Ask the Alchemist #100!!

I just got a new infrared thermometer for Christmas that I want to use to make chocolates and candies. I have gone through so many digital instant read thermometers that have been dunked in chocolate, dropped or soaked that it was time for something new.

It has an adjustable emissivity setting but I'm having a hard time finding information on the emissivity of chocolate and melted sugar/caramel. I'm excited to get started but I know the accuracy is highly reliant on using the correct emissivity setting. Am I just looking in the wrong places or do people not usually use infrared thermometers in the kitchen?

First, congratulations on your new toy/tool. I personally use one in my own kitchen and for my own chocolate making. But only for certain items. And only after verifying them with a contact thermometer that I have personally calibrated beforehand.

And that sums up my entire answer to your question. If you notice, I didn’t mention emissivity at all. The reason, in short is summed up in this disclaimer that you can find on nearly every emissivity table.

"The accuracy of the following figures is almost impossible to guarantee as the emissivity of a surface will not only alter with regard to texture and color but also with its actual temperature at the time of measurement"

Nice, huh? What I take away from this is that the table is good for one thing and one thing only. Looking up to see if your surface is close to 1.0. If It is, great, you have a CHANCE of using your IR thermometer. If it isn’t, then just don’t bother because the value is worth the paper it is printed on.

Ok, before we get much further, I would be negligent if I didn’t digress and actually define some of the terms and technical jargon that I’m using. First off, the potentially too technical version:

"Emissivity is a measure of the efficiency in which a surface emits thermal energy. It is defined as the fraction of energy being emitted relative to that emitted by a thermally black surface (a black body). A black body is a material that is a perfect emitter of heat energy and has an emissivity value of 1. A material with an emissivity value of 0 would be considered a perfect thermal (IR) mirror.

For example, if an object had the potential to emit 100 units of energy but only emits 90 units in the real world, then that object would have an emissivity value of 0.90. In the real world there are no perfect "black bodies" and very few perfect infrared mirrors so most objects have an emissivity between 0 and 1."

If you get that, great and wonderful. If not, let’s break it apart a little. Infrared thermometers read the incoming infrared radiation that a surface gives off (emits) and translate that to a temperature you can see. Most people don’t think of surfaces emitting radiation (they do). On the other hand, most people understand that a surface can be reflective. Mirrors are reflective. Shiny metal pots are reflective. If you have the chance of seeing yourself reflective in a surface, then it’s reflective. And if you have that down, then thinking the opposite direction tells you if a surface ‘emits’ well. For our discussion, reflector and emitter are synonyms. The real world use of this goes like this: “can I see or sort of see myself in that thing I want to measure?”. A mirror? Sure can! Then it is a reflector and if it is a reflector it can’t be a good emitter. It’s that easy. Where it gets difficult (sort of) is a when a surface is ‘sort of’ reflective. But really, it’s still easy. “Is that glass kind of reflective?” Yeah, kind of. Then it will only be sort of good at emitting and since we need only really great emitters then that surface in question is no good for an IR thermometer.

"If you were to point an infrared thermometer with fixed emissivity at the side of a stainless steel pot filled with boiling water, for example, you might get a reading closer to 110°F than 212°F. That’s because the shiny metal is better at reflecting the ambient radiation of the room than it is at emitting its own infrared radiation."

And really, that’s all the tables are really good for. Giving you a quick idea whether you have a good emitter or not. There are a few curve balls in there. Glass blocks infrared so all bets are off there. And in theory water emits well, but my experience says the pot it is in and how close it is to boiling changes your readings a lot. And gravel. It’s not reflective. Should be a great emitter…but practice rules the day. It reads somewhere around 0.3. Like it is a polished surface. Go figure.

Let’s get to the practical now, like they did for that gravel. You have a IR thermometer with an adjustable emissivity setting. Great. You can adjust (or calibrate it) for a given surface (the stainless steel pot above). But you would not do it by looking up the value in a table. They make a big deal about the lack of accuracy of those tables remember? You would do it by placing a probe on the surface and then pointing your IR thermometer at it (but not on the tape) and changing your setting until the two readings are close enough for you. Just like this.

But now the chemist in me rears its head. And maybe you caught it too. How do I/you know the probe is any good? Well, you HAVE to verify it. How? Well, you put in on something you know the temperature of. For you (and me) there are two things in your kitchen you can count on. Ice and boiling water. 32 F and 212 F (or a little lower if you are at elevation – google it or ask me). I picked that thermometer you see because time and again it reads within one degree at both ranges out of the package every time I test one. That’s why I offer it. So you don’t have to calibrate or verify it if you don’t want. Because honestly, most people don’t think to or even know they should, and I know and accept that. But now you do, and should.

