Bunny McElwee wrote:
> I currently have one of the small version of a chocolate dipping machine
> which has two settings, warm to keep the chocolate liquid and hot to melt
> the chocolate from solid. It's a great machine and I love to use it for the
> holidays for dipping all sorts of candies. My question is - Can you use a
> crockpot on low to do the same thing? I got an advertisement in this months
> Good Cook magazine selection and it is for a unit called Chocolate Heaven,
> being toughted as a candy maker and a fondue pot. It basically looks like a
> crockpot. Has removable insert and everything. It's $12.99 and holds up to
> 24oz. The one i have, which was some special unit, cost me twice that and
> holds about 8oz. I do a LOT of candy making, especially at Christmas and I
> was wondering if this Chocolate Heaven would be a good thing for me to buy
> and use for dipping large batches or if buying a small crockpot from
> Wal-Mart would do the same thing. I'm not looking for pristine style dipping
> as I am only a basic home candy maker, but I would love to be able to dip
> more than a few at a time and not have to stop to add more chocolate every
> 10th peice of candy. Anyone have any ideas on this unit or their use of it
> or a crockpot to dip candies??? It would also be useful to keep both units
> and have one for chocolate and one for white chocolate or something as well.
>
>
> I guess my main question is, Do I need the Chocolate Heaven unit (is it
> something special?) or can I do the same thing with a low heat crockpot?
>
> Thanks in advance
I think you are much better off using a large stainless bowl and a bain
marie as a crockpot gets waay too hot, even on the lowest setting. Are
you using couverture or melt and mold stuff? I just bought an 11 pound
block of Callebaut milk chocolate which will be made into truffles
shortly. If you have never tried it, see if you can get your hands on
some. It is fantastic!