Daily musings and writings from the Alchemist
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Whats New and Updates
We will be closed for Thanksgiving and the following Friday. If you would like your order to go out before the holiday, please have it in by midnight Tuesday. Any orders after that will not go out until the following Tuesday.
Thank you everyone! I hope your Thanksgiving is fantastic.
Two new bean offerings.Tanzania - Direct Trade Kokoa Kamili Cooperative. There is a clean earthiness and up front chocolate aroma. There are deep base fruits, dried prune and damson plum in the nose. The chocolate has dark flavors of brown sugar, toffee, coffee and a fully balanced citrus (lemon?) acidity
The next is #2 in the Alchemist Blend Series. May I present the whimsical and dynamic:
Alchemist Blend #2 - Floor Sweeper -
Let's get this out of the way first and foremost. No beans in this blend were actually swept up off the floor. Okay? Good.
That said, this blend was totally inspired by the end of day sweepings. It scary/sad how much cocoa gets dropped while packing, even when we are very careful (it doesn't go to wasite, I use it for my own in house tests). But it got me thinking.
This is the result. And I'll tell you the secret recipe.....equal parts of everything in stock at the time. The result? Read on...
Warning – not chocolate related this week. But important as the holidays come up.
I got the error saying it is not a valid tracking number. Please give me the correct tracking number.
I ordered Friday. Why didn’t it ship until Wednesday? That’s 5 days!!!! I am so disappointed. I needed it Tuesday. I picked Next Day Air!!!!
I received nearly a dozen of these this week (and another two while writing this). Within an hour of processing the order. Is it the full moon? Do I sound annoyed? Perplexed really.
First off that actually isn't what USPS or UPS says. It says "The Postal Service could not locate the tracking information for your request. Please verify your tracking number and try again later." It is directly because I say "Please allow some time (12-24 hours) for the status of the shipment to correctly display at the above address". We say this because the number is assigned electronically. Then it needs to be packed and actually taken to a post office by a live human. You have to give it TIME!
Here is the routine around here. Usually the day before an order ships it is ‘processed’. This involves making the shipping label, printing and recording the sale. At that time, you the customer are sent a Shipping Confirmation with a tracking number. If you follow the tracking link too soon (read before 12-24 hours – and I am thinking now of changing this to 24-36) then there has not been time to both pack your order AND get it to the post office (or UPS) AND have time for them to scan it into their system. If your order contains roasted beans or nibs, there may be yet another day ‘delay’ as I tend to roast fresh as orders come in. Quite often we have enough around, but not always so it has to be roasted the day after it was “processed” and then is often not packed until the following day so it can cool and not condense in the bags.
I’m sorry, but we are not Amazon here (really, I’m NOT sorry) with a ton of people working around the clock to have your order packed and shipped within hours or even minutes of you ordering. That isn’t an excuse. Just the reality of how this small business runs. My sincere hope here that you appreciate the effort we put in and understand we are working as fast as we can to get everyone’s order out.
All this is in way of saying to plan well ahead and be realistic to ship times during the holidays. From past history I know they are going to stretch out due to just the sheer volume. But also where possible, we are happy to accommodate needs and deadlines if we can. There is a BIG catch here though. You have to make an EXTRA effort to tell us. You have to help us help you. Picking Next day Air does NOT assure it will go out the next day. Putting a note in your cart will NOT assure we can accommodate your request. You need to follow the directions in the Order Confirmation that says EMAIL US (with your order number, right? Right!). Otherwise we will in all likelihood not see your shipping method or note until it is already too late. As much as I would love to review every order as it comes in in detail and intuit your needs and deadlines, I can’t. And surprise, I’m not psychic.
That order on Friday? No note or email. 6 pm Friday BTW. Processed Monday. I spend the weekends with family. We process shipping ‘in bulk’ so were not aware it was Next Day Air. I hate this, but our system only shows “UPS”. It was 10 lbs of roasted beans that had to be roasted Tuesday. And thus shipped Wednesday. With an email, I would have found time to roast early Monday and get it out the same day. Without, it was processed as normal.
