My numbers on this are three years old, reader Maria, but in 2008 you could buy unrefined chocolate liquor — on an industrial scale — for about $1.60 per pound. Separating the cocoa solids from the cocoa butter is a necessary first step in manufacturing chocolate. But separated out, the cocoa would sell for $0.60 […]
READ ONThat question from reader Dennis. The answer is yes, it is. Steel tempering involves manipulating temperature to produce crystal structures that are stronger and more stable that they’d otherwise be. It’s a more complex process, but the principle is the same.
READ ONI received lots of protests overnight from people saying, in effect: whaddya mean chocolate without milk in it is harsh? I eat dark chocolate all the time and I think it’s perfectly smooth and delicious!
I get that, for sure. But consider that back in Daniel Peter’s day chocolate was pretty rough stuff. To make a bar you pretty much just took some fermented and roasted cocoa nibs, ground them, pressed out the cocoa butter, ground them some more, added sugar, put back the cocoa butter and let the mixture set up in a mold. Bing, bang, boom, you’ve got your basic “eating” chocolate.
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…were well founded. My supplier sent it via ground by mistake. Which means it crossed the country by truck during one of the hottest weeks of the year. It shows.
READ ONReader Jacki wants to know:
If solid chocolate can be made with cocoa butter rather than milk solids, why would anyone use the milk? What is the advantage of adding dairy when the chocolate and the cocoa butter come from the same source?
Another question that I’d love to answer. Thanks Jacki! First I should point out that cocoa butter and milk solids are almost always employed together in a chocolate blend. One isn’t a substitute for the other, they’re complimentary ingredients.
READ ON…what makes one chocolate more expensive than another, the proportion of of cocoa butter is a big reason. Cocoa butter has more commercial applications than cocoa solids have, which means different industries compete for the same commodity. Cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies buy cocoa butter by the boat load, driving the price up for food makers. […]
READ ONReader Frank writes:
You mentioned that more cocoa butter causes a chocolate to melt faster. Can you explain why?
I would love to do that, Frank! You’ve of course heard the term “melting point”, a temperature at which a substance changes from solid to liquid. A melting point can be “sharp” or “broad.” A substance with a sharp melting point changes from solid to liquid very suddenly. A substance with a broad melting point changes “phases” only very slowly. In general it’s purer, more homogenous substances that have sharper melting points.
READ ONYou’ll have a coronary when you read the ingredients list for this, but the reality is it’s a very light mousse and in small quantities will only modestly shorten your life. My latest favorite cookbook author Roland Mesnier (a Frenchman who worked for years as the White House pastry chef) calls this peanut butter “cream”, but mousse is really what it is. You’ll need:
3.5 ounces (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
7.5 ounces (3/4 cup) smooth peanut butter
12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) chilled whipping cream
I know there are a lot of Paula Deen fans out there. Heck my father is one of them and he can barely boil water. I guess it’s that kooky charisma of hers, plus the way she cheerfully ignores every dietary restriction ever conceived by man. Part of the pleasure of her show is imagining the reaction of the food scolds of the world: red-faced and hooked to a blood pressure gauge that’s steadily rising.
That alone makes me want to enter this contest, so I can express my gratitude. You may have a different reason for wanting to fly to Savannah for brunch. But do me a favor if you win: tell her Joe says thanks.
READ ONPlay with chocolate. At least that’s the plan. I get a steady stream of emails from readers interested in candy making and/or molded chocolate pieces and garnishes for plated desserts. In general I put these requests off because a) I usually have a long list of baked items on my list, but more importantly: b) […]
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