Ganache With Fresh Raspberries

Last night we were strolling through the local Farmer's Market and I found some beautiful, fresh garden raspberries from one of the local guys. They were lovely thimble sized beauties. I figured the bags of frozen berries in the freezer would keep but knew that I should get these babies into a ganache as fast as possible.

I assembled the ingredients:



1 gallon manufacturing (high butterfat content) cream
24 ounces fresh raspberries
1 1/2 pounds of sweet butter
10 pounds of 72% cocoa mass bittersweet chocolate.

Next the butter is chopped up into chunks and put on a medium flame with the cream.



The big thing here, and the main thing that sets my ganache apart from the products of others is that I do not allow the cream to boil. While it's heating I whisk it occaisionally to achieve a loose liason with the cream. If the cream were to boil that would be broken. It increases both the richness and the creamy texture of the ganache. I like it that way. It's a little harder to work with and handle but I think it's worth it.

Next I chop up the ten pounds of the chocolate.



It's a coarse chop that mainly speeds and ensures an even melt when the hot cream and butter are introduced. Ten pounds chopped looks like this:



That's a turkey roaster bottom, it's a great size and shape for this. One of the easiest mistakes to make is to not have bowls and pans large enough to allow for some vigorous mixing.



Hot cream and butter mix goes over the chopped chocolate

This is slowly and gently mixed until it gets smooth and dark and glossy and sexy.

From looking like this:



To looking like this:



Then, and I like this part, I take my hands and moosh up the berries. I've used an old fashioned potato masher, but this is far more fun.



That goes into the ganache:



Mixed evenly, then covered closely and into the fridge overnight. Where it is waiting to be rolled into nearly 16 dozen balls this afternoon.

10lb batches, is about as big a batch as I have been able to manage by myself. The 500 truffle order I have means that I get to do this two more times over the next five days.

My work is cut out for me. I love it.

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