Dipping continued. . .

Here's the picture we didn't get at the end of the last post. Showing how the balls of ganache are lined up in two rows of six. You also get a good visual on why I wash my hands every dozen.













Right before I dip I put the balls into the freezer for about half an hour. This gives them a little extra firmness to stand up to the dipping process. The idea is to have things very cold, but not frozen. I keep a dry, clean towel nearby in case there's any condensation that forms when I take them out of the freezer. From now on in the process, water of any kind is our mortal enemy. A single drop can sieze up and ruin a pound and a half batch of chocolate we just spent the last half hour tempering. I keep a stack of towels handy. Every time I wash my hands I finish the drying with a brand new towel.


After the truffle has been dipped and spun around in the tempered chocolate I put it on to a cutting board covered with butcher paper. When there are a dozen it's time to decorate. This is not only a cosmetic thing. There are two solid reasons for decoration. The first being that I use the decoration to identify which flavor of truffle it is. The second reason is even more practical. When the truffles have hardened and go through the trimming and boxing the decoration will protect the surface of the truffle from fingerprints. Some folks wear plastic gloves when they handle the truffles. I have tried and can't get behind that. By stringing colored chocolate melted in the microwave.


Ok blogger's at it again with the lagging on the photos.

I'm going to close this one and start all over with the stringing and trimming.

grrrrrr.

3b's