at Mon, 10 Jan 2005 14:07:35 GMT in <H_vEd.6677$6b.2134@trndny07>,
(Janet Puistonen) wrote :

>This weekend I talked to someone demo-ing a "chocolate fountain." They
>were using Merckens "Falls" chocolate, which they seemed to think was
>not "coating" but the real thing. I have my doubts, since it apparently
>cost about $2 per lb. It would appear that the chocolate used for these
>things is thinned with something--and at that price, I doubt it is cocoa
>butter.
>Anyone have any info on this? (BTW, it was VERY sweet.)

Merckens makes both pure chocolate and compound chocolate coating. I have
not heard of a pure chocolate by Merckens with the name "Falls". Actually,
Merckens is somewhat more well-known for their compound coatings, so
there's at least a reasonable possibility that this is what it was. The
$2/lb price tag is much more in line with the compound coating prices from
Merckens than the pure chocolates, which are around $4.00/lb.

Chocolate with a *very* high cocoa butter content could be used in
fountains, and there are companies who produce chocolates with cocoa butter
contents that are very high indeed. Guittard's Coucher Du Soleil is 44% and
Chocovic's Maragda has 42%. These turn very fluid when melted and the
prices aren't outrageous, either.

I haven't gotten exact tech specs on Amedei's Chuao, but it turned even
more fluid than Coucher Du Soleil on melting (the fluidity was astonishing,
extreme even in comparison to Cluizel's Noir Infini which is over 50% cocoa
butter) which makes me think it too probably has an extreme cocoa butter
content. The price, however, *is* outrageous, although it would make for an
unimaginably luxurious chocolate fountain. You could probably increase
sales to the point of frenzy when people tried this one.

--
Alex Rast

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