Communication please. I’m begging you. Keep the assumptions.to a minimum, communicate your special needs if you have them, and it’s all going to go much smoother for all of us, and result in less frustrations and disappoints all around.
Send in your Ask the Alchemist questions to questions@chocolatealchemy.com
We will be closed and away starting Wednesday 9/30/15 - Sunday 10/4/15 at the Northwest Chocolate Festival. Please let me know if you will be there. I'd love to meet up! If in doubt, look for the kilt and vest - I should not be hard to find.No orders will be processed during that time, nor will emails be read or answered. I travel technologically light.
In the mean time, we have two new elegant Guatemalans in. Chimelb and Lachua. Both are very restrained chocolates. In a world of super IPA's, massively hot spices, monster quadruple shot power drinks and general 'how big can we make it' there is something to be said for a nice, well balanced restraint chocolate that you can enjoy. Don't undersell 'approachable' - in this case it's a compliment.
Also, supply is very limited. Enough so that I won't be offering them Wholesale. So get them before they are gone for good.
The new crop of 2015 Belize is in. Organic and Fair trade. Full of juicy blackberry this time. At this writing, half is already gone so act fast and stock up if you want it. Although La Red is gone for now, we now have two new beans from the Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic Rizek - Fair Trade /Organic - It's been a couple years since we last had this. Dark fruits like plum and fig, There are also hints of holiday spice particularly cardamom and cinnamon.
Dominican Republic Eden O Organic - This is a elegant bean and brand new in our offerings. There is a fruity tang of kiwi and passion fruit. Also the pretty classic light leather of the Dominican Republic. But everything here is soft and balanced.
The new crop of Organic Bolivia will be in next week, plus a great new smaller lot of Papua New Guinea.. In the mean time, don't miss out on the last of last year's crop of Organic Bolivia - we were able to get one last bag.
"Have you tried the EZ Temper and how in the world does it work? I don't understand it."
Yes, I've have one (Thank you Kerry). You can go read the Review. It outlines what I think of it, how it works and the theory behind it.
The short of it is it works and I like it. Get one if you want to make your tempering life easier. It's well named.
Send in your Ask the Alchemist questions to questions@chocolatealchemy.com
Ecuador - Cedeno - The chocolate carries that aroma of fresh wheat and bright tangy rose. There is a solid chocolate base, a touch of earthiness and a balancing acidity and fruit.
Ecuador Cultivagro -A touch of oak wood plays well with the leather leaving a dry yet satisfying finish.
Ecuador - La Buceta - The chocolate’s aroma is tangy (a nice way to say softly acidic in a nice way) in the way of mace and cinnamon.
Ecuador - Pichincha - There is a floral malty sweetness over a solid chocolate backbone. There is virtually no astringency
Up coming beans: A savory Mexican that I have approved the evaluation sample should soon be on the way.
And if you like this kind of thing (just business as it were) you can subscribe to our newsletter where we make this same announcements when beans and new products come out. Usually about once a month. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a bit less.
I’m a bit disappointed in the appearance of the Wild Bolivia too. It didn’t match the approval sample. And they are also full of dust. This clearly is not right and I’ve been talking with the supplier and they are likewise not happy. That said, they are what they are. And they still taste fantastic (more on this in a bit).
We have taken to sieving the beans for dust and tossing the worst beans. But that is probably only 2-3%, not 30%. So you may still see something in the beans. But (knock on wood) nothing live. Just old damage.
Regardless, I don’t like it and I just don’t feel right charging a premium for these beans. I have dropped the price by 20%. This is NOT to try and unload them on you. It just like I said. I don’t feel right charging a premium for something not in really great condition. Why am I still offering them you might ask? Because I stand behind my assessment that they are still great tasting beans…..without additional sorting or picking.
But I have partly withdrawn them from the wholesale side. If you are interested in full bags from the warehouse, please contact me directly and I’ll see what is left. I’m not going to be carrying warehouse inventory on this for now.
