Instructions for tempering chocolate have been added and a chocolate covered pineapple project as well.
Chocolate Tempering Simplified - Some chocolates need to be tempered to look good. Learn why and how to do it here.
Chocolate Covered Pineapple - Dip dried fruit for a unique taste treat. Illustrated step by step instructions.
Two new free candle making projects are now available on the site. These are modernized versions from my 1998 project archives.
Hot Fudge Sundae Candle Making Project - A popular faux food style of candle. Fully illustrated.
Fire Starters - A great way to recycle wax scraps.
This occurred to me on a recent trip to a local store to buy cooking pots - I won’t mention any names but they have 3 B’s in their initials. Normally I avoid big chains preferring to buy from smaller businesses, but my wife had $50 in gift cards (from a credit card reward or something) so we headed there. We are replacing all our non stick pots in light of the possible health threat they pose.
The shopping part went smoothly and after looking at all the cooking pot sets we couldn’t afford, settled on a nice copper bottom 10 piece set for about the price of what a single high end pot would have cost.
As we were leaving we noticed a small sign on the display that the set included a free gift - ask at register or customer service. Well, a free gift always sounds nice but “ask at the register” translates into “you are about to waste a lot of time” in my experience.
Sure enough the cashier knew nothing about this, so someone from that department was paged to the register. He actually showed up after the second page (a small miracle in itself). He of course knew nothing about it either and headed back to his department to investigate. At this point I would have just left the store and bought it online, but my wife is like a hound dog trailing a scent when it comes to a “bargain” so I was forced to wait.
While he was gone we waited on line at the customer service desk only to find that they also knew nothing about it. So we went back to the department in search of the the person who went off to find the answer.
Eventually a manager was located who figured it out. The free gift was quite nice - a cast iron griddle. But time is money and as I figure it, by wasting 30 minutes of two adults time to get it - it would actually have been cheaper to just buy the griddle.
Is this an aberration? No, whenever I buy from a mass marketer I expect things like this. Which is why I prefer to buy from small businesses. When I purchase from a small business, I can expect to deal with knowledgeable people for the most part because good service is what keeps them in business at a time when mass marketers are cutting prices. This applies to both mortar and brick businesses as well as online businesses.
Had I purchased my cooking pots online I would have saved a lot:
I know I only mentioned non stick coatings in passing above. There is a growing sentiment that under some conditions, non stick pots can release toxins into the air when heated. One of the symptoms said to occur is “flu like headaches” which I have been subjected to far more often than one would expect in recent years (we switched to all non stick cookware several years ago). I am unsure how much of this is fact and how much is fiction so have decided on a safer approach and stopped using non stick pots and pans as a personal choice.
Several new chocolate making projects have been added to the site:
If you are new to using icing to embellish your chocolates and baked goods, this article will explain the basics of mixing Royal Icing and using a decorating bag. Heavily illustrated.
This great project shows how to make this campfire favorite with an Easter Theme. Illustrated step by step instructions.
This shows how to embellish a plain chocolate carousel with icing. Illustrated step by step instructions.
These and other chocolate making instructions and projects are also available on our Chocolate Making Project Directory.
Two new candle making projects are now available on the site. These are rewritten, modernized versions of articles from my 1998 archive.
The Cake Candle Project has step by step instructions for making these popular candles using whipped wax and a house painting brush.
The Water Candle Project has step by step instructions for making a dipping jig as well as instructions for dipping.
These and all my other currently avvailable candle making projects can also be found on our project index.
The quest for chocolate made from scratch started with grining coffee for this blogger - see In The Beginning…
Ever wonder just how that chocolate is made? The Chocolate Alchemy site is devoted to those who wish to make their own chocolate from scratch (or just want to learn about it).
I thought I had a chocolate addiction until I read this. This blog is fun reading.
The first issue of my digital magazine for chocolate makers is now available (free). It has several great projects, instructions and more.
Get your free copy here.
Bob Sherman is the author of several candle making books as well as hundreds of articles and projects on candle making, chocolate making, leather carving, plaster craft, and soap making.