The Chocolate Life

Discover Chocolate and Live La Vida Cocoa!

The on-line community for chocophiles, and aspiring chocophiles, to explore, learn, and share.

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Anissa Talbi replied to Anissa Talbi's discussion Companies shipping Less than Container Loads Reefer (refrigerated) from France to New Zealand. in the group Chocolate Down Under
"Hi Marco, the company I work with import wine. So the temperature range is very compatible :-) I havent even considered air freight, is it worth it? Not too expensive?"
14 minutes ago
Marco Dabizzi replied to Anissa Talbi's discussion Companies shipping Less than Container Loads Reefer (refrigerated) from France to New Zealand. in the group Chocolate Down Under
"Hi Anissa, With refrigerated LCL you have to be careful, because most of them are at 4°C or less and that's not good for chocolate. It's 4 years now that I import chocolate from Italy to Australia, and I'm still using air freight…"
28 minutes ago
Michelle and Stacy Noland are now friends
51 minutes ago
Clarah Manuhwa posted a discussion

financing a chocolate shop

I know so many of you started their own chocolate shops. I was wondering how much it costs to start a chocolate shop. I know it depends upon a lot of factors including location and size.  Any information would be very helpful to plan ahead.See More
1 hour ago
Kerry replied to Lawrence danielka's discussion Tempering Machine VS Melter
"I second the Mold'art.  I have 3.  I like the capacity and ease of dumping back into them when making molds. "
1 hour ago
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Is 95% of what we know about #chocolate  rubbish http://t.co/lIZ9URj2d5... http://t.co/1wGVGHwLQd
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Is searching for the best #chocolate in the world a waste of time? http://t.co/S6jkKWx6gr... http://t.co/6junx0eVfn
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Food and Wine picks the top chocolates in the US - http://t.co/hdo4TFNBWS... http://t.co/cOs5JU9ZoW
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Is 95% of what we know about #chocolate rubbish http://bit.ly/14lbIXp... by on TheChocolateLife on Google+.

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Is searching for the best #chocolate in the world a waste of time? http://bit.ly/14lbIqu... by on TheChocolateLife on Google+.

Clay Gordon - Google+ - Is searching for the best #chocolate in the world a waste…

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Food and Wine picks the top chocolates in the US - http://bit.ly/14lbIa0... by on TheChocolateLife on Google+.

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Clarah Manuhwa updated their profile
2 hours ago
Clarah Manuhwa liked Melody Schmidt's profile
3 hours ago
Michelle added a discussion to the group Classifieds - For Sale or Wanted
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FOR SALE - CONFECTIONERY GUITAR CUTTER

This Dedy Gmbh Confectionary Guitar Cutter is made in Germany and has two interchangeable cutting frames.  It has only been used twice and is in mint condition with no damage of any type and absolutely clean.  To purchase it brand new I just priced out the base and frames at more than $2,600.  This set is selling for $1,600.00 plus shipping costs.  I am in Maryland.The Confectionary Guitar Cutter Set includes:Metal Base (Cutting Frame with 5mm partitions):  Dimensions of Actual Cutting Base:…See More
3 hours ago
Michelle updated their profile
3 hours ago
Clarah Manuhwa shared a profile on Twitter
3 hours ago
Clarah Manuhwa posted photos
3 hours ago
Brad Churchill replied to Evan Langendorf's discussion Emerging Chocolatier with questions.
"Clay; Your first paragraph implies that I failed to credit the content of this site. That's not true.  I credited this site equally.  by referring to ".....THIS AND Chocolate Alchemy's site."   Cheers. Brad"
4 hours ago
Anna Lovelight posted a status
"Finally made the time to join the Chocolate Life! Yeahhhh. Choco Hugs to your sunday!"
4 hours ago
Profile Iconnancy galvez, Harleen Jao, Larry Bassetto and 2 more joined The Chocolate Life
4 hours ago
 

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Forum

financing a chocolate shop

Started by Clarah Manuhwa in Chocolate Education 1 hour ago. 0 Replies

I know so many of you started their own chocolate shops. I was wondering how much it costs to start a chocolate shop. I know it depends upon a lot of factors including location and size.  Any information would be very helpful to plan ahead.Continue

Tags: start-ups, finances, shop, chocolate

Tempering Machine VS Melter

Started by Lawrence danielka in Opinion. Last reply by Kerry 1 hour ago. 5 Replies

Good day to EveryoneI have been thinking about expanding my hobby chocolate making into a small business. I have been tempering by hand and melting on a double boiler for 1.5-2 lbs batch at a time, but I think it might be time to upgrade. I only…Continue

Tags: temper, machine, tempering, melter

Emerging Chocolatier with questions.

