Cloves are derived from the unopened and dried flower buds of a large evergreen tree that was originally indigenous to the Maluku Islands, in Southeast Asia. Today, cloves are cultivated in many different parts of the world, such as India, Indonesia, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka. Cloves have been utilized by mankind for atleast 4000 years, and archeological evidence suggests that humans have used clove for medicinal, as well as culinary purposes since before the beginning of recorded history. In fact, cloves are very effective as a curative for upset stomach, and clove oil is a powerful topical pain reliever, used for dental discomfort , even to this day. For much of the past 2000 years, clove has been so highly valued , and sought after by people, that it was literally worth it’s weight in gold.
Clove has an extremely assertive and pungent aroma, and it’s flavor can so easily dominate a sauce, or a dish, that one must use caution when adding it to different foods. Scarcely a half teaspoon will suffice when added to the spice blend for an entire large pumpkin pie, or a full pot of chai tea, and yet, it is such a distinctive and unusual flavoring, that to omit it, would surely change the entire taste of the dessert, or beverage, as the case may be.
To add clove to chocolate, you should consider using a very good strong, high quality bittersweet chocolate, with a very high cacao solids content. Something on the order of over 80% cacao would be ideal for these truffles. I usually never venture much over the 70% cacao solids mark for most all of my truffles and bon bons, but for a big, huge, powerful flavor like clove, this is almost a necessity. Unless you are just absolutely crazy about the flavor of cloves, I would never suggest adding it to something like milk chocolate or white chocolate. These less powerful, lower cacao chocolates, would simply be over powered by clove. I would further suggest using a higher fat heavy cream, as well as extra butter for these truffles, as this will also help to mitigate and smooth out the balance of the finished piece.
As a general reference I would blend something like the following, for a well balanced truffle with a very good essence of clove: 250 grams of 80% bittersweet chocolate + 125 grams of heavy cream + 25 grams of very good quality sweet cream butter + 1/2 to 1 full teaspoon (depending upon how much you enjoy the taste) freshly ground cloves. This should yield a nice pile of 25-50 truffles, depending upon how you finish them off! Simply bring the cream and ground clove to the boil and add over the finely chopped bittersweet chocolate. Wait a moment, then stir it up and add the softened butter until smooth and glossy… Enjoy!
contempory design.
implies that automatic watches are somehow powered by electricity.
wow!battery lifebest of any i have owned
Hi, I read your blogs on a regular basis. Your story-telling
style is witty, keep it up!
Can you tell us more about this? I’d like to find out more
details.
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is magnificent, Thank you again
Unquestionably believe that which you stated.
Your favorite reason appeared to be on the web the
easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people think about worries that they just do not know about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing without having side-effects
, people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more.
Thanks
We are a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community.
Your web site provided us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our whole community will be thankful to you.
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very
well written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of
your useful information. Thanks for the post.
I’ll definitely return.