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Q. Recently I prepared 60 boxes
of hand dipped truffles to sell at a fund-raiser. The truffles were dipped
on November 17, boxed, stored in a cool place (not refrigerated) and sold
on December 1. Yesterday I received reports that some people found mold
between the centers and shell of truffle. The filling is chocolate and
heavy cream with no other additives. The weather was quite a bit warmer
than usual this year. I have been making truffles for about 20 years and
never had this happen. What went wrong and how can I prevent it? Thanks
for any help.
A. My understanding is that
mold growth is enabled by trace moisture and air. After a couple of occasions
when one of my truffles developed mold after several weeks at a store,
I changed my procedure to include two new steps. Firstly, I add potassium
sorbate to my ganache. The amount needed is very small. You can buy
bottles of potassium
sorbate solution here, and the instructions are on the bottle. Secondly,
I make sure that the chocolate shell is thick enough and has no cracks
or holes that would allow air to enter by double coating. I do a thin first
coat by rolling each one in chocolate between my palms. (This way you can
more easily achieve a thin coat with little or no "foot.") The second coat
is done by dipping in the usual way with a dipping tool. There are other
things that can extend shelf life, such as addition of alcohol (many of
my flavors have some alcohol), use of invert
sugar (I don't do this, because most of my flavors do not include additional
sugar, but I may look into in at some point.), et al. I have not had any
problems since I started adding potassium sorbate and double-thick-chocolate
shell. I'd like to be preservative-free, but unfortunately, one can't completely
control how people will store the product, and I have to have a shelf life
of at least a month.
REMARK: I have also read that
bringing the cream to a boil three times can also help extend shelf life.
I just cannot imagine how so many of the truffles showed green mold inside
after less than two weeks from dipping. I use a tempering machine and set
it for a thicker consistency, but I have done the rolling in chocolate
for 1st coat practice in the past, then dip for 2nd coat, and I'll do it
for this order
A. I had heard that bringing
the cream to a boil more than once was supposed to help, but I've never
really tried it, except when I infuse the cream with something. Don't forget
that if you boil it more than once you have to start with more cream to
account for the evaporation. I too am really surprised that you had so
much mold in so short a time. That never happened to me, even before I
started using potassium sorbate. Sounds as if you must have had a bumper
crop of mold spores flying around your kitchen! Better luck with the next
batch.
A. Unless your truffles are
made inside a vacuum (that's how commercial truffles are produced) or you
add preservatives, the shelf life of a home-made truffle is relatively
short. The reason is that the inside truffle filling is a moist substance,
and coupled with air it will of course go moldy. The fact this hasn't happened
before is likely that your truffles just weren't showing the mold, but
were most likely still turning bad, so in this case consider mold to be
a good thing, I guess.
For what it's worth, potassium sorbate
alone won't extend the shelf life as long as you may like (1 month at best)
but it will help inhibit mold, so it is worth adding. :o) Janet
Q. Would you recommend refrigerating
finished, boxed truffles for a week or two? At this point I don't need
long shelf life.
A. Refridgerating doesn't
inhibit mold very well (think cheese) but freezing them will do a good
job. Wrap them as airtight in their box as you can then let them thaw without
removing any packaging so all the condensation from thawing collects outside
the box instead of on the chocolate. If you use real chocolate, definitely
double-check them before giving away to make sure no water spots or bloom
end up on them or if you use a coating like merckens I'm sure you'll have
no problems at all.
For potassium sorbate check your
yellow pages for wholesale food suppliers/candy maker's supplies. I get
mine at a place that sells raw foods like exotic flours, etc. and confection
materials (weird combination for a store to sell, I know). Just make sure
you use only the amount indicated on the packaging and no more. Kathy
A. Re freezing: absolutely
not, if you are planning to sell them. The likelihood is that the finish
of the chocolate will be ruined, at the very least, not to mention what
it might do to flavor and texture, and what kind of cracking it might cause.
I don't have any problem keeping truffles for much longer than 2 weeks.
I keep them at temperatures in the fifties as much as possible. Kathy
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