at Sun, 25 Jan 2004 15:16:50 GMT in
>,
(frood) wrote :

>I am looking for chocolate to make truffles with. Specifically, I want
>to find couverture. I prefer thin coat to thick. ...

You should also use the same chocolate for the centers. This means the
flavour will be properly balanced. Don't use one chocolate for all coatings
if you're making centers with different chocolates.

>
>Locally, there is some Valrhona at one gourmet grocery,...

>By your range, I enjoy eating the mid-range brands you mention, but I
>have never cooked with them. (That doesn't sound right - what do you
>call it when you make candies? Candy-made? Candied?)

"Confectionery".

> I have tried
>several of the quality brands you mentioned, but my opinion differs from
>your when it comes to Ghirardelli. I much prefer Scharffenberger.

With your Valrhona comment above, I believe you prefer extremely fruity
chocolate. In that case, these 2 brands, Valrhona and Scharffen Berger,
will no doubt be the ones you like best, because they have the most
aggressively fruity taste.

Perhaps the best of the Valrhona line, and the best chocolate for your
application and taste preference, is Guanaja 70%, a fine chocolate in every
sense of the term. It will make extraordinary truffles. If that's too hard
to find, get Le Noir Amer. I'm partial to 70%'s for truffles - they have a
good chocolate punch but retain enough sugar that when cream is added, the
result doesn't taste flat, like 80%+ chocolates tend to taste in truffles.
Both of these you can get from Chocosphere, if your preference is on-line
(http://www.chocosphere.com). You may also be able to cajole your gourmet
supermarket into bringing them in. Certainly Le Noir Amer will easily sell
almost anywhere.

Which Ghirardelli bars have you tried? It's worth noting that the "Sweet
Dark" chocolate, also sold simply as "Dark Chocolate" isn't especially
good. The Semi-Sweet and Bittersweet are considerably better. But that's
personal opinion, at least to an extent.

> For
>milk chocolate, the best I've tasted is British Cadburys - not the
>exported American version, but the real deal.

You've got to try more milk chocolate! It's easy to do much better than
Cadbury's. Actually, if anything, I think the USA version is a bit better
than the UK version. It's possible, however, that you like extreme
sweetness in your milk chocolate, in which case try Enric Rovira.
Otherwise, you might wish to try Valrhona's Jivara, or Guittard's Soleil
D'Or. Again, you can get both from Chocosphere.

--
Alex Rast

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