This all comes back around to wanting the emissivity of chocolate. But hopefully, by now you see you were looking for something that even if you found it, would do you little good. What you want to do is this.

Do they match (you verified that other thermometer, right?)? If so, then you are done. If not, adjust the emissivity setting until they do. That’s all there is to it. Oh, and my opinion (again worth the paper it’s printed on)…chocolate. Sure. Melted (reflective?) sugar (in a shiny pot)….maybe but I wouldn’t hold my breath. But you were going to verify it anyway.

Ask the Alchemist #98

Valrhona chocolate shows heating the chocolate up to 131F at first… not just 120 or so. I would think would be plenty hot enough. Why so hot? Is that aimed at large batches? I would like to know how Valrhona is able to melt their chocolate at 131F without burning it. On the tempering curve, they show melting at that temp in stage 1, then dropping to 82 then back up to 88-89. Is their chocolate a difficult one to melt out all the crystal formations before tempering/re-tempering?

The answer that jumps to mind is "there are many ways to skin a cat"…. and that is not super helpful. What I really mean is that there are lots of ways you can melt and temper chocolate, but many ways have extra steps or go way beyond what is needed to get the job done. 131 F to melt. This is one of those nearly unanswerable "why"questions. I’d have to be inside the person’s head that wrote it to know. It does convert exactly to 55 C. That’s a nice whole number.

Maybe it was initially 50 C and someone keyed it in wrong for the conversation. That would have been 122 F.

Maybe their process is such that they have to pump it and lost too much heat, so they needed a hotter starting point to prevent it solidifying in the pumps.

Maybe it’s purple and ice cream has no bones. I really don’t know.

What I do know is that it isn’t needed in general. You don’t even need 122 F. I just tempered a batch of chocolate yesterday and I used 102 F. Why 102 F and not 100 F? Well, it certainly was not because it had to be 102 F. It’s simply that when I pulled it out of the over it was 102 F so I went with it. My chocolate was no easier nor harder than their chocolate to "melt out all the crystal formations". Chocolate and chemistry of this sort just doesn’t work that way. You have six basic forms of crystal formation in chocolate and they all melt the same and act the same…because they are the same. You know, quack quack, feathers, must be a duck and all.

Finally, there is this odd (to me) notion about burning chocolate at these low temperatures. Let’s clear that up. You can’t burn chocolate if ALL of the chocolate is under 451 F. That said, you can overheat it at less than that. I found some claims that you can overheat it as low as 120-130…but my major issue with these snippets of data is that I’ve routinely had chocolate well into the 140’s in the Melanger, and the ‘delicate’ milk chocolates that should be kept lower I’ve had into the 160’s…..and none burned and none even separated. The latter being the supposed danger of over heating.

Personally I think it is just a persistent myth perpetuated from the disasters of directly heating chocolate in a pan on a stove top. Someone tries to melt chocolate via direct heat on a stove top and it ends up stuck to the bottom, scorches (burns), they note the temperature and its 135 F.and Bob’s your uncle. Chocolate burns at 135 F – NOT! The surface where the chocolate was touching was WELL over 135F. Doing a very fast test in my kitchen, with my gas range, I show over 500 F on the outside of the pan…with solid chocolate in the pan. That’s why they recommend heating and melting chocolate over a bowl of boiling water. It can only get to 212 F...a temperature that won’t burn chocolate. That’s how and why you can heat chocolate to 130 F and not burn it…because chocolate doesn’t burn at that temperature.

While researching this I did find a number of notes that chocolate can separate if overheated.but I personally, in over 40 years of working with chocolate, and over 10 making it, have never, ever, once separated chocolate. I won’t say it can’t be done, but I feel pretty good in saying you aren’t going to causally do it. While melting 50 lbs of chocolate for truffles this year, I tossed the whole lot into my oven at 350 F (a mistake actually) and came back to the entire lot over 170 F…..and guess what? No burned chocolate. No separated chocolate. No change in flavor. Just hot chocolate. Maybe others have done it. Maybe it was with chocolate with other ingredients. Maybe purple, because ice cream has no bones. All I know is that there is a LOT of information out there on the web that directly contradicts what I’ve seen first-hand, therefore I have to discount it as rumor, myth or incomplete information. The only other option I can come up with is to think my chocolate and my technique is so much better or special than everyone else's and I just don’t believe that. I’m just me and it’s just chocolate.

Happy holidays everyone. I’m off to make a steamed English pudding…maybe with chocolate. I wonder how a Chocolate Spotted Dick would be?

