at Mon, 07 Feb 2005 00:32:26 GMT in <1107736346.276957.207380
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>, (Michael) wrote :

>Thanks for the comments, Alex. I've got Guittard targeted for both
>unsweetened and white chocolate. I can buy bulk (10 pounds) for
>$5 US per pound. That's not bad! It's cheaper than the Baker's
>they have at the grocery store.

Guittard's big blocs are the best deal in chocolate going. However, I
recommend you *NOT* get the white bloc. Instead, buy El Rey Icoa white
chocolate. 3 kg is $54.95 from Chocosphere, and their white chocolate is so
much better than any of the other white chocolates that it's truly the only
one worth considering. But Guittard Gourmet Bittersweet is awe-inspiring.

>The taste test I did was between Nestle's and Ghirardelli semisweet
>chips. I also bought semisweet and white chocolate bars from
>Ghirardelli, but they both said they were for baking.

You should taste the semisweet chocolate bar. The semisweet chocolate chips
from Ghirardelli aren't anything to write home about, although the Double
Chocolate chocolate chips are *definitely* worth writing home about. But
the semisweet chocolate bars are good. And ignore the "baking" designation
on the bar. They're excellent for eating - all of the bars. Do try the
semisweet chocolate, eaten straight.

In fact, this goes both ways. Any chocolate that's good for eating is going
to be good for baking, and any chocolate that's any good for baking is good
for eating, too. This means that if a chocolate is so bad for eating that
the only use you can put it to is for baking, it's bad for baking, too.
Hence Baker's brand, which isn't just bad eating chocolate, it's bad
chocolate, period.

>The last batch of coated orange chocolates I made with the Nestle's
>were really, really good. The centers were really soft. I used less
>shortening in the coating to keep them from being too soft at room
>temperature.

Instead of "less" shortening, use *no* shortening. This will give
unequivocally the best flavour and texture. You do need to learn to temper,
but that's not hard, and once you've got the idea down it'll be like old
hat. See the many, many previous posts on tempering to see how that's done.

--
Alex Rast

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