Why is my home made chocolate candy so dang awful?

Hi,
I've been on a moderate low carb diet for a few years now (I eat absolutely
no bakery goods and no sugar, I eat meat, nuts, dairy, salad, some types of
veggies and complex carbs, i.e., wild rice, some beans, wild grains). I've
tried a lot of different low carb recipes and for the most part they have
been wonderful.

However none of the my attempts to make chocolate candies (or anything with
chocolate) have been edible. I've tried "Lynne's Chocolate", "Chocolate
Globs", "Chocolate Truffles" and a few other recipes from the low carb
recipe websites and the results all have been incredibly bitter and just
nasty. I've tried reducing the unsweetened chocolate by half and increasing
the sugar free sweetener. I've tried adding Peanut butter, butter, cream,
and/or cream cheese to mellow the concoctions out but to no avail. I've
seen lower carb/sugar free chocolates at the store and I REALLY wish I could
make them at home. So is there some sort of big secret that I'm not
getting? Is home made "low carb" chocolate confectionaries supposed to be
bitter? Has anyone made low carb good tasting chocolate candy at home? I've
being using Bakers Unsweetened Chocolate - could that be the problem? Is
there some other type of unsweetened chocolate that is better for low carb
recipes?

Help! My sister, a diabetic, will be visiting this Christmas and I really
wanted to make her some home made sugar free chocolate confectionaries!

Chris

Try this..: http://tinyurl.com/z155

I don't know what you mean by "dang awful," but I love this stuff. I
always have some on hand.



Chris Jung wrote:
Hi,
I've been on a moderate low carb diet for a few years now (I eat absolutely
no bakery goods and no sugar, I eat meat, nuts, dairy, salad, some types of
veggies and complex carbs, i.e., wild rice, some beans, wild grains). I've
tried a lot of different low carb recipes and for the most part they have
been wonderful.

However none of the my attempts to make chocolate candies (or anything with
chocolate) have been edible. I've tried "Lynne's Chocolate", "Chocolate
Globs", "Chocolate Truffles" and a few other recipes from the low carb
recipe websites and the results all have been incredibly bitter and just
nasty. I've tried reducing the unsweetened chocolate by half and increasing
the sugar free sweetener. I've tried adding Peanut butter, butter, cream,
and/or cream cheese to mellow the concoctions out but to no avail. I've
seen lower carb/sugar free chocolates at the store and I REALLY wish I could
make them at home. So is there some sort of big secret that I'm not
getting? Is home made "low carb" chocolate confectionaries supposed to be
bitter? Has anyone made low carb good tasting chocolate candy at home? I've
being using Bakers Unsweetened Chocolate - could that be the problem? Is
there some other type of unsweetened chocolate that is better for low carb
recipes?

Help! My sister, a diabetic, will be visiting this Christmas and I really
wanted to make her some home made sugar free chocolate confectionaries!

Chris






--
Jim Marnott
231/194/194 (Hit goal on 22 Nov '03 -- exactly 6 months later)
Atkins since 22 May '03
Gym since 1 sept '03

"Chris Jung" wrote in message
...

However none of the my attempts to make chocolate candies (or anything
with
chocolate) have been edible. I've tried "Lynne's Chocolate", "Chocolate
Globs", "Chocolate Truffles" and a few other recipes from the low carb
recipe websites and the results all have been incredibly bitter and just
nasty.

I've never found anything homemade to be acceptable for chocolate, either.
Even recipes people swear by ("You'll love this!"), I swear *at*. I think
some people are just more aware of bitter tastes. I made Lynne's Chocolate,
found it to be awful, added all sorts of things, and finally threw it out.

If you ever DO try something you like, be sure to post it! (And use a
subject like "Chocolate for the bitter-sensitive.")

Reb

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 22:52:54 GMT, "Reb"
wrote:

"Chris Jung" wrote in message
.. .

However none of the my attempts to make chocolate candies (or anything
with
chocolate) have been edible. I've tried "Lynne's Chocolate", "Chocolate
Globs", "Chocolate Truffles" and a few other recipes from the low carb
recipe websites and the results all have been incredibly bitter and just
nasty.

I've never found anything homemade to be acceptable for chocolate, either.
Even recipes people swear by ("You'll love this!"), I swear *at*. I think
some people are just more aware of bitter tastes. I made Lynne's Chocolate,
found it to be awful, added all sorts of things, and finally threw it out.

If you ever DO try something you like, be sure to post it! (And use a
subject like "Chocolate for the bitter-sensitive.")

Reb

I'm definitely not the a good judge of this, since I *like* Lynne's
chocolate and the cocoa truffles and other somewhat bitter chocolate
recipes that have been posted here. My husband doesn't like them, though
-- he's a milk chocolate fan while I go for the dark -- and I made this
stuff for him and he said he actually liked it (he may have just been being
polite, though). I thought it was way too sweet. It made my teeth ache.

1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (I used Ghirardelli Premium
Unsweetened Chocolate for this. I like it because the 4-oz bar is
very thin and flat, making it easier to break into chunks and it melts
more quickly and more uniformly. But any brand should be okay.)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon of the concentrated low-carb vanilla sweet base
from Nature's Flavors (equiv. to 2/3 cup sugar! ack!)

Break the chocolate into chunks. Microwave on high for 1 minute. It will
have just started to melt, but still be mostly chunks. Stir. Add butter.
Microwave for 30 more seconds. Butter should be completely melted;
chocolate about half melted. Remove from microwave and stir until it's
completely melted. A little at a time, add the cream, stirring. Stir in
the liquid sweetener. Pour into a foil-lined butter dish and chill.

