Tuesday Tip: Pick Your Fruit

Last week I wrote about dipping berries into chocolate. For me, something almost as much fun as dipping fruit into chocolate is picking fruit. My favorite fruits to pick are blueberries and strawberries. Blueberries are easy to pick because they grow conveniently on bushes, so the picking is pretty easy. Strawberries are a bit harder because they grow low to the ground. Over the years and depending on where I live, I have picked berries and other fruits at u-pick farms. I find it to be a relaxing way to spend the morning and a great way to get fresh air, have quality time with my family and friends AND pick the freshest fruit. The freshest fruit is always the best. And if you haven't eaten it all before you get home, you can wash it, dry it and dip it into melted chocolate!

These are the farms that I love to pick fruit at in the Baltimore area:

Baugher's Farm in Westminster for strawberries (early June)
410 857 0111
Larriland Farm in Lisbon for blueberries and raspberries (July and August)
301 854 6110
Weber's Cider Mill Farm in Parkville for apples (September-October)
410 668 4488

There are many many more farms and fruits! Please, make sure to call before you go to get the up to date info. on what is being picked that day and the hours of operation. Also, don't forget to go to the cash machine before you get there, they may or may not take credit cards. Bring plenty of water, a hat, sunscreen and maybe even some hand wipes. Most farms will provide containers. Have fun!

Here is a good source for u-pick farm info. in Maryland.
http://pickyourown.org/MDbalt.htm#listings

Enjoy!

Emily
The Truffle Lady

Tuesday Tip: Dipped Fruit

Dipping fruit in chocolate is easy, fun and delicious. Now that we are in berry season, I would like to recommend dipping berries. Here is what you need:

berries of your choice (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries- quantity determined by you)
12 oz. of baking chocolate (I would recommend Baker's semi sweet or bittersweet choc. squares for dark chocolate)
chopsticks or 2 forks
cookie sheet lined with wax paper

* Stay away from unsweetened chocolate when you are dipping.

Now, you want to melt down your chocolate. This can be done in several ways. You can do this using a double boiler, a bowl in the microwave or a small crock pot. Today I will talk about using the small crock pot. Put the chocolate into the Crockpot with the lid on and set the Crockpot on high. After 5 minutes, stir the chocolate. Continue to stir the chocolate at 5 minute intervals until it is mostly melted. When it is mostly melted, turn the heat down to low and stir until completely melted.

When you are not stirring your chocolate, this is when you want to wash your berries. Strawberries need to be washed thoroughly to remove sand and dirt. All berries need to be washed gently and dried.

For the strawberries, hold them at the top of the berry and dip into the melted chocolate until about 3/4 of the strawberry is covered. It is beautiful to see the red and green of the berry show, so don't be tempted to dip the whole berry. (also, the chocolate is hot, so you can keep your fingers safe by not dipping all the way!) Take the strawberry and gently shake the excess chocolate off the berry and then lay it gently on the wax paper lined cookie sheet.

For the rest of the berries, gently put the berries 3 or 4 at a time into the chocolate and rotate until they are covered. If you are proficient at using chopsticks, pull the berry out with the chopstick and after the excess chocolate has dripped off, let it rest on the cookie sheet. If using chopsticks is more of a challenge for you than it's worth, use the forks.

After you have dipped all the berries that your heart desires, put the cookie sheet into the refrigerator and let the delectable berries harden. Eat within 24 hours!

Enjoy!

Yours in chocolate,

Emily
The Truffle Lady

Summer Chocolate Blues

It's hot out! Many people, myself included, get a bit nervous about the idea of transporting chocolate items in the heat. It can be done!
Use a cooler, keep your chocolate in the cooler (and don't open it) until you get to your destination. Any size cooler can work.
Want to put your chocolate out for a picnic? Find a shady spot first. Next, set up a two plate system with ice on the first plate, then the next plate on top with the chocolate on that. This will work if you want to have the chocolate out for a short bit of time or in the evening. This will not work for chocolate that is directly in the sun. Also, if it is a small crowd, you may want to put out smaller quantities at a time.

Good luck!

Yours in chocolate,

Emily
The Truffle Lady

Panera Bread experiment

This morning, I heard a story on the radio about Panera Bread opening a restaurant in the St. Louis area that operates on donations. It works like this. A patron comes into the restaurant and orders a sandwich and then pays either following the suggested price or not. They can pay more or less than the suggestion. The radio story said that most people will pay at least the suggested amount.

So, I was thinking that this is a very interesting experiment. What will it mean if Panera Bread is successful with this idea? How would it work if other businesses tried this? It sounded to me that this experiment was worth the risk for a large business, but could it work for a small business?

Then I wondered what people would pay if they were left to buy a handmade truffle without a pricetag? Would it work for me as a small business owner to try an experiment like this?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Yours in Chocolate,

The Truffle Lady

Truffle Engineering

I recently asked my Facebook friends to send me flavor combinations that they would like to eat in their truffles. It seems like an easy question. It generated quite a few responses. From the list of combinations, I then started to think about which flavors might work.

First there is the compatability factor. If you are mixing ginger with lemon, will it taste good? If you are mixing ginger with lemon and adding it to chocolate will it taste good?

Then there is the "will this work" factor. If you add an ingredient to the ganache will you be able to taste it? One example is adding a flavor to the ganache. When the flavor isn't strong enough, it will get lost in the ganache. Or, if you try to add something crunchy to the ganache, e.g. adding pretzels, will the pretzel keep it's crunch or will it get soggy? Sometimes, it's a chemistry issue. If you roll ganache in Pop Rocks they will pop when you put them into your mouth on the first day. By the third day, the popping will be gone and the ganache will be coated in a puddle of candy, all the effervescence gone.

Lastly, there is the "consumer" factor. This is the idea that one person may LOVE a specific flavor, but they might be the only one of a few. There probably aren't too many people out there that want to eat a dark chocolate truffle with a sorbet ganache.

As a chocolatier, it is fun to play with the flavors and see what works. Sometimes the results are surprisingly delicious!

Yours in chocolate!

Emily
The Truffle Lady

Craft Shows

I am just back from my third holiday show in 10 days. It was fun and I enjoy meeting the other vendors and finding out what people are doing to be creative and give a piece of themselves to the world. The world of craft shows is for those of us who create and for the world around us that wants to be a part of this and support our talent. This is a beautiful thing to watch. This is why I go to the Farmer's Market regularly and why I buy from other local vendors. Without sounding preachy, I will say that it feels like a win-win situation.

This blog post is dedicated to Jessica, who I met today. She reminded me of why I like to/need to blog. Sometimes I think that no one reads this, but she set me straight today. Thank you!

Yours in chocolate!

The Truffle Lady
Emily

Food Passion

After a full and amazing summer, I'm now getting back into the kitchen. Being at "my kitchen", the commercial kitchen that I rent, has a very comforting feeling for me. As I make a batch of ganache and smell the melted chocolate, I am instantly reminded of why I do this. I love good chocolate and I want to share my creations with the world!

Seeing Julie and Julia was a great time for me. I thought that I would just relate to the Julia character in some way, but I found myself relating to Julie, too! I guess it is the blogger in me.

Cheers to all the foodies out there that have a passion for food and want to share it with the world.

Yours in chocolate,

Emily
The Truffle Lady