Forum Activity for @Renee Shuman2

Where can fermentation be seen in Western Costa Rica?

Posted in: Travels & Adventures

Frank, consider visiting La Iguana Chocolate in Mastatal, Costa Rica. It is a 4 hour bus ride from Quepos. Also, if possible, you should try and get to Puerto Viejo on the East Coast to visit Carribeans. The owner, Paul, will be more than happy to show you his process. Just make sure you contact him before hand, as he mostly only does tours once or twice a week. Of course, Puerto Viejo is only a couple of hours away if you drive. By bus it took me 8-10 hours to get from Quepos to San Jose to Puerto Viejo.

Other than that, there is a not too much in the Quepos region for the chocolate interested. I was there in December and searched all over. Eventually I decided I had to travel to the Caribbean coast. You may get more information on where to view fermentation hands-on from Sibu Chocolate, or Samaritan Chocolate (very small operation; they don't ferment their beans themselves, but the owner is super friendly).

Contact Jorge Salazar for La Iguana Chocolate: http://www.laiguanachocolate.com

You can contact Paul at Carribeans through his company's website http://caribeanscr.com/chocolate.html

http://www.sibuchocolate.com & www.samaritanxocolata.com

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Help! the pretzels in my chocolate bars are cracking the bar when cooled

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

The problem may be that your pretzels are not the same temperature as your liquid chocolate. Try warming them a bit with a hair dryer before depositing them. Just make sure they don't get too hot and cause your chocolate to lose its temper.

I am interested in making a yogurt Strawberry Filling

Posted in: Recipes

It's likely that they either use a dried yogurt powder blended with their liquid white chocolate center, or that they use yogurt as part of the ganache base instead of some other liquid. The strawberry flavor probably comes from a strawberry essential oil.

how to intensify flavor for pate de fruit

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

Pomona's Pure Pectin claims that it will gel low sugar mixtures. This is because the activating agent is not sugar, but calcium. A packet of calcium comes in the product box. It should work fine.

If you want to intensify the flavor, I would add orange essential oil. Just a drop or two should do ya.

Light Corn Syrup in Artisanal Chocolates?

Posted in: Opinion

Honestly I use agave instead of corn syrup in a lot of my recipes, and they turn out similar or exactly the same as the corn syrup versions.