Latest chocolate update…

…I tried the apricot vanilla caramels yesterday and it didn’t work out quite right–didn’t get hard enough and the caramel was burning–so I may try it again next year with a bit of pectin to harden the caramels. (In other words, treat it as a fruit paste rather than a caramel.) I’ve never tried a fruit paste before, but no doubt I can find a recipe somewhere…

I tasted some of the molded chocolates this morning, and am only moderately impressed. The flavorings aren’t strong enough–next year I will try it again with much stronger flavorings. I had forgotten that molded chocolates have a lot more solid chocolate in them than truffles…oh well, food for thought next time.

I have now made another batch of my vanilla-jasmine tea-orange blossom honey caramels, and am about to embark on chai, green tea, and jasmine tea truffles. (This really *is* the year of tea truffles!) After that it will be a batch of liquor truffles–the two sherries, the port, and a Merlot. And then, dip the caramels, make some cherry-almond clusters, and I’m done for the year! After that it will just be a bunch of packing-up and clearing up and getting 17 boxes of chocolate ready for shipment. (I might make another batch of English toffee, though, just on general principles.)

I love making chocolate…I am serious about it as I am about very few things. Wouldn’t want to do it for a living, but I wouldn’t mind spending three weeks doing nothing but experimenting with chocolate…

Oh, and it looks like I’ll have enough chocolate to finish out this season. I might even have five or six pounds left!