Ask the Alchemist #97 - And holiday schedule

Before we get to this week's Ask the Alchemist; a few announcements.  First, the Holidays.  We will be closed:

12/24/14 - 1/4/15.  Basically Christmas Eve through the New Year's weekend.

I'll be answering e-mail off and on, but no shipping in this time.  It is family time!

You have until 9 am PST 12/23/14 to get orders in if you want them to ship before we close.

With that in mind, I would not advise waiting until the new year if you want any of the Peru Maranon.  It was well over half gone (hundreds of pounds) in two days.  The last bag is opened and going fast. You have been warned.

On to this week's question.

Do you have any tales to tell about additional ingredients you’ve added to the chocolate during the refining process (nuts, toasted coconut, coffee, salt, etc.). Other than water content, anything to watch-out for?

Well, er, um…..if I can’t talk about water to watch out for, then I can’t think of a whole lot. That seems to be the place where all issues start. So instead I will just talk about things I’ve tried via free association.

Praline. 50/50 hazelnuts/sugar. You can make it either with granulated sugar or sugar you have caramelized. I’ve tried it both ways and as pretty as the sheets of burnt umber sugar glass were, they loved to suck up moisture, and in the end, I liked the flavor of the granular better.

Nutella. This is easy. Just roast up your hazelnuts as you would the cocoa and mix in anywhere from 1/4 – 3/4 in with your chocolate. It really depends on what you are after. It takes a bit of a balance if you want it just solid or just spreadable but it’s not all that hard. Start 50/50 and go from there.

Nut butters. Same. If you can do chocolate, then you can make nut butters. And they are actually easier. Do keep an eye out if you try it raw. The moisture can cause shearing against the oil, and can still seize.

And remember for all those, dry sugars. No honey, agave, etc. unless you stir it in by had at the end. Just not in the Melanger.

From a request by my daughter, we have made unsweetened milk chocolate more than once. At 20-30% milk powder, there is plenty of residual sweetness from lactose to make a great chocolate.

And from there, if you toss in roasted coffee (2-6 oz / lb) then you can end up with a really interesting ‘mocha’ bar. The coffee will refine right down.

On the same coffee rift, if you start with white chocolate, and add coffee, you have what I call a latte bar. And of course you could add coffee to any dark chocolate.

Spices for me come to mind next. Nutmeg. Cinnamon. Cardamom. The all grind up just find and add some great flavor options. And of course, peppers are hot right now (yes, that was on purpose). You can add any selection of dried peppers right to the Melanger. I do like to pre-powder these, but if you do, be REALLY careful. You do not want to be breathing in hot pepper dust. Chipotle chocolate? Damn straight!

That leads me kitchen spices. The most fun I have had was with one that had parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. It’s amazing how many people could not suss out the flavors. It was very familiar but so out of context it stumped nearly everyone. Basil chocolate anyone? How about tarragon? Lavender?

What else is herb like? Friendly chocolate? Sure, if that is your thing. It would certainly be aromatic. More to my taste would be something else aromatic. How about hops! Hopped chocolate! Just remove the stems and in it goes. And 5-10 % malt (dry) and suddenly you have ‘beer’ chocolate.

Finally, if you really have to indulge your wet ingredients, there might I suggest truffles? The centers and coatings just spiral out of control. I’ve worked out this year that you don’t need cream at all for a truffle filling. Any liquid will do. Just keep the proportions 2:1 chocolate to liquid and you are there. This year I and friends made over 1300 truffles out of the 50+ pounds of various evaluation chocolate I had laying around. Just look at what you can do.

Cherry/rum. Just blend rum pot cherries in a blender and strain. That’s your liquid.

Pear liquor

Scotch/sugar

Rose water

Orange water

Chai (just steep any number of teas in your cream and away you go)

Earl Grey (for my daughter)

Eggnog (my personal favorite)

And the filling does not have to start with dark chocolate. Grab one of those variations above. Chipotle? Mocha?

And then coatings!!!!

Sure, anyone can roll them in cocoa powder. But how about powdered rose petals? Or nutmeg. Coffee. Cinnamon. Cardamom? Yes!!! For all those you really need to ‘cut’ them with a bit of sugar. It’s amazing how strong they are. 1:5 – 1:10. But it is up to you. Remember that earl grey center? Earl Grey and sugar makes a great coating! You have that interesting blueberry tea. Sure! Raspberry? That works! It’s really up to your imagination.

I’ll leave you with this as the height of our 2014 truffle fest experimentation.