Em

(sorry if this is horrible!)

For the OP.... and anyone else who is "Chocolate bitter-sensitive".

Chocolate is way complex. The bitter is spread all through it, from
beginning to end. Sugar is also complex and sweetens a whole range of
unsweet flavors - including all of chocolate's bitter complexities.
Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners tend to only sweeten part of those
complexities, mostly the bitter foretaste. To adjust for that, you could
use sugar alcohols, but you'd then have to contend with the intestinal
distress that they cause. There is one other option I've found that
works... that is to use both Splenda (or other AS) and Stevia. Splenda, as
you've found, sweetens chocolate's bitter foretaste. Stevia sweetens it's
bitter aftertaste. Use either alone with chocolate and you get a
bitter/sweet mess. But combine them and you get a chocolate that almost
rivals the sugar-sweetened stuff.

As far as how much to use - I typically use Splenda equivilent to the amount
of sugar the recipe calls for and then add stevia until the bitterness is
gone. Don't overdue the stevia, though, or you'll end up with an odd
flavor. You want just enough to take away the bitter aftertaste.

--
Cheers!
Nicole
263/160/150
LC since May 1, 2000


"Reb" wrote in message
news:a75Eb.137537$_M.698968@attbi_s54...
"Chris Jung" wrote in message
...

However none of the my attempts to make chocolate candies (or anything
with
chocolate) have been edible. I've tried "Lynne's Chocolate", "Chocolate
Globs", "Chocolate Truffles" and a few other recipes from the low carb
recipe websites and the results all have been incredibly bitter and just
nasty.

I've never found anything homemade to be acceptable for chocolate, either.
Even recipes people swear by ("You'll love this!"), I swear *at*. I think
some people are just more aware of bitter tastes. I made Lynne's
Chocolate,
found it to be awful, added all sorts of things, and finally threw it out.

If you ever DO try something you like, be sure to post it! (And use a
subject like "Chocolate for the bitter-sensitive.")

Reb

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 20:53:56 -0500, "Nikita" wrote:

There is one other option I've found that
works... that is to use both Splenda (or other AS) and Stevia. Splenda, as
you've found, sweetens chocolate's bitter foretaste. Stevia sweetens it's
bitter aftertaste.

If you want some free samples of Stevia, you can get some "SweetLeaf" brand
packets from this link:

http://wisdomherbs.com/freeSamples.html

(I've never tried it. I saw this link in an ad in Vegetarian Times.)

Em

In article ,
Chris Jung wrote:
Hi,
I've been on a moderate low carb diet for a few years now (I eat absolutely
no bakery goods and no sugar, I eat meat, nuts, dairy, salad, some types of
veggies and complex carbs, i.e., wild rice, some beans, wild grains). I've
tried a lot of different low carb recipes and for the most part they have
been wonderful.

However none of the my attempts to make chocolate candies (or anything with
chocolate) have been edible. I've tried "Lynne's Chocolate", "Chocolate
Globs", "Chocolate Truffles" and a few other recipes from the low carb
recipe websites and the results all have been incredibly bitter and just
nasty. I've tried reducing the unsweetened chocolate by half and increasing
the sugar free sweetener. I've tried adding Peanut butter, butter, cream,
and/or cream cheese to mellow the concoctions out but to no avail. I've
seen lower carb/sugar free chocolates at the store and I REALLY wish I could
make them at home. So is there some sort of big secret that I'm not
getting? Is home made "low carb" chocolate confectionaries supposed to be
bitter? Has anyone made low carb good tasting chocolate candy at home? I've
being using Bakers Unsweetened Chocolate - could that be the problem? Is
there some other type of unsweetened chocolate that is better for low carb
recipes?

Help! My sister, a diabetic, will be visiting this Christmas and I really
wanted to make her some home made sugar free chocolate confectionaries!

It is very important that the chocolate not be heated beyond a
certain temperature, or it will be bitter. IIRC, it must be
tempered to between 130-140 degrees F, then held at 80-90 degrees
F.

I've not tried making chocolate myself, though I've watched many TV
shows on it, and visited many web sites about it.

I'd suggest you use another brand of chocolate as well.

Maybe the folks in rec.food.chocolate could help answer your questions.


Chuck Demas

--
Eat Healthy | _ _ | Nothing would be done at all,
Stay Fit | @ @ | If a man waited to do it so well,
Die Anyway | v | That no one could find fault with it.
| \___/ | http://world.std.com/~cpd

"Nikita" wrote in message
...

Chocolate is way complex. The bitter is spread all through it, from
beginning to end. Sugar is also complex and sweetens a whole range of
unsweet flavors - including all of chocolate's bitter complexities.
Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners tend to only sweeten part of those
complexities, mostly the bitter foretaste.

Great post! Thanks for the info. I'll definitely give the Splenda/stevia
combination a try.

Reb

*************************************
Does your photo do you justice?
http://ThePhotoFixer.home.comcast.net

Charles Demas wrote:

I've not tried making chocolate myself, though I've watched many TV
shows on it, and visited many web sites about it.

I'd suggest you use another brand of chocolate as well.


http://www.chocosphere.com/Html/Prod...ml#unsweetened
UNSWEETENED VALRHONA!!!!!!!!

http://www.caviarassouline.com/wkat2000/chocolate.htm
(Scroll down to Cocoa PASTE)

http://frenchfood.about.com/library/...abyb111302.htm