Forum Activity for @Jeff

What are YOU Making Special for Mother's Day - And Special Offers for ChocolateLife members

Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

Not to belabor the point that my krewe and I might have issues...."Mommy Dearest Caramels"Hand formed caramels in the shape of coat hangers....joan crawford would have us for lunch if she were still alive....

Interesting Product/Business Ideas in the Current Economy

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

with easter now long past and mothers day out the door I am appalled that i still am making those gory assed bunnies; but we are....demand is high....but right now its all about selling the fresh strawberries off of our farm in the retail store. Up at 6am, pick berries, dipped and on the counter by 9am....doesnt get any fresher.

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

I like your style.........

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

they are cool....shall we do the sacrificial lambs next?
updated by @Jeff: 01/28/15 21:12:15

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

why thank you sir....I really cant believe how well these dumb things are selling....I sent you one for A.........

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

ok.....its getting sicker.....by the minute.....these sold today....to a nurse..........

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Those are pretty. I have looked at your site for years and coveted many of your molds....wish list stuff...

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Its all about the marzipan and cocoa butter paint......

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

My kitchen is staffed by pagan reprobates with a penchant for hard work whiskey and chluthlu. The religious value of easter is lost on us.

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

you can rest assured we have tried to crucify a few but they just dont stand up.....

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

thank you artisan....much ado about nothing. We plaan on having a ball with halloween this year.

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

well melanie it takes all kinds. we make and sell 10,000 + perfectly acceptable easter bunnies and hand painted eggs. Most of our voodoo bunnies grotesque features are being suggested by 10-12 year old kids who not only dig em, but want them extra gory. My daughter made 3 yesterday for her classmates, the kids love em.. Lighten up, life is a carnival, buy the ticket, take the ride.

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!Thanks rob. We too think they are just a fine representation of the holiday...we sell them for $15.00 each and we have it down to a science. I just made a couple this morning with their eye sockets torn out and the eyeball still attached but hanging down....very graphic but oh so cute.we sold a few dozen this weekend, it was shocking, and we upset a few people too... which is half the fun.....we ship everywhere. .....for a price.1-888-899-2022

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

some more morbid bunnies.........

Calling all Chocolatiers: What are YOU Making Special for Easter This Year?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

well...we always make the cute little flop earned bunny and this year we changed up the eggs a bit but our newest fun project are the Voodoo Bunnies. They are selling like crazy AND scaring the children. Whats not to like? I mean once you have a pile of broken eared bunnies what are ya gonna do?

Is Taxing Chocolate A Good Way to Help Fight Obesity?

Posted in: Opinion

Snarf!!!!sounds like dr. walker needs to get laid........

Corn Syrup

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

Marroquin is a great company. BUT...you have to buy a pallet. 2000lbs of corn syrup is a lot of corn syrup.

Chocolatiers = Re-melters?

Posted in: Opinion

makes sense to me alan....We are making our first batches of ganache and bon bons from our own "bean to bar" chocolate this week.......the ocumare is outstanding....bean to bar is pain in the ass to get right so you go man, you go.....

Chocolatiers = Re-melters?

Posted in: Opinion

last time I was at tcho they didnt have any roasting/cracking/winnowing equipment. They DO buy liquor and have an impressive array of equipment for the processing of liquor, but they do not roast at their facility....as far as I could see......

Mixed News From Hershey: Recession is Good - Closing Plants

Posted in: News & New Product Press

why did SB and Schmidt sell to Hershey's to begin with ?I cant speak for joseph but john scharfenberger told me shortly after the sale...''They paid me so much money I dont care if they break my baby"It was honest.

Chocolate Show New York City 2008

Posted in: News & New Product Press

I have booth # C-18

Is Xocai everything it's made out to be?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Sorry to have offended you. We are headed down this path

Is Xocai everything it's made out to be?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Ok....lest play semantics..........So the upper limit for raw food is 122F?......well then that leaves out cacao. The fermentation process for cacao often reaches into the 160's and above. It is a cooking process no matter how you slice it. yes the heat is caused by the fermentation which is used to break down the thick skin through an enzymatic process, but it is cooking the innards of the bean. Stick your hand in 160 degree water and see if you dont cook.You say one of the major roles of cooking is to kill organisms; as a life long chef I disgaree. The major role of cooking for me is to make food taste good. I like raw foods too but a pan seared mahi mahi with a ginger sesame crust is a thing of beauty. A quickly grilled lamb chop --still bleeding rare(118F) and mewling if possible- is ambrosia. Cooking is an art form elevated by humans to not just kill the mold and mildew of spoiled food but too enhance and transform and elevate.Cacao that has not been 'cooked" through fermentation tastes aweful and even then the nibs need to be roasted to have any intrinsic flavor. That alcoholic/winey purple bean is just unpalatable for me. a nice slow roast to bring out the nuances of the bean are what I dig.

Is Xocai everything it's made out to be?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Oh god. This is scam, has always been a scam and reeked of scam the moment it went up. I have had so many laughs at these people expense over the last two years it pains t me to think people actually buy into this garbage.First of all, like you said clay, any health benefits chocolate may have are a bonus--NOT the selling point. It is all part of this delusional "raw chocolate' movement. If one more company starts exploiting people for "raw chocolate' and the health benefits I am going postal.There is no such thing as RAW CHOCOLATE. In order to make chocolate the beans must first be fermented---that is a cooking process. All these raw food folks are nut jobs if they think that buying nibs is raw chocolate. The stuff has been fermented and then roasted. truly raw and dried cacao beans are friggin nasty and are basically inedible. 'nuff siad.PT Barnum was right.