Chai/eggnog center with a Hot ginger/curry/cardamom coating on a tiny 1/4 oz truffle ‘shooter’. So intense but gone in a flash.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Ask the Alchemist #96

How can you recommend lecithin? It is toxic from being a refinery waste and full of chemicals.

Well, when you put it like that, it sounds like pretty awful stuff. Unfortunately it’s also written (maybe not on purpose) to sound very much worse than it is and inflammatory to boot.

Let’s get the first part out of the way. I can recommend it because I don’t see any supporting data backing up that it is toxic nor ‘full of chemicals’. Basically I disagree with the assertion.

Now let’s get into the whys. This quote seems to sum up what you are talking about:

“Soybean lecithin comes from sludge left after crude soy oil goes through a ‘degumming’ process. It is a waste product containing solvents and pesticides and has a consistency ranging from a gummy fluid to a plastic solid. Before being bleached to a more appealing light yellow, the color of lecithin ranges from a dirty tan to reddish brown. The hexane extraction process commonly used in soybean oil manufacture today yields less lecithin than the older ethanol-benzol process, but produces a more marketable lecithin with better color, reduced odor and less bitter flavor.”

First off, let’s cut through the hot button words. “Sludge”. It makes one think of nasty stuff at the bottom of a pond, outhouse or sewage treatment plant, doesn’t it. I’d say that is the intent. To make you think it is ‘contaminated’. How about we consult Webster?

Sludge “a muddy or slushy mass, deposit, or sediment”. Personally, I don’t find that nearly as hot button. It just means it’s a mixture of solids and water. And to that I say, so? Or think of it this way. Gravy. That luscious, yummy, flavor packed concoction that is made from the ‘sludge’ of roasting or frying meat. It’s all in the spin.

Next. the assertion it comes from the ‘waste’ of a process. Well…yeah. The whole point initially was that you are cleaning up something. Therefore, sort of by definition, you have what you want (product), and what you are trying to get rid of (waste). But that is arbitrary. It’s like the definition of a weed. It’s just a plant you don’t want in your garden. But again (and I’m pulling from others I’ve talked to about this) the take on the word "waste" is that it is tantamount to "body waste" or fecal matter.

But it’s no more that form of "waste" than using onion skins to dye Easter eggs. This is bad how? Sounds frugal to me.

Now the "gummy fluid…and solid plastic". Err? So? It’s a gummy solid because it contains a bunch of emulsifiers!!! And saying it’s of the consistency of a plastic solid doesn’t make it a plastic solid. It just means there is less water in it. After that we have ”bleaching” and the implication that it’s done only for the appealing color. What’s missed is the chemistry behind an alkaline wash as a clean up step. It’s just a way to separate impurities (waste) from the new product (the lecithin) we want.

As for the hexane extraction producing a better product (less color, odor and better tasting) with a lower yield, how is this bad? Seems you want (at least I do) quality over quantity. Don’t you?

Finally, I’m going to circle back to the "waste product containing solvents and pesticides”. This does NOT say the lecithin contains solvents and pesticides. It says the "muddy mixture we are starting with, that we want to clean up” contains solvents and pesticides…that we are going to remove in our hexane extraction and alkaline clean up procedure.

But what about hexane and pesticides in the lecithin that aren’t removed? I am so glad you asked! It took me a bit of research, and frankly the numbers are all over the board, and the calculation are a bit heavy to get into here without totally losing you, but this is what I found.

Standard lecithin can contain 100-500 ppm of hexane and pesticides (the later being 3-5 orders of magnitude smaller)…..BUT you don’t eat lecithin!! You add it in very small amounts to chocolate. And the amount you end up eating is TINY!!! I could toss a number out to you , but it would have so many zeros in it as to be basically incomprehensible. So I took another common activity where you are exposed to hexane. Driving in a car. Day in, day out you are exposed to hexane fumes from driving around. Ready for this? Based on lung capacity, monitored hexane levels in a variety of locations and standard breathing patterns, on average you take 3 times more hexane in EVERY MINUTE of driving than eating 2 oz of chocolate with 1% lecithin in it. And for "full disclosure", the spread of data is wide. It goes from 15 times more hexane per minute to 10 minutes driving equaling 2 oz chocolate. So even at worst case, I don’t see what there is to be up in arms about.

Here is an article that has a good discussion on chemical exposure in a similar vein.

If anything, I find it laudable that someone found a way to take the waste product of one procedure and turn it into the starting material of another process, thereby increasing the overall use of the original product. Sounds down right ecologically responsible and frugal to me.

