The Wordy-assed Alchemist

Coffee and Chocolate, what’s not to love?

Why are my tempered chocolate shells cracking?

What about Whole Cocoa Chocolate?

New Peru Maranon Lot 2 has arrived and let's talk about why cocoa butter is so expensive.

What else can I use my melanger for?

The website update is coming along. Somewhere along the way the questions you submitted to Ask the Alchemist were not coming to me and we only just discovered it. That is partly why I’ve not written anything in the last few weeks. Having found a bunch, I figured I’d take a few simple ones to get us going again.

This week we answer multiple questions and try to bring some science philosophy into the discussion.

It is hard to believe I've not offered a basic chocolate making class in 20 year.  I hope to make this and other more in depth ones a more regular thing. This first one I’m giving a small nod to Fathers and Father’s day. Hint hint.

I have 70% dark chocolate and some 100% cocoa mass. Can I add some mass to the 70% to get to 75% dark?

I wonder when beans go out of stock, would it be possible to preserve an archive section with the spider charts, your tasting notes, and roasting notes for these beans?

All markets are built upon the backs of slave labor....until they aren’t

First time maker. We had some issues for sure but the one thing you for sure take for granted is how to work somewhat cleanly, and how to handle liquid chocolate well. We made a serious mess and it was quite a process to get the melanger clean again. So turn that big brain on and dump all your knowledge about working with chocolate and cleaning.  Please be gentle with me.

At this point, just make the chocolate as you would any other" isn't recipe directions. Would you call it a recipe for oatmeal cookies if I just listed the ingredients and then wrote, "Just make them like you would any other cookie"? Your "recipe" has only left me with dried nibs. Then what???

I’m not joking around today, we’re talking about a sensitive topic in the Chocolate Industry. Cocoa Moths.