Everything is back up and running after being down for more than I expected. TWO failed hard drives....but nothing lost. It will probably take me a few days to catch up on all orders and e-mail. Any roasted or brewing cocoa will be delayed a little longer simply due to time constraints. Thank you in advance for understanding. Hopefully those can go out by Wednesday, or at worst Thursday. Thanks.
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Alchemist's Musings
I will be attending Chocolate Fest in Portland on January 20-21. Drop me a line if you will be there - we can see about meeting up and talking and tasting real chocolate. BTW - no booth - I'm 'just' attending. (hint, look for the chocolate colored kilt)
It seems like I get asked this a lot. So far I've not found a practical way to do it. Or at least way that makes it a reasonable alternative to just buying some. One of the few times that DIY isn't superior, even with extra worth on your part. There is about 50% cocoa butter in a cocoa bean. Even the best presses, with literally tons of pressure and heat, they only get a recovery of about 80% (meaning they remaining cocoa mass has about 20% cocoa butter in it). Well, I had something happen the other day that although isn’t perfect, does give you a way to make a bit of your own cocoa butter.
Every year, has the holiday season comes around, I combine all the chocolate samples I have (usually 50-100 lbs) and make it into truffles. This year I had a minor mishap with a small test batch while dialing in some scotch flavored centers. As I was finishing up stirring in the cream to the chocolate (1:2) it started to separate. I since determined this has a higher chance of happening if you don’t have lecithin in your chocolate. In this case I had an ‘ah ha’ moment, as I realized that was cocoa butter on top and people keep asking me how to press their own cocoa butter.
Armed with this inspiration, I did a 500 gram test to see just how much cocoa butter I could get.
I mixed in 250 grams boiling water.
Stirred well until it seized, then stirred some more.
I put it into a colander to drip, pulling as much as I could to the sides so I had lots of surface area for the cocoa butter to flow from, noticing it liked to come to the surface. I put this into a warm oven to drip for a flew hours stirring once in a while.
The result? Cocoa butter…..66 grams. Considering there was about 250 grams in there, I only got about 25% of what I could have. Poor showing into my mind.
I went on to try putting the mass in a bag and pressing it…..and nothing happened. I even pulled out my sake press (it’s a screw press) and really applied the pressure…and ….pictures speak volumes.
Blow out - the chocolate pressed right through the seams and fine screen of the bag. So, at the end of the day, can you make your own cocoa butter? Sure, but it is going to be a bit of work, and very expensive since you are only getting about 12% of your starting mass. So really just sort of novelty.
Have a great one everyone!
There has recently been a lot of buzz about various brewing chocolates. Choffy and Crio Bru are the two big ones that come to mind. I've received more inquires than I can count about what makes them so special, if my roasted cocoa beans will work and how one can make their own hot chocolate drink with minimum fuss. Up until this point, I didn't have any really good answers. Now I do.
I ordered up both products (I could not get any courtesy professional samples). What I got was this
Looks a whole lot like ground cocoa with the husk on to me. Here's the two commercial ones and one I prepared.
I set up a flight of 3 tests. Choffy, Crio Bru, and Roasted Peru.
Their two I dosed as roughly recommended (2 T/ 4.25 oz 'cup' for Crio Bru, 2-3T/6 oz 'cup' for Choffy - side note, WTF is it with coffee (and now cocoa) measuring 4, 5 and 6 oz 'cups' - a cup is 8 ozs, thank you, end of story) and for mine, 40 g/8 oz. I ground mine coarsely in my hand burr grinder. A whirley blade spice grinder will work. High speed burr coffee grinders may or may not (I think not, but don't have one to try) work as the cocoa butter may melt and coat the burrs. Just so we stay consistent here, 1 T = ~10 g. I brewed up 8 oz of each (in a french press - steeped for 5 minutes), and luckily, they all fall into a dosing of 4T or 40g per 8 oz CUP.
Here they are all brewed up.
Can you tell the difference - neither can I.
Could I taste the difference - well, in a matter of speaking. They are three different origins. Dominican Republic for Crio Bru, Ivory Coast for Choffy, and Peru as I already mentioned for mine. Here are my tasting notes, tasted 'blind' of course. Crio Bru was a little fruity and mildly chocolatey in the nose. It had a nice mouth feel, an ok chocolate flavor and a bit as astringency.
