While I'm waiting for the chocolate temperer to heat up,
I'll describe yesterday's adventure.

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
seemed like the paste had to get hot before it would mix
with the cream. The cherries made a coarser and stiffer
mixture.

In each case, I combined the hot mixture with about a
pound of chopped white chocolate, let stand for 5 minutes,
then stirred to incorporate. Both required a little
time over the boiler to get all the chocolate to melt,
and lots of stirring. Tt seemed like the cherry ganache
might be breaking while I was stirring it, but it looked
okay the next day after it cooled.

Then, I poured the ganache into pans, covered with foil,
and put to cool overnight in the refrigerator. It was
still pretty soft and sticky this morning, but I was able
to scoop them into balls for truffle centers. The cherry
ganache was easier to handle, compared to the blueberries,
but the flavor of the blueberries was better.

Both ganaches are rather dark. You might not think they
were made out of white chocolate, especially the cherry,
to look at them. Both have good flavor, but I like the
blueberry better. I'm thinking maybe half the amount
the fruit might be better, to lighten the color and
texture.

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.