quote:
Originally posted by Gracie
We’re pondering adding ice cream to our offering in our shop,and I’m curious as to whether a high or lower cocoa butter ratio would provide the best result.
My instinct says to go with a high cocoa content but relitively low cocoa butter to prevent extreme hardness.
You are correct. Too high a cocoa butter as you suggest only increases the fat content – and the result is like Ben&Jerry’s, i.e. chisel-it-out-of-the-carton. Meanwhile, yes, you need high cocoa content or the flavour will be extremely mild: think about what the dilution factor will be in ice cream and it’s obvious you need maximum power.
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i love Valrhona’s Guanaja but think it may be too hard once frozen.
Alternatives are a high viscosity (low cocoa butter ratio) single origin from Ecuador, El Rey’s apamate or Grenadan Chocolate company’s 70% (pricy but nice!)
Guanaja is OK but suboptimal. Cocoa butter content is on the high side though not extreme.
The optimum choice is El Rey Gran Saman.
Note the blend! NOT Apamate, which is too mild and too high cocoa butter to be ideal. Another possibility, again very expensive but worth considering, is Domori Carenero Superior with a similarly low cocoa butter content and high-power flavour. I think you’re also noticing that, in general, the Carenero bean works best with ice cream. Its spicy general character helps it to stand out, unlike fruity flavours which tend to be retreating and earthy ones that end up really tasting muddy.
Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com
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