Choffy had more chocolate in the nose but not much else. It had a full mouth feel, a moderate chocolate flavor, but not much else going on except a little sharpness. About what I would expect from Ivory Coast - it's Forastero, so has a good chocolate backbone, but not a huge amount of subtlety.
Chocolate Alchemy's Peru matched the Choffy in chocolate aroma, and some soft fruits. The mouth feel was between the other two, but more approachable in my opinion. Nice chocolate, some plum and banana flavors and a 'round' mouth feel.
I also tried these all with a little sugar and milk, just for the sake of completeness. I can't say any were better or worse than any other. The milk definitely rounded out the rough edges that I noted in the Choffy and Crio Bru. And with sugar, they all start approaching what many people think of as a hot chocolate flavor.
On that last comment about hot chocolate flavor, I should mention brewed cocoa, regardless of source, is not an intense, thick mouth coating drink like many are accustomed to in hot chocolate or the other various processed chocolate drinks. It's more subtle and sublime than that. It is its own drink. If you compare it to hot chocolate, you may come away disappointed. If you evaluate it for it own flavor and merits, I think you will come away impressed.
So, in review,
- They all looked about the same.
- They all tasted very similar, with variation for origin
- They are all roasted, ground cocoa beans.
Choffy claims some other proprietary processing method (and they may have one) but if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck and it tastes like a duck....you get the point.
The only other point I will make is this:
- Crio Bru: $14.95/12 oz bag
- Choffy: $15.00/12 oz bag
- Chocolate Alchemy Roasted beans: $10-14.50/LB (update - you can now order Brewing Cocoa directly, and it will come all roasted and ground)
I'll let my very intelligent customers decide which way to go.
Finally, I will say, in I hope the next week or so (in between winnower building) I will be setting up a Brewing Chocolate category, with 8 oz bags of roasted and ground cocoa beans, with tasting notes. In the mean time, if you would like your roasted beans ground, just leave me a note when checking out and I will be more than happy to prepare them for you. Otherwise, you can grind them yourself in a spice grinder and you will be on your way to a new luscious taste experience. Just remember:
- 4 T/8 oz boiling water
- Steep 5 minutes
- Press (assuming you are using a press pot - drip works ok too)
- Enjoy straight, with milk (or cream) and/or sugar.
Sometimes I just can't help myself. I don't have the full size Aether readily available (although, it's marching quickly closer), but I had to see if I could put together what I've wanted for years - a table top winnower.
And I did. May I present the Aether "Sprite" - 
All the same basic features of the full size model, just smaller. The only major difference is there is no cracker or feeder. But this is intended to couple with the other table top equipment and it's no problem with you cracking in the Champion or Crankandstein and hand feeding. 5-10 lbs is a breeze. And it works with virtually any size shop vac. The one attached is a tiny 1 gallon one. More details later, both plans and pricing.
Okay, for those of you completely chomping at the bit, here is the first draft of an easy to build and operate Do It Yourself (DIY) winnower. It's made from 2" and 3" PVC fittings and pipe, a Champion Juicer and a common Shop-Vac. You will need to work out a support structure for it if you want to build one now, but that too will come along at some point in the next month or so. It will handle both roasted and raw cocoa beans. Roasted behave much better, but in either case, the better the bean preparation, the better the separation. It will produce 1 lbs of nibs in just over a minute and will average 77-79% recovery when 'tuned' properly.
I have not yet detailed every last bit of information on how to assemble it, but I wanted to get it out there. I will be talking at length as to how and why it works, how the inspiration came (it's from 15 years as a chemist working with quadupole and ion trap mass spectrometers - how's that for a small tease?).There are virtually endless configurations that can work - and of course virtually endless variations that will not work. If you can build it exactly as is, perfect. If you feel you must modify something, PLEASE try not to change the pieces in yellow. Their dimensions, sizes, lengths, configurations, etc WORK. But as you will notice, there are LOTS of places you can customize for your needs.That's it for now - here it is:
And here are the more detailed plans.
And here are the more detailed plans.
