Ruby Chocolate

[aaronatthedoublef]

I am late to the party with this one - this press release is a year and a half old - has anyone tried this? I haven't seen it used any place. I haven't even seen it sold!

Spread the word

      

  

  

[Mike Nolan]

I got a notice about this when it came out, but I haven't seen it yet. It was not one of the chocolates we tasted when I took Chocolate Boot Camp, but that was several years ago now.

You'd have to order it from a bakery/restaurant/chocolatier wholesaler, Barry Callebaut doesn't sell retail. The supplier I usually buy from doesn't appear to carry this yet. I don't know if the Chocolate Academy is doing anything with it yet. If they are, I might be able to buy a small bag the next time I'm in the Chicago area. It appears it tempers pretty much like any other chocolate.

If you're really curious about this, here's one place you can order it:
ruby chocolate

[aaronatthedoublef]

Yup. I haven't seen this any place yet. I haven't even seen any finished chocolate to try. The locals haven't even heard of it! I didn't see any at Max Brenner in Boston either. There is some stuff on Amazon but it's spendy without being able to see or smell it.

The Chocolate Man doesn't have anything about it at all! I'll check out some restaurant supply stores and chefs here.

I also asked my brother to check with his neighbor who works for Callebaut in Chicago. We'll see what he sends back.

[Mike Nolan]

Apparently Kit-Kat is using it in some products:
Kit-Kat Ruby

[Joan Simpson]

Never heard of it,sure is expensive.

[Mike Nolan]

I think once it is available through candy wholesalers, it'll be a more reasonable price, but the two sources I cited above are very high, in large part because its being imported. Mostly I was pointing out the Kit-Kat one as a place where the ruby cacao bean is showing up in retail products, at least in Japan and a few other places.

The FDA isn't allowing it to be called 'chocolate' yet. That might delay its availability.

I may check our local Trader Joes to see if they have any, apparently that's one place it was available in the USA earlier this year. (I have suspected for some time that some of the TJ chocolate bars are made by Callebaut.)

When I was in high school, our science teacher had us taste a red fluid one day. Most described it as either strawberry or cherry flavored. It was milk with red food coloring in it. 🙂

[Mike Nolan]

I stopped by Trader Joe's this evening, and they had several bags of the ruby cacao wafers (they can't call them chocolate yet.)

$2.99 for a five ounce bag of what look like somewhat flattened pink chocolate chips isn't too bad a price, comparable with other candy products from TJ.

The sweetness level is similar to a milk chocolate, which makes sense because the ingredients are similar to that of a milk chocolate, too.

If you didn't know what they were, you'd probably say they tasted like chocolate with a little fruit, though there's no fruit in them.

[Italiancook]

I was thinking of springing for a sample of this until I read (or think I read) that it's only 36% cacao. For medical reasons, I must have 60% or higher. But I sure enjoyed reading about this.

[Mike Nolan]

The TJ's product is essentially a milk chocolate made with the Ruby cacao bean. I don't know if Barry Callebaut plans to release a higher cacao level semi-sweet product for commercial use (eg, through restaurant and bakery supply houses) or whether there will be high percentage ruby cacao retail products like we see with dark chocolate. I wonder how long it will take the FDA to allow calling it 'chocolate'?

The bag I bought was interesting, my wife wasn't impressed with it, but I thought it had some interesting notes to it. But I don't see it as something I'm likely to buy very often, as I generally don't use milk chocolate chips in baking, either.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Whole Foods is now carrying "ruby cacao bean" bars. They have the same ingredients as a milk chocolate bar but use ruby cacao beans and have a percentage point higher cacao. They have a tangy, fruity taste. The folks working at WF think they are white chocolate that was dyed pink for Valentine's Day. I offered to share my bar with the folks I was talking to but there were no takers. They probably just wondered who the weird old guy was.

[Mike Nolan]

I've been contemplating buying another bag of the ruby cacao chips, if I can think of something to bake them into. They'd make for an interesting variant on 'blondies', or maybe in a red velvet cake, or perhaps as a surprise ingredient in the cream cheese frosting?

[Mike Nolan]

Barry Callebaut has made the ruby cacao couverture (they can't call it chocolate in the USA yet) available to chocolatiers.

Here's what they're saying about it:
Ruby Cacao Couverture

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks. Callebaut is finally putting up some information this which is good! They have recipes but I still cannot blocks or chips to work with.

We're in Spain now and it is definitely "chocolate" here. I'll look in a grocery store for some raw product to bring home.

Just checked Mike's link and there appears to be a place in North Haven CT (about 45 minutes) so I'll check that out when I am home.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

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