Chocolate truffle

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Chocolate truffles are a group of chocolate confectionery, traditionally made with a chocolate ganache center coated in chocolate or cocoa powder, usually in a spherical or curved shape. Other fillings may replace the ganache: cream, melted chocolate, caramel, nuts, almonds, berries or other assorted sweet fruits, nougat, fudge or toffee, mint, chocolate chips, marshmallow and popularly liquor. They are named for their resemblance to the truffle fungus.

There are three main types of chocolate truffles: American, European, and Swiss:

• The "American truffle" is a half-egg shaped chocolate-coated truffle, a mixture of dark or milk chocolates with butterfat and, in some cases, hardened coconut oil. Joseph Schmidt, a San Francisco chocolatier, and founder of Joseph Schmidt Confections, is credited with its creation in the mid-1980s.^[1]. A Canadian variation of this, known as the Harvey truffle, includes the addition of graham crumbs, and peanut butter.
• The "European truffle" is made with syrup and a base made up of cocoa powder, milk powder, fats, and other such ingredients to create an oil-in-water type emulsion.
• The "Swiss truffle" is made by combining melted chocolate into a boiling mixture of dairy cream and butter, which is poured into molds to set before sprinkling with cocoa powder. Unlike the previous two kinds of truffles, these have a very short shelf-life and must be consumed within a few days of making. ^[2]

[edit] Truffle makers

There are numerous producers of chocolate truffles, including the following chocolatiers:

• Godiva (chocolatier)
• Joseph Schmidt Confections
• See's Candies

*Valrhona

[edit] References

1. ^ "Sweet surrender", Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2006 [1]
2. ^ Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery: Science and Technology by Bernard W. Minifie (1999), page 545.