Feel free of course to e-mail me if you have questions. If you build it, you will have to 'tune it' by adjusting the two valves to regulate the air flows. Off hand, as an estimate, the valve on the left can be all the way open for raw nibs, and about 1/3 close for roasted nibs. The valve on the right is adjusted to regulate the total flow and is closed until husk stops falling out of the nib exit. Again, I'll detail tuning in greater depth, and email if you want more information now. Finally, and please pardon my soapbox (stepping up as we speak), but PLEASE don't ask me why I didn't design it this way or that way. I can't answer that negative question. The base answer is I've designed and built something that works with parts that are off the shelf, and/or very simple to make if you have a mind to. And I don't fix what isn't broken. Is it perfect? No. Is it $35,000? No. Is it $5,000? No. Am I a little defensive - yeah, maybe a little. In almost every case the answer as to why this or that isn't in there is cost and ease of making it. This is an elegant, simple design that works. Are there places for improvement? Yep, and they will most likely add cost because they will be more complex. (stepping down). But right now for about $50 in PVC, plus a Champion (which you may well have), and a Shop-Vac (again that you may have), plus a couple hours time, you can have an automated working winnower. That all said, feel free to ask why I designed it a certain way (do you note that difference?). I am more than happy to discuss why it is designed as it is and how it works.
A few more bags of Venezuelan Chuao have made it in. Right now I have a single 'spare' bag available for wholesale. Multiple bags (50 kg) are available. Please contact me directly if you would like pricing and more information. Also, Soy Milk Powder is back and makes a GREAT dairy free "milk" chocolate. Combine it with the Chuao and you can have a killer dairy free milk chocolate.
I just took out the following batch of 53% (ok 52.9%) dairy free milk chocolate from the Melanger. Due to the high solids content, refining time was about 48 hours.
22 oz Roasted La Red nibs (what you get from 2 lbs of whole beans)
32 oz Natural Cocoa butter
32 oz Sugar
16 oz Soy Milk Powder
Now that that is actually written up from my notes (I kept adding ingredients until I liked the consistency and flavor), I'm rather please and surprised to see all the whole numbers (in pounds) fall into place. That's looking very much like a new kit.... Fun. So far I have not had a single person realize it's not 'regular' milk chocolate. Give it a try.
A little while ago I acquired an antique roaster. It's in the process of being refinished, but in the meantime is completely functional. As a result, all cocoa beans are now available as Roasted. The odd 35 lb option is because that is the capacity of the roaster. Right now I don't have an option for roasted nibs as it's just to cumbersome and creates too many loop holes in the store, but I will do roasted nibs if you take the initiative and ask. Anything 10 lbs and under (total order) I'll do for free as a courtesy. Over that and it's $1/lb and I'll contact you after the order is in to settle up. Also, I've very please to announce there are now Customer Accounts. Chocolate Alchemy is coming into the 20th century. You can look up old orders, the current status of orders, adjust your information, etc. Please be aware though, and I know it can be confusing, there are TWO sets of customer accounts - one for Retail and one for Wholesale. I recommend making your user name and password the same if you use both stores, but be aware, there are completely un-connected.
Right now the customer accounts are in beta mode, meaning there may be glitches here and there. If you find one, please let me know about it. Likewise, if you would like to see a particular feature, let me know and I will pass it along to the developer.
Finally, I've spent the last week testing out a new model of Melanger from Spectra (formally Santha, but the Melangers are officially being offered by Spectra) - the Spectra 11. Photos and a review will follow, but briefly, I like it and give it two thumbs up. It's basically a redesign of the bowl and how it attaches to the motor. Over the last couple years there have been some shaft bearing issues - leaks basically. This new design seems to over come this issue by removing the whole bearing. A semi permanent (it unscrews) shaft now runs directly from the flywheel, through a delrin hub, and and then screws down, covering the shaft, effectively eliminating two weak spots and protects another. And they have put the lid back to riding on top of the top tension nut (the way it was years ago), so you no longer have to worry about condensation. It will be retailing for about $40 more and should be available in a couple weeks.
