Cocoa Butter?

Bunny McElwee wrote on 23 Jan 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

How do I know how much cocoa butter is in a particular chocolate?
I am
not near any decent shops that sell chocolate and I only have one
store in my area that sells a variety of bar chocolates, such as
Lindt, Godiva, Pergua (?) and one other brand that I can't remember
the name of. None of them say on the packaging how much cocoa butter
there is in them. I am looking for some good chocolate to use in a
chocolate fountain I receive at Christmas. It's a cheao brand, but
hey, it was a present, what can I say. I would like to use this for an
upcoming Wine party I am having, but would rather not have to use the
3/4 c oil to 24 oz. chocolate chips ratio (bleck!) they give in the
book. And the only way to avoid doing that, they say, is by using
Belgium Chocolate or chocolate with a high cocoa butter percentage in
it. Without spending $40 to order a couple of pounds off the internet,
I'd rather use something local, if I can figure out how to tell how
much cocoa butter is in the store bought bars. Any help?

Perhaps the webpages of the various chocolate makers, could put your
worrys at rest... Google is your friend

--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

Nope. First place I went. I am well versed in Google lookup. I thought
it would be as easy as looking at the package, but I guess I was wrong to
think that way. My biggest problem is I don'thave the luxury of going down
to the local chocolate store and picking up some Belgium chocolate. Down
here in Moncks Corner, SC we're lucky to have a couple of regular grocery
stores. I have to go all the way in to the next "town" to get to a good
enough grocery store that carries more "high end" products. Thanks for the
advice though!

Quoted message said:

Perhaps the webpages of the various chocolate makers, could put your
worrys at rest... Google is your friend

--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

[posted and mailed]

Bunny McElwee wrote on 23 Jan 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Nope. First place I went. I am well versed in Google lookup. I
thought
it would be as easy as looking at the package, but I guess I was wrong
to think that way. My biggest problem is I don'thave the luxury of
going down to the local chocolate store and picking up some Belgium
chocolate. Down here in Moncks Corner, SC we're lucky to have a couple
of regular grocery stores. I have to go all the way in to the next
"town" to get to a good enough grocery store that carries more "high
end" products. Thanks for the advice though!

Quoted message said:

Perhaps the webpages of the various chocolate makers, could put your
worrys at rest... Google is your friend

--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

next is where cocoa butter is in the list of ingredients and also where
the Parafin is in the list.

--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

Bunny McElwee said:

How do I know how much cocoa butter is in a particular chocolate? I am
not near any decent shops that sell chocolate and I only have one store in
my area that sells a variety of bar chocolates, such as Lindt, Godiva,
Pergua (?) and one other brand that I can't remember the name of. None of
them say on the packaging how much cocoa butter there is in them. I am
looking for some good chocolate to use in a chocolate fountain I receive at
Christmas. It's a cheao brand, but hey, it was a present, what can I say. I
would like to use this for an upcoming Wine party I am having, but would
rather not have to use the 3/4 c oil to 24 oz. chocolate chips ratio
(bleck!) they give in the book. And the only way to avoid doing that, they
say, is by using Belgium Chocolate or chocolate with a high cocoa butter
percentage in it. Without spending $40 to order a couple of pounds off the
internet, I'd rather use something local, if I can figure out how to tell
how much cocoa butter is in the store bought bars. Any help?

They sell cocoa butter in bulk at the local health food store here; I'm
not sure if it's deodorized or not (not would be better.) You could use
cocoa butter instead of the oil and mix with inexpensive chocolate.

If you have time to do it, King Arthur Flour sells coverture (sp?)
chocolate for about $7 per pound (last time I checked.)

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Semisweet_Chocolate___Barry_Callebaut_Chunks.html

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Semisweet_Chocolate___Guittard_Chunks.html

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Bittersweet_Chocolate___Merckens_Bars.html

Best regards,
Bob

Bunny McElwee said:

Nope. First place I went. I am well versed in Google lookup. I thought
it would be as easy as looking at the package, but I guess I was wrong to
think that way. My biggest problem is I don'thave the luxury of going down
to the local chocolate store and picking up some Belgium chocolate. Down
here in Moncks Corner, SC we're lucky to have a couple of regular grocery
stores. I have to go all the way in to the next "town" to get to a good
enough grocery store that carries more "high end" products. Thanks for the
advice though!

Quoted message said:

Perhaps the webpages of the various chocolate makers, could put your
worrys at rest... Google is your friend

--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

But being THAT close to the food in Charleston... makes up for it I
bet!

