Michael Arnovitz's Page

"You might try something like this: http://www.pastrychef.com/CONFECTIONERY-FUNNEL--ECONOMY_p_2176.html"

"Clay - in regard to the conche you refer to at the end of your post, I have seen universal conches that look like a small Macintyre. I think Brad uses something like this. Is this what you are referring to? I had no idea that they were that much…"

"Matt could you be a little more specific about the problems you've had with the chocovision? I've seen a few people complain about the smaller chocovision temperers, but the people who own the larger ones seem to really like them. Did…"

"Glenn - I noticed in the classified section that you had one of Cocoatown's large predgrinders. Could I ask you your opinion of the grinder? (How it held up. Did it grind as well and as fast they say, etc?) I've been looking into different…"

"There's a Seattle chocolate company called "Intrigue Chocolates" that does exactly this. They tell people that their chocolate (interestingly they call their product "chocolate" or "truffles" but never…"

"The Askinosie Davao white chocolate bar has no vanilla. But I don't know if it's available in professional weights such as multi-kilo bars. Then again they're not a huge outfit, so if you need enough they would probably hook you up."

"Clay – Re: your question, “Still the questions remain, what are more of the characteristics that define this $100 bar?” My take on this is similar to Lane’s. Among other things I own a marketing company, so from a purely…"

"Clay:  I have been thinking about these types of questions for some time now. Here are my thoughts. In regard to who is going to be the Starbucks of chocolate my answer is that I don’t know, nor do I know if there even will be a Starbucks…"

"I’ve been saying this for some time, and I will continue to press my case: when it comes to efforts to raise the apparent value (and price) of chocolate, the model should not be wine. The model should be coffee. For the first 100 years after…"

"Clay - Omar seems to be talking only about roasting nuts, so I think he'll be fine with either a fluid bed or a drum. But this brings up a point I was wondering about: if a drum roaster at typical speeds is too rough for cacao beans,…"

"Omar - one other idea. The nut roasting machines you linked to look like drum roasters. If you are OK with using a drum roaster instead of a fluid bed you might want to also take a look at Toper. They are another Turkish company, and as far as I…"

"You are looking for what's called a fluid bed roaster. Some people also call it a Sivetz roaster. They are not as common as drum roasters, except at the industrial level, and I know that in the artisanal coffee industry there is a lot of debate…"

"I'm no expert, but my understanding is that ganache typically breaks for two reasons: too much fat or too low of a temperature when agitating. Since you are having more breaking with less cream the fat content does not appear to be the issue…"