It seems to be generally known I don't promote raw chocolate. It's not that I don't approve of it (although I have some issues about it), it more that I just don't really care for it and even more so, just don't 'get it'. Although they are not my words, there is an article that I and many others contributed to that spells out quite accurately what I think about it. The 'Truth' about raw chocolate
Item 2. Conching. Or maybe conching vs refining. I don't actually have any definitive to report here, but circumstance has started me on an experiment. I'm on day five of a test involving using the Melanger as a conch only - no refining. The short story is that I removed the tension nut from the Melanger with the intention of pouring up my finished test chocolate...and promptly forgot it. 12 hours later I discovered it was still running, the temperature had dropped from about 118 (note to those experimenting with raw chocolate - the Santha Melanger can refine at or under 118 F if your recipe has a lower enough viscosity) to about 110 F and stabilized. I pulled a small sample and noted it had not over refined, but had changed in flavor...hrm...sounds a lot like conching. I've continued to pull a sample every 12 hours and will vertically taste them and report back.
Item 3 - roasted beans. I now have an old Royal #5 roaster on site, and all beans will soon be available roasted in 15-25 lb batches. If you have a need now, before I get them officially offered, just drop me a line and I will be happy to accommodate.
Items 4 - experiments. Mostly thinking out load of things to come.
Long vs short roast times. Again, circumstance tossed me an interesting piece of data. When I tested out the large roaster I purchased, I did it without any controls. The result was 20 lbs of beans roasted in about 8 minutes. Later I repeated the roast with control and doubled the roast time. Hands down, in blind tastings of the resulting chocolate, the 8 minute roast was preferred. More fruity, body and a better overall dynamic chocolate. One time fluke? more testing...
More conching after my vertical tasting. Broma cocoa butter production. This is a heated, gravity 'pressing'. People have asked, I don't know, so I'll experiment and report back.
Winnowing - AFTER I have the current design to the shop, I have two other designs I want to play with.
I'm sure there are more, but that's it for now.
Well, to be accurate, I should really say cocoa grown in the USA. I have a small amount of cocoa from Hawaii. Specifically from Waialua estate on Oahu. It's a tiny bean (see below) with a bold chocolate flavor. Big chocolate flavor, dark notes, macadamia nut, soft lemon. Check out the whole review. Also, you won't find it wholesale. If you have an interest (they come in tiny 75 lb bags), drop me a note, and we can talk about individual cases. If there is enough interest, I'll bring more in.
On other fronts, my prototype cracker is working well. I've had to make some minor adjustments in the top feeder. I had to do some minor redesign as it was not working well with certain beans with a moderate preparation (PNG and the Conacado for instance). I know many people are very anxious about both the cracker and the winnower, but design, research and inventing isn't a fast or linear path. Or when it is, it's very expensive. Just to give you a flavor of what I've done when I brought in the first design of the cracker.
Total failure. It would not feed the beans. I made a 30 degree change in articulate to the rollers, and it fed. From hand testing it, I calculated how fast it fed, and worked out the gear ratios needed for optimal feed rate to the winnower when coupled to the Champion. 10 days later I had those gears and it was installed.
It worked great...for some beans. Anything with hint of odd prep would not feed. Days later I had a modification designed for the feeder - the difference of 3/16". 30 days later I had the part in hand. I installed it and yippee, it feed everything...too fast. The previous ratios didn't work I articulated the feed angle 6 degrees - much better. Now nearly everything feeds and at a better rate. But still too fast for the winnow.
New gear ratio calculations were performed. Parts ordered. They are here and I am waiting for time to install. Will that work? Probably. For sure? Who knows. It's an iterative process. I'll be sure to let you know. And although it doesn't show much, here is the current set up in my lab. This week I hope to add a 2nd set of gears.
I find it interesting how new ideas form, evolve, etc. I was putting together a batch of milk chocolate this morning, and really didn't have much time. OK, and I was a bit lazy because I didn't have liqueur - only nibs. So I proceeded to melt the cocoa butter I would be using, and thinking about how I often have to add heat to the Melanger when grinding nibs directly, I tossed the nibs directly into the melting cocoa butter. Knowing I would not have time to bring the sugar and milk powder up to temperature before I left, I took the butter/nib mixture up to 210 F - yes, that hot. Into the Melanger it went. In went the sugar and milk powder, and it was off and running. 117 F and flowing perfect with no chance of setting up because it was too cool.
Speed Chocolate.