Started by Evan Langendorf in Opinion. Last reply by Brad Churchill 4 hours ago. 6 Replies

Hello everyone! First of all I would like to give thanks to all who contribute to such a wonderful site, the information has been hugely helpful for me so far. I have a few questions that havent been exactly covered or at least I havent found them.…Continue

Working on a cocoa farm

Started by Sarah Ariella Shapiro in Travels & Adventures. Last reply by Peter Kring yesterday. 6 Replies

Hi All,I'm traveling down to Costa Rica this October, and was wondering if anyone knew of any working cocoa plantations, farms or coops I could possibly work on for a few weeks.Thank you for your help,SarahContinue

Where to buy transfer sheets (USA)

Started by Veronique in Tips, Tricks, and Techniques. Last reply by Daniel Herskovic yesterday. 4 Replies

I just started my explorations into making my own chocolates and I have been looking around for companies that sell transfer sheets and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions.Any help is welcome.Continue

melanger necessary?

Started by beth campbell in Tech Help. Last reply by Clay Gordon yesterday. 11 Replies

Wondering if anyone knows if a conching or melanger is necessary to mix cacao powder, butter and sugar, or does it have to be liqeur?Continue

Choosing the right chocolate?

Started by Mike Mills in Opinion. Last reply by Nick Henderson on Wednesday. 2 Replies

Really exciting time as we're shortly due to open our first chocolate factory shop in the UK. Now that the reall leg work has started, we are currently looking at suppliers of raw materials and I was absoluteley astounded by the sheer number of…Continue

Tags: types, choosing, choice, chocolate

chocolate is not as liquid as it should be.

Started by Aishwarya darshan in Tech Help on Wednesday. 0 Replies

    I made my first batch of dark chocolate (40%). i added 30% of cocoa liquor 10% cocoa butter 60% sugar and 0.5% soya lecithin. I did the conching it for 18 hours in my stone wet grinder. at around 150 F. my end product do taste good but its not…Continue

Washing Strawberries

Started by Karen Blueberry in Tips, Tricks, and Techniques. Last reply by Jeffray D. Gardner on Tuesday. 4 Replies

Can anyone give me advise on the best way to wash & prepare strawberries before dipping them?Many Thanks,KarenContinue

Opening a retail chocolate shop

Started by Karen Neugebauer in Opinion. Last reply by Mim on Tuesday. 22 Replies

Hi Everyone.  This is a question for all of you that have started your own chocolate shop.I am the owner of Forte Chocolates in WA. Currently, we do about 50/50 wholesale to retail and make 200-250k a year. Retail comes from various shows and…Continue

Tags: artisan, new, revenue, store, Chocolate

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Blog Posts

small winnower may not perfect but functional :)

Posted by Thomas Kesselring on May 16, 2013 at 6:30pm 0 Comments

i found an good winnower that is less than 4.000 USD :) here is an link:

http://chocolatealchemy2.myshopify.com/collections/equipment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMPt1SiNSKE&feature=player_embedded

i love this guy. he is an genius. :)

Sincerely

Thomas

addicted to chocolate song

Posted by teddy on May 13, 2013 at 10:00am 0 Comments

 Hello Guys. I just wanted to let everybody know about a new song called "Addicted to Chocolate" by a London girl band. I think its exactly how us chocolate lovers feel. At least that how I feel.  enjoy.  ( cut and paste youtube link)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unQF4Ri_zKc

Suggestions of the Best Commercial Recipe for Spanish Thick Chocolate for Churros Dipping

Posted by Neville on April 25, 2013 at 7:56pm 0 Comments

Any ideas for doing this in bulk for festivals etc

Anatomy of a Tasting Menu

Posted by Clay Gordon on April 21, 2013 at 12:00pm 0 Comments

I am often asked ... about how I approach my pairings, where I get my inspirations, and what my thought processes are. I recently had the opportunity to conceive and prepare a five–course prix fixe tasting dinner at Jimmy's #43, a craft beer bar and restaurant in New York's East Village. The occasion was April, which at Jimmy's is the inspiration for April Sours month - a celebration of sours, Lambics, and wild ferments. As I was working on the menu I…

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Starting slowly - Picked up a free granite slab this morning!

Posted by Kaydee Kreitlow on March 30, 2013 at 1:30pm 0 Comments

I am interested in starting my own chocolate company. While I am getting the finances together and researching business requirements etc. I am teaching myself how to make chocolates more precisely (and more important, to get excellent results every time!)

I was looking online at marble slabs and I found one for about $50 with no guarantees for the piece arriving whole to my doorstep. Then I checked my local Home Depot and Lowe's and i couldn't buy a single tile 18" x 18" but I…

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3D Chocolate Easter Egg Art

Posted by redman on March 28, 2013 at 10:41am 0 Comments

As a new member and in the spirit of the Easter Bunny, since I cant share real chocolate with you, I did the next best thing, and created a series of 3D Model Eggs and applied real chocolate textures to them . I also created 3D individual gold egg holders to place them in and then created a realistic rendering of the models into this picture…

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