With all of that though, and with no implication, I don’t believe every bit of it. I have also researched and brought in a new 100% organic lecithin. You’ll note it’s quite a bit more expensive, as there are quite the technological obstacles to overcome in its production, but in this case you still have quality.

Enjoy!

New Origin in stock

For the first time in 10 years I have a Brazilian cocoa that doesn't taste like dirt.  In this case, it smells like the State Fair.  At least when it's roasting and you associate deep fried donuts with the State Fair.  Really.  Crazy I know. Brazil Organic 2014

".... character comes through with dry leather and leaf (not smoke) Tabaco and wood oak tannins.  There is this really interesting hint of white peppercorn and spicy fruit....."

And look for Fair Trade Ivory coast (the ONLY way I will offer Ivory Coast), a delightful Venezuelan Cuyagua and a third Peru in the next week or so.

Equipment updates

Sylph winnower - We have been having an issue finding certain parts, but have a small production run started. They should be available at the beginning of December. Behmor 1600+ - These are now in stock but going very fast. Premier Grinder - I am no longer offering these units.  But it has nothing at all to do with their suitability for chocolate making.  They continue to work just fine.  And I am also offering parts and warranty support for them.   Feel free to contact me if you are not sure where to find one.  Or check the forum.

Upgrades 11/18 - 11/25

Hey everyone.  We are doing a major server and database update and as my illustrious CTO puts it, 'sh!t may get weird' so if it does, we are aware, and just carry on.  Stores will be unaffected. Thanks!

https://twitter.com/alchmstnotweet

Consider it instant notification of new beans and such. https://twitter.com/alchmstnotweet

You absolutely will not be seeing a blow by blow of my day.  Really.

Beans and Blends

Three new offerings: First I want to introduce a new Alchemist's Chocolate Blend Series.  As the Inspiration Muse strikes me, expect a new blend.  Occasionally, they may even contain beans not sold individually! Alchemist's Chocolate Blend #1 "Balance" - Nuanced, structured and satisfying.

Guatemalan 2014:  There are nuts (walnut), dry spice (like cinnamon and nutmeg), and a delicate bitterness and tangy fruitiness (like tamarind), bringing it all together.

Alchemist Blend #4 - "Fire and Brimstone" - Brewing cocoa.  Deep, rich, smokey with an aggressive pungency that let's you know it's there to combat the chill outside.

USPS tracking no longer available

USPS made a quantum leap backwards in customer service yesterday and I've been informed that I can no longer assign tracking numbers to shipments.  They must be created by a USPS representative or on-line. Due to the way we process orders, there is now no way for me to give you tracking numbers if you have anything shipped by USPS.

I'm really sorry.

Stay tuned for Ask the Alchemist tomorrow......it's just one of those days.

New beans in stock

I hope everyone has had a fantastic summer and welcome to the beginning of Fall.  That means new cocoa and getting ready for the busy time of the year.  And believe it or not, that means starting to think about Halloween and even the Christmas/Yule/Winter holiday of your choice.  And for that, I've got a bunch of new beans to choose from. It’s always exciting for me when I get to sample of a new crop of beans or better yet, an origin I've never had.  The first the anticipatory aroma of the raw beans, the delicate 'clack' as  I heft some in my hand, and then finally, the enveloping smells of roasting; anticipating at each step what the finished product will taste like.

These are exciting beans, picked by none other than yours truly, after looking at way too many samples from around the world over the past few months.  By now, I would hope you know where my standards are, so be assured these are the cream of the crop.  And if you are into brewing cocoa, I’ve developed a new blend, including a mysterious one that started out as Anakin but ended up much darker…read on....

First, two new beans:

Dominican Republic Riog RFA/Org 2014 Mouth watering.  Just go read about it.  There is too much to tell here! Jamaican 2014 -  RAISIN and RUM!!!!

Some returning favorites:

Belize Organic 2014.  The new crop is in and beautiful. Bolivia Organic 2014  Also the new crop and as nice as ever. Peru FT/Org 2014.  A great old friend

And a couple that are outside of my norm.  I mention the samples I go through to offer you what I do.  Some people have this romantic notion of me tasting tantalizing cocoa and chocolate, day in and day out...and sometimes it is...but sometimes it's just one of those dirty jobs you have to push through.  No really.  I'm serious.  You have no idea how bad some cocoa can be and that it is used day in day out by some large companies to make what some people consider chocolate.  And honestly, I have to give some of them credit.  I couldn't make good chocolate out of these.  Ok, so some isn't good, but it's still better than I could make these taste.   So I want to share (inflict?) a couple samples with you.  May I present two terrible beans, with really great pedigrees, really lovely origins and organic to boot!

