Chocolate and Honey

Comment

Comment by Linda Crawford on January 31, 2013 at 10:25am

Good Morning,

I get my chocolate liquor from Mama-Ganache (formally Sweet Earth Chocolates). The chocolate is out of Peru,company is Ciranda, I know some of you are familiar with the company they get their chocolate from. They said they bring up the chocolate to 120.  That is the reason I started to go up to that temp and come to find out that is when it is completely melted.  Sometimes I add the honey at the start of the melting process..sometimes I warm the honey to about 100 and then add it when the chocolate is almost melted.  Same results.  I don't know the chemistry of it, but the honey I get is straight from the beekeeper..it is really thick,  I do know the honey changes moisture content at different times of the year here in Arizona and that hasn't affected my process. Crossing fingers.  I love honey and I just finished up some molded chocolates for the valentine season.  All turned out with no bloom!  I know some folks who do the same process, but heat their honey to a lower temp and warm the honey and add them together right before they temper on a stone.  I temper by seeding.  I know that Clay knows a lot more about the chemistry then I do..I am just glad it works..because their is some amazing honey to be had in the world.  We keep our honey local, it helps them and it keeps our costs down.  We only use honey to sweeten our products...check us out.  untamedconfections.com

Linda

Comment by Clay Gordon on January 31, 2013 at 9:42am

Colin:

Seizing is an issue with very small amounts of water in chocolate. Once you get above a certain amount, seizing is not an issue. Linda's suggestion to warm things up (120F - 48C) is a little warm for many chocolates but may be part of why this works - would be more difficult at 30C. The cocoa butter is to make it thinner as the water will tend to increase viscosity.

There are some fabulous honeys in your part of the world. Leatherwood from Tasmania and Manukah from New Zealand. Do this with Mac nuts .... yummmmmmmmmmmm.

Comment by Colin Green on January 27, 2013 at 7:23pm

Thanks a million for this Linda. I will indeed experiment. I didn't think it worth trying to be truthful due to the water content in the honey. Those tortises look pretty interesting :-)

Colin

Comment by Linda Crawford on January 27, 2013 at 7:02pm

No the mixture does not seize it just is thicker due to the honey and the cocoa butter allows the chocolate to flow so it is not so thick.  So, for instance if you want 72% chocolate add 28%  honey..and I add about an 1 oz of cocoa butter to 10 oz of chocolate.  It is really dependent on the honey and how thick it is.  I don't do a lot of measuring, but the picture that I put up earlier is the desert tortoises we make for our business.  No bloom..it does give the chocolate a different flavor profile depending on the honey you use.  I would experiment...

Comment by Colin Green on January 27, 2013 at 6:24pm

That's really interesting Linda. Thanks for that. So, as I read this, I assume that the mixture seizes but you counter that with cocoa butter? Is that correct? Linda, what proportions do you use? Is it OK to share that?

Colin :-)

Comment by Linda Crawford on January 27, 2013 at 2:42pm

Yes, I use honey with 100% dark.  It has a sheen and snaps.  I make it to 72% dark.  I heat the honey, chocolate and cocoa butter over a double boiler to 120 degrees. Take off heat, seed, stirring constantly to about 84 degrees.  It works for me.  The cocoa butter helps thin out the honey sweetened chocolate. 

Comment by Colin Green on January 26, 2013 at 6:39am

Thanks Tom. But it needs to be something I can pan.

Colin :-)

Comment by Tom on January 26, 2013 at 2:09am

You could warm the honey and make a ganache

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