Up on seeing them (after panicking slightly), I immediately roasted up a batch, as is, without sorting. I let the process do the sorting for me. My winnowed recovery was a little less than normal (74 vs 80%, another reason for the discount) but the nibs looked and tasted great. And the resulting chocolate, although a little different from the sample (which isn’t super uncommon) was still a really great flavored chocolate. Let me show you something. This is yet again that you should not judge a bean by its appearance.
That is some of the worst of the Wild Bolivian (not what you would see or receive) and a stunningly prepared sample. The result? No surprise since I am making a point. The Bolivia is full of great character and flavor – AS IS. The beautiful unnamed sample was one dimensional, a bit astringent and mostly a comparative disappointment.
So I say to you again, you do NOT have to pick through these. At least not to the 20-30% level. Analogy time. Say you cut up a nice loaf of bread so you can make stuffing. You take a chaste nibble off half of the cubes of bread and then make croutons and stuffing out of the result. Are you going to notice that you took off nibbles of bread? I challenge you to say yes. You will have less bread (hence again the discount) but it just isn’t going to affect the quality especially if you blow away the crumbs. This isn’t just theory. Every single one of my tests and tasting notes are based on beans as you will receive them.
Why are some chocolate makers tossing out 30%? You would have to ask them. I am not them and don’t agree with it. Visual clues are just not a good indicator of quality. I’ve seen it over and over. Go to the supermarket and check out much of the organic vs conventional. Generally speaking the conventional will look nicer (it’s often bred to be more durable). But generally speaking the organic will taste better (because it tends to be more heirloom, not just because it is organic). Moving on. That horse is dead for the time being.
As for the supplier question. That is a touchy subject. But this has been a ‘full disclosure’ Q&A so no reason to stop now. Yes, I and others got this bean from the same supplier (which I will do the courtesy of not naming). The rub here is that I have been working with this supplier to bring these beans in for me and me alone. But unfortunately they decided it would work better for them to bring in more and sell direct to whomever they wanted. Our gentleman’s agreement clearly fell apart. Many of the customers were ones had I cultivated and only knew about wild Bolvian beans because I was so captivated by them years ago and have been making a big deal of having them again. To their credit, they have stopped selling them for the time being until a handle can be gotten on the extent of the damage and condition of the remain bags. But I guess life has a way of balancing things out. I’m actually kind of relieved I do not have to deal with a bunch of less than happy people. Lemons to lemonade, what goes around comes around and all that fun such stuff.
So you could say I am somewhat disappointed on this this whole endeavor. The beans are not as nice as I’d hoped. My supplier went around me. Some of you are not super happy. I am not super happy. But it is tempered against others who have stuck with me, who agree these taste just as good as they hoped and at the end of the day these beans still make a damn fine chocolate and for that I am happy and grateful. I would not be offering them otherwise. Please trust me and give them a chance. You won’t be disappointed.
Announcing four new beans in stock. Two new Peru plus the new crop of the old favorite. Like I needed more Peru. But these are great so you need them too! And the LONG awaited Wild Bolivia.Peru FT/Org - Oro Verde 2015 This is the 'standard' Peru that we have had for years - Fruit galore. Peru FT/Org - Lamas 2015 - This is the same region as the Oro Verde but with more nut flavors
Peru FT/Org - Tumbes 2015 - Very creamy with toasted wheat aromas. This is a different 'Tumbes' than the 2013 crop. It's a different source all together, hand picked for the quality and tastes. The new(er) 2015 Tumbes will be in a couple months. I hope that makes sense.
Bolivia Wild Harvest - Org 2014/15 - These are the wild harvested, tiny flavor packed Bolivia. Sesame, toasted malt and dates. And Organic to boot. That is two dozen beans to choose from people. I hope you enjoy them.
We will see if I can get to Ask the Alchemist. Clearly I've been busy tasting and getting these beans up for you.
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.
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?
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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 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.