Chuck (in Irmo sc)

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mr Libido Incognito said:

Bunny McElwee wrote on 23 Jan 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

How do I know how much cocoa butter is in a particular chocolate?
I am
not near any decent shops that sell chocolate and I only have one
store in my area that sells a variety of bar chocolates, such as
Lindt, Godiva, Pergua (?) and one other brand that I can't remember
the name of. None of them say on the packaging how much cocoa butter
there is in them. I am looking for some good chocolate to use in a
chocolate fountain I receive at Christmas. It's a cheao brand, but
hey, it was a present, what can I say. I would like to use this for an
upcoming Wine party I am having, but would rather not have to use the
3/4 c oil to 24 oz. chocolate chips ratio (bleck!) they give in the
book. And the only way to avoid doing that, they say, is by using
Belgium Chocolate or chocolate with a high cocoa butter percentage in
it. Without spending $40 to order a couple of pounds off the internet,
I'd rather use something local, if I can figure out how to tell how
much cocoa butter is in the store bought bars. Any help?

Perhaps the webpages of the various chocolate makers, could put your
worrys at rest... Google is your friend

I'd be willing to place my bets on Lindt's. ;-d
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

"Mr Libido Incognito" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

[posted and mailed]

Bunny McElwee wrote on 23 Jan 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Nope. First place I went. I am well versed in Google lookup. I
thought
it would be as easy as looking at the package, but I guess I was wrong
to think that way. My biggest problem is I don'thave the luxury of
going down to the local chocolate store and picking up some Belgium
chocolate. Down here in Moncks Corner, SC we're lucky to have a couple
of regular grocery stores. I have to go all the way in to the next
"town" to get to a good enough grocery store that carries more "high
end" products. Thanks for the advice though!

Quoted message said:

Perhaps the webpages of the various chocolate makers, could put your
worrys at rest... Google is your friend

--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

next is where cocoa butter is in the list of ingredients and also where
the Parafin is in the list.

Now that I can check for. I did look at the ingredients on them,
thinking that might tell me something, but now that I have been looking so
much, I can't remember if there was any difference in the bars or not. I am
assuming I want cocoa butter to basically be the second ingredient with
paraffin as far down or not at all in the list?

Well, yes, the food around the area is quite good, although I'm not much
for eating out, However, I am very active in the local Miata Club (little
convertible sports cars for those who don't know) and I am the events
coordinator. We do quite a few off the beaten path parties, such as the wine
tasting and Pumpkin carving parties and I can tell you that I have a heck of
a time getting anything theme friendly. Things that people in big cities
take for granted. Oh how I would love the variety of a city like New York in
regards to parties, special events, food, etc. We just don't have it around
here. Heck, the best place I can go for things like themed or colored paper
goods for things like Valentine's or St. Pat's is the local dollar stores!
The only exception we had was during Halloween a company came in and took
over one of the unused mall buildings and setup shop with every kind of
costume and a lot of goodies like lawn ornaments and decorations for
Halloween. It was nice, but outside of that, we virtually have nothing
unless you get it at Wal-Mart!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But being THAT close to the food in Charleston... makes up for it I
bet!

Chuck (in Irmo sc)

Thats what I thought too, but onyl because it has name recognition with
me from seeing it on TV. I just figured it was pretty good chocolate. I just
can't see oiling down even good chocolate with a bunch of oil just to make
it flow. A suggestion from another person was the local health food store
for cocoa butter I may check into that as well. That way, even if I can't
find good Belgium chocolate, maybe I can use the butter to thin down the
okay chocolate without using vegetable oil. I just can't see how that would
taste very good, especially in the quantities they are suggesting. 3/4 cup
to 24 oz. of chocolate just sounds like an oil slick to me!

Quoted message said:

I'd be willing to place my bets on Lindt's. ;-d
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack

Nicholson

Thats a good suggestion. I hadn't thought about trying to buy cocoa
butter. I was having a hard enough time trying to find Belgium Chocolate in
bulk! I do have a health food store close enough to get to, I may look into
that.I see in one of th links below a mention of Guittard. I saw on a
website that that was a preferred chocolate to use. Callebaut as well. $7
ins;t too bad, although I was thinking I could get it locally cheaper. But I
may have no choice where I live, so I will definitely look into those links.
Thanks!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

They sell cocoa butter in bulk at the local health food store here; I'm
not sure if it's deodorized or not (not would be better.) You could use
cocoa butter instead of the oil and mix with inexpensive chocolate.

If you have time to do it, King Arthur Flour sells coverture (sp?)
chocolate for about $7 per pound (last time I checked.)

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Semisweet_Chocolate___Barry_Callebaut_Chunks.html

Quoted message said:

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Semisweet_Chocolate___Guittard_Chunks.html

Quoted message said:

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Bittersweet_Chocolate___Merckens_Bars.html

Quoted message said:

Best regards,
Bob

at Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:15:48 GMT in <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] (Bunny McElwee) wrote :

Quoted message said:

How do I know how much cocoa butter is in a particular chocolate?