What's in Store for Valrhona?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

I know you like to speak your mind and you put care and thought into what you say.There are many who would disagree with that last part bubba. Of course they are wrong, entitled to -and encouraged to disagree.................but wrong none the less.There are no chocolate mind police on the siteAnd I have no filter so its a match made in heaven! Thanks clay.

What's in Store for Valrhona?

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Good points.I think they priced themselves out of the market by not doing just that clay-creating a less expensive but still quality couverture for the working chef. Felchlin makes a far superior product line and they are worth the money, Valrhona? Not so much.....but dont say that in public or the chocolate "elite" who have bought into the hype of the over fermented "raisiny" goo will come after you with a vengence.

Call For Entries: The Next Generation Chocolate Competition

Posted in: News & New Product Press

You are correct sarah...now we have to see if we "make the cut"....I sent nude photos of myself in with the bio....probably a bad idea in retrospect....

Call For Entries: The Next Generation Chocolate Competition

Posted in: News & New Product Press

hey curtis???I just read the official rules and saw that it wants chocolatiers with under 5 years in business. I assume those of us who participated in 2003 are now disqualified? Me, chris, bethany, kee? make the cut-off 6 years and we are in!

Call For Entries: The Next Generation Chocolate Competition

Posted in: News & New Product Press

yes......I now have to choose which bon bon will kill the competition......just leave them wimpering in wonderment at the majesty of my creations....

Call For Entries: The Next Generation Chocolate Competition

Posted in: News & New Product Press

So curtis?-clay?can we enter 2 different pieces? or is it limited to one? I just developed a new one that fits the criteria that is absolutely out of this world good. I mean broke da mouf good.so-can i? pretty please? with sugar and salt on top?

Call For Entries: The Next Generation Chocolate Competition

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Thanks clay....it was my first contest.

Vivid metaphors

Posted in: Tasting Notes

and that begs to question....do we eat it or sleep with it???

Trends from the World's Top Chocolate Artisans

Posted in: News & New Product Press

A lot of people were scribbling hard cybele.we did, however touch upon many subjects. My favorites being the edumacation of the american palate in regards to finer chocolate, the inherent retailer/producer struggle of shelf life for finer chocolates, the incredibly high and rising cost of basic ingredients and shipping, and the Mass vs. Artisan approach.....gwen would probably have a better handle on what was actually said ....my memory is shot

Trends from the World's Top Chocolate Artisans

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Well that was fast and furious. It was nice to meet you gwen. I am not sure we accomplished a damn thing in 45 minutes but we gave it a good shot.

Trends from the World's Top Chocolate Artisans

Posted in: News & New Product Press

so you wanna go drinking with the big boys do ya?well well well......I must warn you my chicago crew has nefarious ways and means and we often watch the sunrise from atop the sears tower after an all night binge.....of chocolate, or course...

Trends from the World's Top Chocolate Artisans

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Looking forward to meeting you gwen. This is very last minute but i am honored to have been chosen as a "trendsetter". My friend "paul" from chefrubber is the moderator; should be fairly lively.nothing like an all expense paid 48 hour journey to chicago.

Trends from the World's Top Chocolate Artisans

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Tuesday, May 20th at the All Candy Expo in Chiciago 3:30pmPanelists: Michael Antonorsi, Chuao Chocolatier Master Chef and Elaine Gonzalez, Master Chocolatier Emerita, and Jeff Shepherd, Chocolatier and Organic farmer of Lillie Belle Farms Hand Made ChocolatesJoin our panel of top chocolate artisans for a delicious afternoon Hot Chocolate drink and a look at the hottest new trends in gourmet chocolates relating to consumers, flavors, products, points of distribution, sales and markets.
updated by @Jeff: 04/10/15 23:48:08

Instructed tasting of Milk Chocolate at the Fancy Food Show on June 29-July 1

Posted in: News & New Product Press

alexander is coming to NYC? that sly sly dog.... I will be there as well, downstairs in some booth number whose digits I cant remember right now...butIf you have not met mr. morozoff yet you are in for a treat.he will be attending two tastings next week in phoenix arizona that I am doing with fritz Knipshildt and Chatham kitz of chathams fine chocolates. we are pairing our chocolates and some fine wines at 2 Morton's restaraunts in scottsdale and phoenix. It will be the 3 amigos gone wild before mother's day ends.

Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

we make it and sell it wholesale.....get in touch

Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate

Posted in: Tasting Notes

Getting Smoked Blue Cheese to actually work was hard. And it certainly qualifies as weird

American, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers: A Complete List

Posted in: Tasting Notes

I figured as muchhey cybele....we made a new bar and I thought of you...its called;"DO NOT EAT THIS CHOCOLATE!"

American, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers: A Complete List

Posted in: Tasting Notes

andrea,it is not on our website for a reason. we just started it and have only slowly allowed the public who walks into our store the opportunity to try and buy. I have no intention of selling our bean to bar on our website at this current time. I need a new SKU like I need another hole in my head. besides, I went through 10 metric tons of couverture last year...I am not going to be able to ever make that kind of quantity.jeff