Friday, July 17, 2015

Chocolate Dipping with The Chocolate Doctor, and the EZtemper!

Summer is a great time of year here on Manitoulin Island.  And not just because it's beautiful in the summertime, or because the tourists are here livening up the place (in winter time it is a wee bit quiet, to say the least). It is also exciting because we get an annual visit from the famed Chocolate Doctor. 

Kerry Beal is a Canadian physician who comes up to Manitoulin Island every summer to work in one of our two hospitals.  In fact, when I first met Kerry, I was at the hospital for a prenatal appointment.  I had no idea that she was a chocolate educator, consultant, and all around chocolate superhero at the time. And she had no idea that I was starting a small chocolate business and blog here on Manitoulin.

Then, four years ago, I attended The Toronto Luxury Chocolate Show and there was Kerry, at the front of a very large group of people, teaching a chocolate truffle-making workshop. I said to my mother, who was attending the show with me, "that looks like a doctor at the hospital on Manitoulin Island!"

I didn't think much of it at the time, but then some time later I needed help with a chocolate 'problem' (ha! like chocolate can ever be a problem!), and posted a question on The Chocolate Doctor's website. Kerry responded with a book recommendation, and said she had extra copies, and then asked where I was located.  I said "don't worry about it, I'm way up here on Manitoulin Island - too far away to just pick it up. I'll buy it online." Needless to say, I was surprised when she wrote back, "I'll be there in the summer, we should meet up!"

So as it turned out, The Chocolate Doctor is also a very real medical doctor, with whom I had an appointment in the past!

And meet up, we did.  Let me tell you, it is wonderful to 'talk chocolate' with someone for several hours without worrying that they will be tired of hearing about chocolate!  Last week, Kerry came to my home and commercial kitchen for lunch.  We played around in the kitchen a little bit with her new EZtemper Seed Generator appliance, which helps small-batch chocolatiers and craft chocolate makers, temper chocolate instantly. I was amazed to see how much time could be saved in making chocolate meltaways.

Then, yesterday, I visited Kerry in her summer kitchen across the Island, and we had a little chocolate dipping workshop. She showed me how to dip chocolate in a new way, different from how I've been doing it. And we tested out her EZtemper to see how it faired by placing chocolate for painting and decorating in it. It worked very well actually. The chocolate that had rested in the machine for 12 hours prior to use was in temper, a little thick but great for painting. Kerry patiently painted out a Santa Claus mold that I brought over, and some fossil chocolate bar molds.

We also dipped giant chocolate marshmallows and some very delicious boozy white chocolate ganache centres, as well as a unique caramelized almond and orange dessert that Kerry recently brought back from Spain.

I am continually amazed by Dr. Kerry Beal. Somehow she manages to juggle a career as a physician, an active family life, an entrepreneurial venture, and a busy career as a super-duper chocolate educator.

If you are looking for recipe development for your chocolate business, or private courses in chocolate, instructional DVDs on how to make, mold and temper chocolate confections, check out Kerry's website at: http://www.thechocolatedoctor.ca/.  For more information on the EZtemper Seed Generator to make chocolate tempering simple and quick,  visit http://www.eztemper.com/.

And now, here are some pics from our adventures chocolate this week...



Bowls and bowls of chocolate for dipping and molding!

Giant chocolate dipped marshmallows with dipped ganache behind it.

Painted and molded chocolate Santa Claus.

Kerry's painted Santa Claus mold.
Dipped ganache in white and dark chocolate.


Fun cocoa butter faces for the marshmallows.


Dark chocolate 'fossil' bars made from molds painted with white chocolate.

 

That's me! Dipping ganache in chocolate using Kerry's super cool 'clean' method
of dipping with a cake cutting wire over the bowl.
Turrón de Yema a la Naranja (caramelized almond bar with egg yolk and oranges) from Spain.

Turrón de Yema a la Naranja dipped in chocolate

6 comments:

  1. Ah! That's so awesome to see a medical doctor who is also a chocolate doctor! I love how you explore so many facets of chocolate on here. I read this blog obsessively and consult it every single time I buy chocolate. Thank you!

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  2. Your comment is very beneficial for the future, you have written in a very beautiful way, you have an inspiration for the youth who come to your comment is really very beautiful, nowadays children do not know where they are wandering, no one can make a comment like you. The post is very different.


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