That's pretty easy, with dark chocolate. Look at the "nutrition facts"
label on the wrapper. It will list the "total fat" content. Then by simply
dividing that number by the portion size listed on the same label (be
careful that you do *not* divide by the package weight because typically
the portion size isn't the same as the package size) you get the cocoa
butter percentage.

With milk chocolate, OTOH, you are in for a more difficult challenge. Milk
chocolate consists, essentially, of 3 basic ingredients: chocolate, sugar,
and dry milk. The chocolate in turn is defatted cocoa solids + cocoa
butter. Now, defatted cocoa solids are 75% carbohydrate, 25% fat. Sugar is,
of course, 100% carbs. Whole dry milk (and it's typical that one is dealing
with whole milk) is about 30% fat, 42% carbs, and 27% protein. With these
figures in hand, and a lot of algebra, you can arrive at the following
formula for the percentage of cocoa butter. In the formula, G is the total
grams of the portion size listed under the Nutrition Facts, F is the total
fat grams, P is the total protein grams, C is the total carbs grams, and S
is the sugars grams (the nutrition facts label should break down sugars
under the carbs subhead)

% Cocoa Butter = 100/G*(((27*F-30*P)^2-(10*(C-S)*(27*F-30*P)))/((729*F-810
*P)-690*(C-S)))

(I hope I didn't make any algebraic or parentheses mistakes here!)

The formula looks horrible but it's simply a matter of plugging in the
numbers.

Some manufacturers are also explicit in the amount of cocoa butter they
use, and others will let you know, if you give them a call and ask nicely.
(Since it's possible to figure it out, based on the Nutrition Facts label,
they shouldn't balk at giving you the figures over the phone)

Quoted message said:

I
am
not near any decent shops that sell chocolate and I only have one store
in my area that sells a variety of bar chocolates, such as Lindt,
Godiva, Pergua (?)

Perugina

Quoted message said:

and one other brand that I can't remember the name
of. None of them say on the packaging how much cocoa butter there is in
them. I am looking for some good chocolate to use in a chocolate
fountain I receive at Christmas. It's a cheao brand, but hey, it was a
present, what can I say. I would like to use this for an upcoming Wine
party I am having, but would rather not have to use the 3/4 c oil to 24
oz. chocolate chips ratio (bleck!) they give in the book.

The best chocolates for chocolate fountains would be Hachez, with an
astonishing 55% cocoa butter for the Cocoa D'Arriba and 88% bars. Maracaibo
Milk 55% also has plenty of cocoa butter. These are all extraordinarily
fluid and should give you no problems with your fountain. All can be bought
from http://www.chocosphere.com, and it's more reliable that trying to go
with what your shops carry.

That said, the Lindt 85% also has enough cocoa butter that it should work
OK.

Quoted message said:

And the only
way to avoid doing that, they say, is by using Belgium Chocolate or
chocolate with a high cocoa butter percentage in it. Without spending
$40 to order a couple of pounds off the internet,

Be aware that by ordering bulk blocs or chips from internet sites, you can
save plenty over what you'd pay retail for your chocolate. If price
concerns are a primary motivation, Guittard's Coucher Du Soleil 72% is 45%
cocoa butter, and again readily available from Chocosphere for $17.95/kg.

--
Alex Rast
[email hidden]
(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

Bunny said:

We do quite a few off the beaten path parties, such as the wine
tasting and Pumpkin carving parties

Maybe we Californians are just jaded or something, but I don't think either
of those parties sounds particularly off the beaten path. Unless you were
carving the pumpkins with dental implements (or chainsaws) or the wines were
all from an unusual vintner, they sound like standard parties to me.
(Doesn't mean they're not FUN, though! It sounds like your Miata group could
have fun at a telephone-book-reading party; groups like that are immensely
satisfying to have in your life.)

(I *would* throw out a question to the group about the weirdest party
they've attended, but I'm reminded of Damsel once insinuating that she'd
been to a Mensa orgy.)

Bob

zxcvbob said:

If you have time to do it, King Arthur Flour sells coverture (sp?)
chocolate for about $7 per pound (last time I checked.)

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Semisweet_Chocolate___Barry_Callebaut_Chunks.html

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Semisweet_Chocolate___Guittard_Chunks.html

http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Bittersweet_Chocolate___Merckens_Bars.html

I've gotten all three of those in the past. To *my* tastes, the Merckens
lacked chocolate character, but I do think it would work quite well in a
chocolate fountain, and it's quite inexpensive by comparison with other
chocolates.