Ugh!! Cocoa beans

Uhg #1  Fuzzy, musty and funky with hints of skunk, motor oil and musk! Uhg #2  Diesel fuel and mold with layers of astringent, sour bitterness

Go right ahead, jump on them before they are gone!  Seriously, they are for sale, but only $1/lb...with a 1 lb limit (no one deserves more than that, maybe I'll offer less)...just enough to cover my time and materials.  It really is worth seeing what's out there and what you can get if you don't have someone looking out for you.  But don't make chocolate out of them.  Please.

On an up note, I have a new batch of Testing and Evaluation beans in.  There is only a little, so please share and play nice and don't ask for a full bag.  Thanks.

Plus I have added the Riog as a Brewing cocoa (Roasted a touch darker than average)

And have the third expression in the Alchemist's Blend Series -

Shot in the Dark.  Mocha without the coffee, and a great intro to Brewing cocoa if you are a coffee lover like me.

Finally, keep an eye out for a bunch of new hobby grade molds.  Great for getting started and for gifts.

Ask the Alchemist #82

From reading your forum and my own experience, your write up on how to tweak the Behmor programming is still confusing. Could you at least add Behmor instructions to each bean. And suggest how far over or under you can go and what it will do to the flavor. I know it should all be done by nose, but after over a hundred batches I still don't trust my nose to tell me much.

Let’s talk about roasting a bit, why I don’t give exact profiles for each cocoa bean, and why I tend to only give oven profiles.

There are 5 profiles in the Behmor. Each one applies heat a little more gentle as the number goes up. i.e. Profile 1 is 100% on. Profile 2 reduces the heat about 75% in. Profile 3 is a gentle ramp. In addition, you can add or subtract time from each profile. If you add the time before the roast starts, it stretches the entire profile out proportionally. If you add it after the roast starts, it tacks it onto the end.

Yeah, that can be a touch confusing, but this is really what you need to know. I don’t believe (in the sake of cocoa) that it makes any difference from a flavor standpoint when you add it. How far you take to roast over shadows any subtle nuance that might (or might not) be introduced by when you add time.

That all said, here is the nugget of why I don’t list profiles. If you took one bean, roasted it on each profile until you hear a bean pop, you have 5 profiles. Let’s say increases or decreases only have noticeable effects in 2 minute increments. If we go 2 over and 2 under (5 each) we now have 15 profiles. And if we add in that we can add the time before or after the roast starts we have doubled the profiles to 30. Setting aside I don’t have the time to make 30 batches of chocolate for each bean, the telling point here is that ALL of the chocolate would be good and in a group of people, I am willing to bet each chocolate would be picked either based on ‘favorite’ or ‘tasting the same’ across the board.

The fact is is that the Behmor has great profiles, they all work and all taste good, and there is no one best profile. It comes down to taste of the individual. And learning what you like. But my preferences and tastes are not your tastes. The best I can do is give you tools. But those tools are not exact profiles. The tool is how to learn which profile you like, and I think I can see I have been negligent there. So let’s get into it.

But first, a quick note on oven profiles; You notice those I give a lot more of. The reason is that because there is SO much control there, you have much more of an ability to over or under roast. I’m trying to get you in the ball park with those. With the Behmor, ANY profile will get you in the ball park.

To learn, you HAVE to keep notes. Keep a log. Otherwise it will just all get jumbled in your head and you will end up roasting 100 batches and still not know what you like.

So I WILL give you an exact profile. But note that I am NOT saying it is the best profile. Just your starting profile.

This is for ANY cocoa bean.

Profile 1

16 minutes

2 lbs cocoa

Start.

Let the roast naturally end at 16 minutes, but make notes about what you smell, at what times, and when you hear pops and at what times. These are critical for associations later on.

Now, make chocolate out of it. Save some. Label it. And roast up another batch.

This time, I want you to roast the SAME BEAN, on the SAME PROFILE and increase the roasting time 1.5 minutes. Again, make notes about what you smell, at what times, and when you hear pops and at what times.

Make chocolate out of it. Save some. Label it. And roast up another batch.

In this batch, add ANOTHER 1.5 minutes. 19 minutes. Rinse and repeat about notes and making chocolate.

Oh, and for goodness sake, use the same recipe when making your chocolate. Personally I like 70% cocoa, 5% cocoa butter and 25% sugar. But you can do whatever you want as long as you like it. 50% cocoa, 10% cocoa butter and 40% if you like. Whatever.

