[Sca-cooks] Chocolate truffles (OOP)

[Tara Sersen Boroson]

Gorgeous Muiredach said:

> I prefer to use a really good extremely high cocoa content chocolate (60 or
> 70% is best, if you can find it.  Valrhonna is my favoured chocolate to
> use).


Ok, dumb question.  I went to Fresh Fields for chocolate, and the two
highest concentrations were 62% and 99% cacao.  Can I use the 99% stuff
to raise the cacao content of the mixture?  Ok, logic tells me I can of
course.  But, is it advisable?

Then Selene said:
 > I think I would not just throw peppers into the mix, but simmer the
peppers
 > inside of the butter or other fat-based ingredient, strain out the pepper
 > solids and continue the recipe.  Rather like the Alice B. Toklas
recipe for
 > brownies, with a different fat-soluble "active" ingredient here.  Your
 > suggestion of half a pepper per pound of chocolate sounds OK by me, I'm a
 > pepper wimp.

Good idea.  Thank you.  I know that pepper solids release more oil the
longer they sit in food, which means that unless I cooked the snot out
of 'em, they would get hotter as they sat for a few days.  This way, I
can control the heat a little better.  I didn't think of that point.  I
will do that!  That way, I can also taste the cream/butter before adding
the chocolate, thus to help me control the heat a little more easily
without running through pounds and pounds of chocolate in
experimentation.  Not that experimentation with chocolate is normally a
bad thing... but, with the cost of good chocolate and the potential for
absolutely horrendous results, I like a little more control.

-Magdalena