Bob

In article <[email hidden]>,

Bob Terwilliger' virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz said:

Bunny said:

We do quite a few off the beaten path parties, such as the wine
tasting and Pumpkin carving parties

Maybe we Californians are just jaded or something, but I don't think either
of those parties sounds particularly off the beaten path. Unless you were
carving the pumpkins with dental implements (or chainsaws) or the wines were
all from an unusual vintner, they sound like standard parties to me.
(Doesn't mean they're not FUN, though! It sounds like your Miata group could
have fun at a telephone-book-reading party; groups like that are immensely
satisfying to have in your life.)

(I *would* throw out a question to the group about the weirdest party
they've attended, but I'm reminded of Damsel once insinuating that she'd
been to a Mensa orgy.)

Bob

Did they play naked twister? <G>
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

On 25 Jan 2006 11:57:01 -0600, "Bob Terwilliger"

virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz said:

(I *would* throw out a question to the group about the weirdest party
they've attended, but I'm reminded of Damsel once insinuating that she'd
been to a Mensa orgy.)

*laugh* I wouldn't be surprised if some of my friends had been in
attendance.

We don't have weird parties, in general. Bad movie parties, Oscar
parties, and a Nightmare Before Christmas party are our speed. Nothing
much more exotic than that.

(And we don't throw "that kind of party", though many of our friends
do.)

serene

Oh yes! We have a ball. I say off the beaten path as typically a car
club is a driving event club. We have a tendency to do some silly events or
some that don't really pertain to driving the car. We're a very close group
so we have fun doing just about anything, although from the looks of the
other responses to your message, uh - No, we don't do Orgies 🙂

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

We do quite a few off the beaten path parties, such as the wine
tasting and Pumpkin carving parties

Maybe we Californians are just jaded or something, but I don't think

either

Quoted message said:

of those parties sounds particularly off the beaten path. Unless you were
carving the pumpkins with dental implements (or chainsaws) or the wines

were

Quoted message said:

all from an unusual vintner, they sound like standard parties to me.
(Doesn't mean they're not FUN, though! It sounds like your Miata group

could

Quoted message said:

have fun at a telephone-book-reading party; groups like that are immensely
satisfying to have in your life.)

(I *would* throw out a question to the group about the weirdest party
they've attended, but I'm reminded of Damsel once insinuating that she'd
been to a Mensa orgy.)

Bob

Oh yes! We have a ball. I say off the beaten path as typically a car
club is a driving event club. We have a tendency to do some silly events or
some that don't really pertain to driving the car. We're a very close group
so we have fun doing just about anything, although from the looks of the
other responses to your message, uh - No, we don't do Orgies 🙂

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

We do quite a few off the beaten path parties, such as the wine
tasting and Pumpkin carving parties

Maybe we Californians are just jaded or something, but I don't think

either

Quoted message said:

of those parties sounds particularly off the beaten path. Unless you were
carving the pumpkins with dental implements (or chainsaws) or the wines

were

Quoted message said:

all from an unusual vintner, they sound like standard parties to me.
(Doesn't mean they're not FUN, though! It sounds like your Miata group

could

Quoted message said:

have fun at a telephone-book-reading party; groups like that are immensely
satisfying to have in your life.)

(I *would* throw out a question to the group about the weirdest party
they've attended, but I'm reminded of Damsel once insinuating that she'd
been to a Mensa orgy.)

Bob

Thank you very much for the information! I set out on a mission to go to
Whole Foods yesterday after a quick call to them. They have it, in stock,
$6.95 a pound and after a few missed directions and a couple of turn
arounds, I found myself in front of their store. If you are at all familiar
with Moncks Corner, you know that Mt. Pleasant is kind of like the other
side of the world for us. I'm not very familiar with my way around there,
but I was determined to get that Chocolate. Thanks so much for the tip and
the guy at the counter even said that everyone who came in for chocolate
fountains bought the Callebaut, so it gives me hope that it'll work
splendidly without having to ruin it with all that oil!

Thanks again!

"scott123" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Whole Foods in Charleston carries Callebaut couverture (high cocoa
butter chocolate) for about $8 a pound.

Thank you very much for the information! I set out on a mission to go to
Whole Foods yesterday after a quick call to them. They have it, in stock,
$6.95 a pound and after a few missed directions and a couple of turn
arounds, I found myself in front of their store. If you are at all familiar
with Moncks Corner, you know that Mt. Pleasant is kind of like the other
side of the world for us. I'm not very familiar with my way around there,
but I was determined to get that Chocolate. Thanks so much for the tip and
the guy at the counter even said that everyone who came in for chocolate
fountains bought the Callebaut, so it gives me hope that it'll work
splendidly without having to ruin it with all that oil!

Thanks again!

"scott123" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Whole Foods in Charleston carries Callebaut couverture (high cocoa
butter chocolate) for about $8 a pound.