Now, where this leads me to is wondering if you could 'roast' your nibs by heating them in hot cocoa butter. I noticed as I heated the butter/nib mixture to past 212 F (for just an instance), they started to spit, indicating water was being driven off. Would deep fried nibs make a good chocolate? Certainly not viable for a dark chocolate, but it has possibilities for milk chocolate. I'm going to try this and report back.
And in other news, I will have some "American" cocoa later this month. Hawaiian cocoa. Being American grown and all, it's going to be pricey, and I won't have a lot, but I thought it worth offering. It's a nice, fresh, mild cocoa.
The drawings of the newest (and hopefully final) version of the deluxe cracker have been sent to the shop for quoting and production. Maybe I'll get some quick photos up to show it off. There is a new bean from the Dominican Republic in. It will be up and available over the weekend. It has a richness, and umami not unlike Carenero Superior, and quite a bit different than Conacado.
And just something to consider - Unsweetened Milk chocolate. I made some the other day as a special request (yes I do take and fulfill some special requests) and it was surprisingly good. The lactose from the milk powder is quite a bit of sugar actually and it was interesting.
On the other side of that, I am always getting questions about chocolate made from cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Is it possible? Of course. Do I recommend? Of course not. Why? Well, I tried a batch from the best cocoa powder I could find (a couple really, one being Dagoba) and the final chocolate left a lot to be desired. Cooked (like boiled milk) was the main impression I was left with. The cocoa powder was just to processed. The other was a 'raw' cocoa powder (although it was roasted - don't ask me why it was labeled raw) and it was just down right disgusting.
Look for the new Dominican in a day or so.
It's been a year and a day since Penelope died. It's been kind of a rough ride. I want to thank everyone for their understanding and support. Chocolate Alchemy would not be where it is if not for her and her support. There were many times, especially during the last year before she died that I thought of giving it up...but she would not let me. With that, it's my plan to get Chocolate Alchemy back to where it was in regards to shipping, order turnaround, etc. that is used to be. It may never be exact there as it's just me and my daughter, but shipping will be moving to more than once a week. That's for sure.
And I will ask (and have something a little more formal in the works), what do you my devoted (and new) customers want that I am not providing? What can I do to make this mystical alchemical chocolate journey more approachable? That's what I want - to make it easy (or at least not daunting) for you. And it does not have to be just that. What suggestions do you have for the site and stores and products that would make it better for you?
That's it for now. I'm off to the shop to finish an enclosure that will allow me to treat and store a pallet of beans at a time with CO2. Just in time for the 1.5 tons of beans coming in...
But maybe we could consider it the calm before the storm. It's taken me a bit to get my bearing here in the new locale. Many of you have commented that I have not put much up new, or talked a lot. Well, my plan is to change that, and get things moving and shaking here again. So, before that, I have a few quick, but pertinent announcements.
1) I will be out of town this weekend (April 15-17) so 'weekend' orders will be delayed going out for an extra couple of days. And likewise, I will not be around to answer e-mails. But they will all be answered once I am back.
2) I will be changing my shipping times back 3-4 day turn around times. Thank you for all your patience. I've not liked shipping only once a week, but I did what I had to do to keep things going.
3) As sort of a gentle lead in, or transition, most of you know I lost my life partner to cancer last year. A dear friend is doing a Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. I would officially like those of you so inclined, please donate in memory of Penelope, or of course, anyone else that was been affected by cancer. Her name is Susan Roland, and you can see here page and donate Here. It may say she has reached her financial goal - it's in error, so if you see that, please do not let that dissuade you from donating. Anything of course helps, and thank you.
4) New beans - Finally, finally, finally, I will be getting in some Venezuelan - And not just Ocumare. If all goes right, there will be a plumy red wine like Rio Caribe, a succulent Carenero Superior and possibly even two others that I am going to keep under wraps right now.
5) Winnower - it is coming along. I have the beta unit about 1/2 built and hope to test it out within the next month, AND have a new design that I want to try out - but I will keep on the first on until it is done.
6) Finally, although it isn't plastered all over the site, and honestly, may even be a little hard to tell, I am here to help you succeed. If you are thinking of going into a small cottage industry chocolate endeavor, and can't quite pull the logistics together, please ask me how I can help (specifics would be helpful). Do you want/need large amounts of roasted beans, nibs - full pallets of of beans or single bags on a regular basis? These are variations I can help with. Just ask. That's it for now
Happy chocolate making everyone.