Now, it is taste time. And it’s no more complicated than that. I’m not going to ask you to make crazy notes, and come up with flowery language. Just eat some, rinse your mouth, and eat the next….and rinse and repeat (literally). Really, the ONLY thing you are looking for here is which do you like best IF ANY?

Hopefully, one will tickle your fancy more than another. Make that note in your roasting log. Was it a toss up between two? Then maybe you want to try a fourth batch right between those two and taste all three together again. Maybe you like the heavier roast, but think that it would be better with more roasty, nutty flavors? Then try that. Add another 1.5 minutes. Oh, but maybe you want it a touch more sharp and bright and fruity? Then reduce it 1.5 minutes.

Are you getting the picture? You are zeroing in one two things. First off, what you like in general, and maybe where you like your roast level…but don’t make too broad of assumptions here. What may be fine for Peru is not what you like in Ecuador or Madagascar.

Now that you have what you have determined which roast level you like, it’s time to see which profile (IF ANY) you like better. Move on to P2 and roast it to the same SMELL. This is why you took notes. The new profile may and probably will take longer but by and large, roast level correlates pretty well to aroma.

Notes; Chocolate; Do it again for P3.

And in case you find yourself just not being able to distinguish aroma, it is perfectly ok to base your EOR (end of roast) on cracks. Namely, where did you hear the first or second and how did that relate to when you stopped the roast?

It is taste time again. Taste these two new chocolates, plus the one you picked from the first set. No flowery notes needed. Just which one do you like best? What? You really can’t tell much difference? That’s ok. Or maybe you do. You like P2…but think a touch more roast would be good? TRY IT!

Yeah, it’s kind of like a maze. But with your notes, you have a much better chance of not getting lost. You can go back if you need. But without notes, without taking note of specific information, it’s like driving around a city, trying to get to a location you have never been to and being surprised when you can’t get there. You basically have to know where you are going (getting the chocolate you like) and where you have been (roast log) or you will just drive around in circles never getting to your destination. And I will conclude with one final note about that destination with yet again another analogy.

You are planning a trip. You say give me exact directions to the best country, with the most beautiful city, with the greatest restaurant and tell me what to order so I can have the best meal of my life.

How in the world am I supposed to do that? The key is that I don’t know what you like and what I like could well be something you don’t. But that is what you are asking when you want exact profiles (and beans choice and an exact recipe).

This whole endeavor is a journey. And for me at least, it’s all about the journey, not the destination. Sure, I want good chocolate at the end, but it’s the process I love, and what I hope to instill in you - along with some of the tools so you can enjoy the trip and not wander aimlessly, lost in the maze.

I’ll end with a variant of a quote a friend of mine uses about roasting and brewing his own coffee.

“Ultimately the quest for Chocolate Nirvana is a solitary path. To know, I must first not know. And in knowing, know I know not. Each Personal enlightenment found exploring the many divergent foot steps of those who have gone before.”

Alchemist's Blend #2 - Anakin

Yeah, I admit it.  I'm excited about the new Star Wars movies.  Consider these first two Blends homages.  They won't all be that way (probably).

Whereas Vader (the blend, well, ok the character too) is very very dark, Anakin only hints at that darkness, although there is no mistaking it is there.  Overall, I think of a chocolate laced coffee, a Mocha, when I taste this.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have had creating it.

"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side" – Darth Vader

Welcome to the Dark side. Welcome to the Alchemist’s Blend series. I present to you, the first in series of Alchemist’s Blends . #1 - Vader.

As I am wont to do, I have gone off and broken a couple of the ‘rules’ for chocolate. I’ve blended wonderful single origin beans. I have roasted them VERY dark. I have ground them extra fine. And I have produced a dark, tempting elixir. And make no mistake; it is stronger than most of the ‘lighter’ brews both in color and flavor. Strong roasted notes, not unlike coffee. I love coffee, and I when I’m not sipping coffee, this fits the bill just great. But it’s not just ‘dark’. And it certainly isn’t burned. It’s full of spice and chocolate notes. And lest you fear I’ve roasted all the goodness out of it, (and yes, this is just anecdotal evidence) the ‘buzz’ is still there. Fully! And if anything, it may be greater than the lighter stuff since it is extracting more (just note that alluring color).

But again, this is not your mother’s hot chocolate. And this is also not coffee. It stands on its own merits, so judge it on what you taste, not what you expect or what it isn’t.

Also, this is the first Brewing cocoa that I have found to work well in coffee brewers and actually mixed with coffee. Other brewing cocoas can have a tendency to muddy the flavor of coffee I have found, or worse, clog brewing filters or screens. Your mileage may vary, but I’ve found 1:1 ratio wonderful, and if you are just a little careful, so it does not overflow, even straight can work well.

