of whole batch to 82 F then up to 86F-89F versus taking about 1/3 to 1/2 of batch to cool and seed first then mix with rest), and I do it quite slowly to allow time for the beta V crystals to form.The bloom appears most heavily on the underside of the mold (where the chocolate touches the plastic). Minor blooming occurs on the chocolate exposed to the air.I don't get this problem when the batch is poured unto wax or parchment paper, when the molds are pre-cooled or when lecithin is used.The tempering does work from the standpoint of melting times. I did blind tests with my family to confirm this.I thought about this long, but cannot figure out why? Has anyone experienced this? Is their a solution?Here's more info.- The temperature of the house is around 72 F, very low humidity, winter here in Canada.- Using organic unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa butter from fermented, unroasted cocoa beans.- Using powdered sugar.- No emulsifiers used.- Using tiny batches of 100 grams or less for experimentation.- Use a heating pad and a digital candy thermometer which has been tested for accuracy.- I control the rate of the temperature rising by lifting on and off the heating pad, a glass cup containing the tiny batch of chocolate.
updated by @Lemm Huang: 04/09/15 13:07:54

Raw chocolate-- what is it really?

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

I see your point Steve,I even blindfold my children on a taste test. One minute they like sample A, then they like sample B and finally they go back to sample A.For the first time, I just finished making two small batches of homemade raw chocolate using organic raw cocoa powder first and then cocoa paste. Both came from raw fermented Criollo beans from Peru. It was delicious!! My wife and three childred wanted more and more.Then we got a 72% cocoa content bar from an ordinary grocery store and compared the taste. They all said to me that they like the taste of homemade better (I haven't blindfolded them here).I simply heated the cocoa in the oven at about 115 F. Then I mixed in some "raw" cane sugar powder, maple syrup, extra virgin coconut oil and lucuma and some vanilla.In addition to the chocolate flavor present, I get a tinge of fruit and acidic taste. What I don't get is the strong roasted flavors. I also get a little pungent odor from the cocoa paste batch that I and my family do not care for.So I am concluding that you can still get some chocolate flavor from raw fermented Criollo beans, at least the Criollo one I got.

Raw chocolate-- what is it really?

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

I just want to make sure that I understand what is going on about chocolate flavors.In another thread Clay mentions that there are inherent flavors in the bean before fermentation. What are these flavors?Then Samantha/Sam (By the way what do you prefer to be called by?) said that you'll get some of the chocolate flavors during fermentation where the broken down sugars react with the broken down proteins.The Steve said that there is no chocolate flavor unless there is no fermentation implying that there will be some after fermentation as Samantha pointed out.Finally you said that there is no chocolate flavor unless there is a minimum of roasting.Which one is it?

Raw chocolate-- what is it really?

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

Samantha,I just finished about 8 hours of reading. Thanks again for pointing me to this awesome website. Other threads also helped me answer some other questions I have, and I too must join the rest of the chocophiles in saying that your replies are very thorough and well presented.

Raw chocolate-- what is it really?

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

Hi everyone,Samantha referred me to this website after forwarding to her the article by Paul Nison.Wow, this website has some really great, great info!I sent this article to her because I just could not see Paul's motive for writing this article, since he promotes raw foods in his store, articles and lectures. I reasoned that he could have a sincere concern for the public, even though he maybe technically wrong. So I wanted to find out from Samantha whether she had ever heard of anyone experiencing negative side effects from eating raw unfermented cocoa.Eric, since you are a doctor and nutrition specialist, could you please point out the things in his article that are indeed true. This would at least help me to sort out his article better.To everybody else:I also want to know if raw unfermented cocoa still smells like cocoa. It obviously tastes bitter, with Forastero being the strongest. But does the inside of the bean straight from the pod still have the cocoa flavor for the Criollo, Trinitario and Forastero varieties?Has anyone ever tried or know of anyone who has tried making raw chocolate without fermenting or roasting the cocoa?If so, can you share with me what your experience has been like? - not the process of course, but the taste.