Cleaning Molds

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Permalink Reply by mirihn on January 22, 2013 at 8:10pm

I'm interested to hear replies, too.  My health department expects everything to be sanitized in a dishwasher, with temperature sensitive stickers to prove that the water got up to 160F.   But I also keep reading that you should never wash molds, etc.   

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Permalink Reply by Laura Trairatnobhas on January 23, 2013 at 3:46am

I contacted the manufacturer of my polycarbonate molds, and they specifically said DON'T put them in the dishwasher . . . now what?

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Permalink Reply by Christopher M Koshak on January 23, 2013 at 8:46pm

My local health dept. is great when it comes to this, they know their stuff and don't bust my chops about not sanitizing my molds. Once the chocolates are out of the molds I put the molds into my warming cabinet and then wipe out the excess chocolate, then use cotton cosmetic wipes to shine them and they are ready to use again. The health dept. is fine with this method. If there is something stubborn stuck in the mold such as caramel I run it under hot water and dry it quickly as to not leave water marks on them.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Radcliffe on June 7, 2013 at 11:03pm

I tried this method for nearly a year and every single piece of chocolate came out of the molds looking like there were finger prints all over them. Mind you, I followed this method, polishing them with cotton cosmetic wipes, and could never get a perfect shinny result. Long, frustrating story, short, I rinse them in hot water and then I put them through the dishwasher. Now, every single molded piece comes out with a perfectly bright shine. Spotless. No finger prints. Just gorgeous!  So all this talk about not putting molds in the dishwasher certainly doesn't hold-water in my experience.

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Permalink Reply by Brad Churchill on January 24, 2013 at 10:16pm

If you are just using chocolate in the molds and not egg products, then there is no need to.  Some health inspectors need to be educated with regard to the risk of chocolate as a confection (almost zero).  Your inspector probably just doesn't know.

 

I just went through a thorough inspection of a new store with a health inspector who wasn't familiar with chocolate.  He looked at the solid chocolate in my tempering machines (the bloom kind of looks like crystally mould), and asked how often we wash them.  I told him "We don't."  He was very surprised.  I then had to explain to him about water and chocolate, and the moisture content in chocolate not being conducive to pathogen growth.  After that, he was fine.

 

If you still have trouble, go over your inspector's head and get the straight goods from his/her supervisor.

 

Having said that, maybe your shop is so messy that they just said "this guy's a pig and needs to clean EVERYTHING."  (not that I'm saying you're messy.  I just don't know.)

 

Cheers.

Brad

 

Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Lawrence danielka on June 8, 2013 at 8:43pm

Hello Everyone

So I get some free moulds a few weeks ago. I was very happy about this. After getting them home I found a lot of little black specks in the detail parts of the moulds. The moulds were outside in a storage unit. Are these dark specks normal? Meaning left over chocolate ad someone did not clean these out very good? I took  Q-tips and paper towels to the moulds after runing through the dishwasher.  Some of the dark spots came out but some did not. I am not sure if they did not come out due to not being able to reaching in to the small detailed space or if the are embedded in the mould. Does any one have a better way to get in to these small spaces with out scratching the mould?  I have add pictures. Please tell me what you think. I only ask because I would never put chocolate in it for someone if I would not eat out of it my self.

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