The Science of Chocolate

Comment

Comment by Daniela Vasquez on August 9, 2012 at 11:44pm

Anyone knows or has an article about cocoa butter? About the crystals and everything. I've already read things on the internet but I want to know more!

Comment by Solis Lujan on August 21, 2011 at 5:46pm

Daniel, Thanks for the info. I am certainly going to try the "nitrogen cavitation" for my own personal use. Right know I am infusing about 1/2 a gallon of Everclear & cacao at a time so the nitrogen cavitation will not work unless they make a huge nitrogen dispenser.

I purify Everclear through a Brita filter 3 times and it gives me a product that I would say is close to a "Gray Goose". I tried using a Pur filter but it filters out too many substances and the filter gets clogged right away. You can filter any cheap liquor and improve it considerably. 

I have a lot of cacao right now so I do not have to worry about waste, but I am having trouble filtering all the oil off the finished product. I am doing cold filtration and it is just OK. Might have to go with a pro-system.

Comment by Daniel Haran on August 19, 2011 at 3:21pm

Solis: I've tried 40% vodka and 40 and 94% grain alcohols. By far the vodka was the best, without the rubbing alcohol feel; 94% was disgusting.

Ground cocoa mass infused faster. Concerned I was wasting a lot of cocoa butter, I tried cocoa powder, to terrible results - maybe because the powder was dutch processed?

One thing worth investigating is nitrogen cavitation (google "nitrogen cavitation site:cookingissues.com"), which worked quite well with nibs - and gave me results in minutes, not days! What's more, the results weren't very bitter.

If I were to investigate further, I'd like to try keeping the infusion at higher than room temperature, trying various cocoa powders and combinations with nitrogen cavitation.

Comment by Solis Lujan on August 19, 2011 at 10:12am

Does anyone else out there make liqueur from cacao beans. Not the chocolate liqueur as it is called in the chocolate world, but liqueurs from infused alcohol???

Comment by Solis Lujan on August 17, 2011 at 4:12am

I am hoping that someone at Cacao Prieto can answer some of my questions. I also make cacao liqueurs from roasted cacao bean using 100% spirits in a maceration process. There is not a lot out there in using the beans, most recipes are newly adopted to chocolate or cocoa powder. When looking at liqueur recipes for hard beans/seeds/nuts, the have a very short maceration time of about 15 days. With soft fruits, they macerate for 30 day. To this is added the time to sit in combination with the simple syrup. What do you find is a good length of time for cacao beans to macerate in the spirits? Do you find it makes any difference in using whole or crushed beans? What about using lesser % liquors for maceration, like whiskey's and brandy's. I was thinking of adding these after the the maceration in the 100% spirits as a flavor profile. I have yet to use the lesser % spirits for the entire process. 

 

There is a new distiller here in Santa Fe and I am excited to start using his products since I try to use local whenever I can.

Comment by Bhuvan on August 5, 2011 at 4:18am

Would you be interested in Single Origin cacao bean from Tolima near Ecuador region. Please email me for more details and specification. "bhuvan.thaker(@)gmail.com"

Comment by Romi Burks on July 6, 2011 at 5:14pm

Thought this was an interesting little article about "printing" chocolate:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14030720

Comment by Tegan Hagy on June 29, 2011 at 1:53pm

hello! Im wondering who has had experience using glycerine in chocolate- i know it is used in some fondants - i have a customer who infuses infusing herbs in glycerine - and was wondering if i could make a truffle or chocolate bar with the glycerine tincture! any experiences or formulas are appreciated! 

thanks!

 

tegan

Comment by Romi Burks on June 23, 2011 at 3:39pm

Next question - do people in the industry consider a subspecies the same thing as a variety?

Comment by Romi Burks on June 20, 2011 at 4:34pm

Thanks Mark.  This is a great resource on the agriculture front.  Appreciate the link!.

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