Ask the Alchemist #????

As odd as it sounds, I don't have any unanswered, pending questions in the queue.  Really?  You folks don't have anything more?  If you think of something, you can send it over to question(removethis) at chocolatealchemy  dot com as always.  Remember, there are no dumb questions (and no, that is NOT a challenge) only unasked questions.In the mean time, Ecuador RFA/Org is back in stock.  And a small amount of Belize will be in next week.  Get it early as there is only about 100 lbs.  The rest has already pre-sold.

Travel notice....and a new bean

** 6/5/2014 - 6/23/2014 **

Travel notice. 

Hopefully, this will come to no surprise to anyone as I've announced it a few times.  I (the Alchemist) will be away at the World of Coffee in Italy.  The highlights as they will affect you:

• I will be answering NO e-mails during that time.
• Orders will still be accepted for Retail and Wholesale
• Orders for Retail will ship as normal (the exception to this being Roasted beans if they sell out).
• Order for Wholesale will ship as normal for non-bag and non-warehouse orders.

In my absence, orders will be handled by my Apprentice,Lara.  If you need to reach her specifically about an order in process or past, you can reach here at Apprentice at chocolate alchemy dot com  (Just as it sounds.  No spaces.  Nothing fancy) .  Please do not ask for special orders, troubleshooting or advice.  She simply does not have those answers.  Please respect that as I'm sure you will.

Ask the Alchemist will be on hold until my return.

And of course.  The new cocoa bean.  May I present Venezuelan Carupano Corona (Retail only until my return).  Go have a read. Ciao Alchemist

Major restructuring of the stores

The Retail and Wholesale stores have been rather significantly restructured.  And it is more than just a cosmetic facelift. In both cases the goal was a better shopping experience and the ability to better find information. In addition, for the Retail store, I have added a major new class of items that at first glance may go unnoticed.  Chocolate Alchemy is now offering the option of all cocoa beans as roasted nibs!  That means you have in all cases four (4) different options to choose from.  Raw and Roasted whole beans (2), and Raw and Roasted nibs (2), plus in some cases, Brewing cocoa for a 5th option.

The other major change is that all nibs (Raw and Roasted) are now offered in pound increments.  In the past you ordered a pound of beans, had them winnowed (for free), and received  the resulting nibs (about 12 oz) for the same price as 1 lb of beans.  Now, you simply order 1 lb of nibs and get one pound of nibs (Raw or Roasted).  But I will point out that it may at first glance look like I have raised prices or have begun charging for winnowing.  Rest assured, that is not the case.  One pound of nibs is more expensive then one pound of beans because I have to start with 1.25 lbs of beans to give you 1 lb of nibs, so the nibs are 1.25 times more.  I hope that makes sense.  The winnowing is still a free service for Retail purchases.  It is my way to help you get going.  On the other hand, I am charging for roasting.  But it is at a discounted scale, so the more you purchase, the less the per pound roasting fee.

Mostly unrelated to the Stores, I have also cleaned up the Alchemist Notebook - the basic 'how to' of chocolate making and you will find those (along with  other "Important Pages") across the new top navigation bar, which now also include all those lovely miasma of legal jargon (Return Policy, Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, etc), which I guess is Store related. Finally, if you find anything amiss, don't understand something or just want to give feed back, a brand new fancy pants Contact Us page is in place.

New Products and a new Origin

First there is a new origin.  Organic Uganda.  Dry tannins offset by a good backbone of chocolate. I also have an old favorite back.  The smaller size Escali Scale.

Plus there is a new IR Thermometer.  I've absolutely fallen in love with this for roasting, grinding and tempering.

And finally, for the newest, most exciting BIG reveal, we are now offering, WITH WARRANTY, the Premier Wonder Grinder!!

Enjoy everyone!

Cocoa pods

Just a reminder that this is the last day for ordering Cocoa pods.  Then it will be another month or so.  No fooling :) And as I keep forgetting to mention, I've had really good luck drying the whole pods.  I accidentally let a couple in my refrigerator, wrapped in the paper they come in, and a couple months later they had dehydrated very nicely, with rattling beans inside (as one lump, not individual beans).  They turn a rather nice chocolate brown.

Champion Juicer Price increase

If you have been thinking about getting a Champion Juicer NOW is the time.  Plastaket has introduced a MAP policy, so as of April 1 (no joke again - I'm going to get my mileage out of that phrase this year) the new price for the USA will go from $240 to $265.  But until then I'm leaving it at the $240 price.Also, this is a reminder about the April 1 deadline for Cacao Fruits.