The move is now complete, although not finished. As in there is much unpacking and arranging to do. Internet and such moved flawlessly. I should be able to complete all orders this coming weekend and get them out this week. One glitch though is the e-mail is currently one way. I have been receiving e-mails, but you some of you might have noticed you have not received a reply, which is not normal for me. Out going e-mail is off line for some reason. So, be assured, I am getting them, and will answer as soon as I am technically capable. The new address (which I will propagate around the site) is:
Chocolate Alchemy
3796 Stewart Road
Eugene OR 97402
I hope everyone had a great new year. Here's to a new year.
Due to some prompting from, Santha is now making a Stainless Still hub for the Alchemist's Stone Melanger. I have 9 available. Caps will be available after the turn of the year. Also, the friuty Madagascar is back in stock. And I finally have in 100% Organic whole milk powder. Look for it over the weekend. I will put up the link then.
OK, you say that they have always been available. Well, true and not true. I have always offered them up to 5 lbs and never as wholesale. That now changes. There are Wholesale Nibs now available. Consider it a test run. Partly, do they sell, or inversely, if they do, can I keep up. Why am I offering them now? Well, I have the feeder on my prototype winnower (don't worry beta testers, i have not forgotten you - life just because .....challenging) and I it is currently doing over 2 kg/min. The best run today (out of 180 lbs of beans in two hours) was 13 lbs of beans in 4.5 mins at a recovery of 80.7%. Damn fine.
Also, please do read about the pricing. At first glance they look a bit more expensive than you might expect. Remember the work involved and that 20% husk is being removed. Read it over.
And some stock updates. Sadly, the Carenero Superior fell though. Sorry all who were as excited as I. Someone got to it before i could and took the lot. The new crop of Papua New Guinea should be in this week, and it is a kinder, gentler (for hickory smoked bacon cocoa) cocoa. A little more depth of flavor than last year. Also, the Don Homero from Ecuador is also gone. I hope those that wanted to try it, did try it. It was unique. Hopefully it comes around again. And finally, I just want to pitch the Tanzanian. I know it doesn't winnow well (even with the new winnower and feeder) but it is really worth the trouble of roasting it yourself. Check the review out. There are no signs of the webs mentioned, that I might just take that out of the review.
That's it for now.
Madagascar will be back in stock early next week. I also have a brand new semi-washed (more on that later) Ecuador that is full of clean graham cracker and malt flavors. A couple weeks after that I am going to be offering up four of the current stock as roasted (with small minimums) and see how that goes. And finally the stock of refurbished Behmors is quickly dwindling but also I am not able to repair them at the speed I want (Penelope is p. rehab after another surgery, so spare time is a myth) but I getting a couple here and there.
The winnower? Not much with that spare time myth, but I do have a new cracker/mill in mind that I hope to couple with the winnower.
But in a spat of free time, I finished up a Chocolate Formulator in Excel I have used for some time now. You can down load it and them discuss it over in the Forum or down load it directly below.
While roasting up my samples of the up coming Tanzanian cocoa (it's in - look for it over the weekend), I noticed how picture perfect it roasted up. They went from a slightly rough surface to a nice smooth surface. Just what you want to aim for. Also, unlike coffee, note there is not really any color change. It is virtually all texture.
If it isn't obvious, the roasted is on the left.
And, just to see the more in context, here they are just out of the Behmor.
This time the roasted is on the right. And for those that want to know, this was done on P1, 1 lb setting, 16:15 minutes on the Behmor. 2.25 lb roast size.
Oh, and to comment about the Behmor, the refurbished units, the waiting list, etc. I have a stock of roasters in. I am about 1/2 way through the waiting list. I have plenty of parts. Due to increased shipping costs, I am only offering for free either beans (coffee and cocoa) or a small grid drum. Not both.
Related to when Behmors will be available again to everyone who wants one, I will be out of town from the 22nd to July 10 to handle my mom's estate. No shipping or repairs during that time. Limited email. Very similar to when she actually died and I had to shut down. Behmors should be available mid July.
Take care folks.