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Alex Rast
 
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at Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:22:49 GMT in >,
deedoveyatshenteldotnet (Dee Randall) wrote :

>What brand of 70% bittersweet (dark) chocolate would make a good
>truffle/ganache/chocolate sauce?
>
>I have tried Scharffenberger, but am looking for a less fruitty
>chocolate, not more than $11 a pound.


Almost any chocolate will be less fruity than Scharffen Berger, but FWIW I
agree that, in general, a fruity chocolate doesn't make for the best
truffles, or sauce, for that matter. Actually, you want something a little
different for truffles and for sauce. In the truffle range, you can get by
with a more nuanced, mild flavour, because there's much more chocolate in
the mix. With sauces, OTOH, you want a powerful flavour because the higher
dilution means you need the strength to make the chocolate flavour stand
out. With sauce, however, you can also get by with a lower cocoa butter
content, because you've got so much more fluid, generally at a lower fat
content anyway, to smooth out the mixture.

For low fruitiness, you want a darker roast. Now, if a roast is *very*
dark, it can make truffles seem a little "flat", but definitely you want
the roast to be darker than the (underroasted?) Scharffen Berger.

The $11/lb restriction makes your choices *very* limited. Most of the
better chocolates are more than that, even if only a little bit more.
At the $11/lb price, you're more or less limiting yourself to domestic
producers. And that pretty much means you're limiting yourself to Guittard
and Ghirardelli, if you want quality chocolate. Guittard is superb overall
- IMHO far better than Scharffen Berger, but their best chocolates come in
the 60-65% class. Ghirardelli doesn't list their cocoa solids percentage.
The Bittersweet chocolate they produce is very good, but so nearly
identical to Callebaut that it's hard to tell them apart. So if you really
do want to stay under $11/lb, for truffles, yet want a different flavour,
perhaps the only option you have left is Guittard Coucher du Soleil 72%. Be
aware that there's still some fruitiness to it.

If you can accept a loss of actual cocoa solids percentage, then an
outstanding choice is Guittard Gourmet Bittersweet. It's 63% cocoa solids,
but possesses an unusual intensity for that percentage that really makes it
a lot stronger than typical chocolates in its range. I use it as my
"standard" ganache chocolate - it's incredibly versatile, being excellent
across the entire range from truffles to sauce.

For sauce only, you have another good choice : El Rey Gran Saman. This has
a low cocoa butter content, and for that reason isn't the best for
truffles, but for sauce it has knockout power and a great, tropical/earthy
flavour.

Now, if you want to expand your horizons into the $20/lb range, your
options open up immensely. Michel Cluizel, perhaps the best single
chocolatier in the world (at least IMHO) has a world-class entry in Amer
Brut 72%. Cote D'Or and Dolfin each make chocolates that are almost as
good, although with the Cluizel available for a lower price thanks to the
fact that you can get it in a bulk format as opposed to the other 2, only
found in bars, it sort of begs the question as to why. Valrhona's Araguani
is good for truffles, with a delicate flavour, not so fruity as the typical
Valrhona either. I wouldn't recommend this one for sauce, though.

There are other chocolates that offer various balances of flavour and roast
, if you're ready to spend the big bucks, but of course prices quickly get
out of hand and I'm with you - when it comes to truffles and sauces, *some*
cost control is desirable, especially when the extra price doesn't really
buy you better quality, just different, generally more characterised,
flavour characteristics.

--
Alex Rast

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