Mark wrote:

> My goal was to make a fruit-flavored ganache using dried
> fruit. I used my poppyseed grinder to make pastes out of
> Trader Joe's dried wild bluberries and dark sweet cherries.
> Both made very stiff, sticky pastes after running them
> through the grinder.
>
> In a double boiler, I heated TJ's organic heavy whipping
> cream. To 8 oz. cream, I stirred in about 8 oz. fruit
> paste. "Stir" probably implies an easier process than it
> was. It took a lot of stirring and scraping to incorporate
> the paste into the cream. I did the blueberries first,
> and began to wonder whether this would work at all, when
> suddenly it all seemed to dissolve into the cream.

It might have been easier to add the cream into the fruit pastes, just a
tablespoon at a time, while kneading to incorporate.

Bob

I've never been satisfied with the texture of white chocolate ganaches.
YMMV.

When I want a fruit-flavored ganache, I generally use Boyajian oils, which
are expressed from the skin of the fruit and have a true, bright taste, plus
fresh fruit juice, or in one case a liqueur plus the oil. This results in an
excellent flavor and texture, but does limit me to citrus. I make a
raspberry ganache using a lightly-sweetened concentrated seedless puree I
make myself, plus a little framboise (the real eau de vie, not the gloppy
red stuff). In order to get the flavor I'm aiming at I add more puree than a
truffle ganache will accomodate, so I put it in a molded chocolate instead.
I've tried a pear version, but the pears were too grainy for my taste. I
don't think much of the flavor of dried blueberries. I like dried tart
cherries, but I add them soaked in kirsch to a kirsch truffle.

I don't use fruit extracts or fake flavors.

Janet wrote:
>
> I don't use fruit extracts or fake flavors.

What do you use for a coffee ganache?
I'm thinking of pouring hot cream into a
French press instead of water, letting it
steep as long as I would if it were water,
then using the coffee-infused cream to make
a ganache in the usual way.

On Sep 19, 9:03*pm, Mark Thorson > wrote:
> Janet wrote:
>
> > I don't use fruit extracts or fake flavors.
>
> What do you use for a coffee ganache?
> I'm thinking of pouring hot cream into a
> French press instead of water, letting it
> steep as long as I would if it were water,
> then using the coffee-infused cream to make
> a ganache in the usual way.

Nope! Use Freeze dried espresso. I tried using Kona coffee once. Big
mistake. Gritty and not enough coffee flavor. With freeze dried you
can get a good strong coffee flavor.


John Kuthe...

Janet wrote:
> I've never been satisfied with the texture of white chocolate ganaches.
> YMMV.
>
> When I want a fruit-flavored ganache, I generally use Boyajian oils, which
> are expressed from the skin of the fruit and have a true, bright taste, plus
> fresh fruit juice, or in one case a liqueur plus the oil. This results in an
> excellent flavor and texture, but does limit me to citrus. I make a
> raspberry ganache using a lightly-sweetened concentrated seedless puree I
> make myself, plus a little framboise (the real eau de vie, not the gloppy
> red stuff). In order to get the flavor I'm aiming at I add more puree than a
> truffle ganache will accomodate, so I put it in a molded chocolate instead.
> I've tried a pear version, but the pears were too grainy for my taste. I
> don't think much of the flavor of dried blueberries. I like dried tart
> cherries, but I add them soaked in kirsch to a kirsch truffle.
>
> I don't use fruit extracts or fake flavors.
>
>
Doesn't Boyajian have a raspberry oil? I believe they did--and
that I have some somewhere.

--
Jean B.