Gillian at Some Say Cocoa – my virtual chocolate fix – blogged about ginger chocolate recently. I’m so suggestible (don’t you love that word? Alex taught it to me..), that I had to go straight out and buy ginger from the supermarket to make my own.
Buderim Ginger make some of the finest in the world, and this is one of their newer products – a glace ginger without the added sugar coating. It’s still sweet, but without being overly so, and a little too easy to eat straight from the packet.
I dipped a few pieces at a time into a small bowl of tempered dark chocolate, which was resting on a heat mat to keep it at 88°C. The chocolate was a mix of Callebaut 54% and 70%, to counter the sweetness of the ginger.
Perhaps the best thing about making ginger chocolate is that not everyone likes it. All the more for those of us who do!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
These look so good I wish I could pluck one right off the screen and eat it. I love dark chocolate and ginger. Gosh Celia, I really have to stop reading your blog at this time (when I am tired of working, a bit hungry and looking for a little break)…although I am not sure what time of day would be ‘safe’!
Sigh. These have proven to be particularly addictive, particularly after I put the photo up. I’ve been looking at it during the day, then wandering into the kitchen to get a piece – not good! ;-)
Significant other and I went to the Buderim ginger factory in the sunshine coast a few years ago.
Man they made a lot of products… glace ginger, crystalized ginger, ginger jam, ginger nut biscuits, ginger tea, sushi pickled ginger, choc ginger topping, ginger sauce, ginger bons, and of course ginger chocolates! But my favourite was the ginger syrup that you added to soda like a cordial, it was amazing.
PC
P, they actually have a website, but I didn’t see the ginger syrup. I’ll go back and have a look – Pete makes his own ginger syrup, but I’d love to try the Buderim version!
Oh Celia they are wonderful and you used dark chocolate … my fav combination too.
I like your ‘dipping fork’. Maybe I should try that because so far, if my truffles are not round then I just can’t dip them cleanly. I tried at the weekend with some rectangle truffles … talk about puddles and feet :-(
Thanks for the inspiration, Gillian!
The dipping fork requires an old stainless steel fork, a pair of pliers, and a sturdy husband. :) There’s a better photo here. The ginger bits didn’t dip that cleanly, lots of them still had feet, you just can’t see it as much with the rough edges. At least they didn’t crack – my cream truffles often do that. Do you have any tips on how to avoid that? Thanks.. Celia
Hmmm I must get Himself on to that ‘fork’ job this weekend.
Now as regards the cracks in the truffles … I’ve had many of them. These days not so much as I am forming the truffles straight from the fridge, letting them sit at room temp, then dipping them. Seems to be working ok, but that might change in winter. I reckon it all depends on the room temp. I want one of those cooling tunnels that the factories have. Then I’d never have to worry about the weather!
Thanks Gillian. I did notice it’s related to dipping cold centres, but it didn’t occur to me that the ambient room temp might be relevant as well. I tweaked my ganache recipe to make the centres a little firmer, which has helped a bit, because then I don’t have to dip them cold for them to hold their shape. But Pete really likes when the centres are very soft and oozy – makes it hard work! :)
Have you seen the Jacques Torres chocolate making video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osNEmCnV1RU
Makes me drool every time.. :)
Celia
Those are so delicious looking. Mmmm….
I tried googling naked ginger only to be told that my safe search was on and I therefore couldn’t google it – Ha! We get other sorts of buderim ginger here but not that one as far as I can see. Do you think it would work with the stem ginger in syrup variety of ginger? that’s naked apart from the syrup, if i patted it dry first?
Jo, I usually make it with regular glace ginger, but they didn’t have any in the shops. This is the ginger I usually use. I actually prefer it to the naked ginger. Stem ginger in syrup should be fine, drain it first, but there probably isn’t a need to dry it too much, just so long as it’s not dripping in syrup. I don’t dry off the glace ginger before I use it.
Actually, the naked ginger pack has a slightly risque picture on it, so your Google safe search was probably doing its job! :)
Celia