[Sca-cooks] Chestnuts, candy making supplies.

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2001, Ted Eisenstein wrote:

> On the debate over cookie sheets vs. oilcloth-covered wooden boards
> vs. marble slabs:
> You know, I'd always thought that marble slabs were preferred for
> candy making - something to do with the fact that they don't heat up
> as quickly as the cookie sheets (important if you don't want just-off-the-
> flame chocolates to stay hot too long) (i.e.: hot chocolates won't heat
> a slab nearly as fast as they do your normal cookie sheet); and they won't
> warp as wood or cookie sheet do; they're somewhat easier to clean;
> and chocolates that stick are easier to take off marble.
>
> Or so I'd think. Am I wrong in my presuppositions?
>
> (Errrr, provided you've got a good source for marble slabs, and the
> money, and the room, of course. <grin>)
>
> Alban

Dunno. Grandpa (and Mom, who was usually the one to do the
hand-dipping of the marzipan) used the marble for chocolate, but other
dipped candies (nuts, dried fruit, the occasional marshmallow or
caramel) went on the oilcloth. I don't remember the chocolates sticking
overly much to the oilcloth, though. There was something about them
cooling slowly, and then we put them out on the porch once they were
solid, to chill a little before we boxed them.

When Mom did the marzipan, the chocolate went onto the slab, and she did
*something* to it for a while before bringing the marzipan into the
picture. My fuzzy memory suggests that she was kneading it, which would
have a tempering effect. There was always about a cup of melted chocolate
on the slab, sometimes less, but never more, and the rest of the chocolate
waited in the pot until it was needed. The pot sat on the table next to
Mom, so it was very clearly not on the flame.

Chocolate dipped cookies always went straight from the dipping to the
oilcloth, no marble involved.

I know if chocolate goes through rapid temperature changes, it alters the
crystalline structure and you get bloom, which is the cocoa butter coming
to the surface. That usually happens in storage, though.

I'll have to ask Mom next time I talk to her, I suppose.

Margaret