Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner [Hardcover]

Peter P. Greweling (Author), The Culinary Institute of America (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2007

Chocolate and candy making today is undergoing a renaissance in public awareness and status. This comprehensive book combines artisan confectionery techniques with accessible explanations of the theory and science as well as formulas for use in production. Fundamental information for the confectioner includes ingredient function and use, chocolate processing, and artisan production techniques. The book contains 140 formulas and variations for beautiful confections, including dairy-based centers, crystalline and noncrystalline sugar confectionery, jellies, and nut center and aerated confections.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Candymaking is in the midst of a revolution. The public is increasingly hungry for hand-crafted chocolates and confections, heightening appreciation for the work of artisan confectioners who use traditional techniques and fine ingredients. Now, master confectioner Peter Greweling of The Culinary Institute of America has at lastproduced the bible of artisan confectionery—a comprehensive guide to the ingredients, theory, techniques, and formulas needed to create every kind of chocolate and confection.

Illustrated throughout with nearly 200 striking full-color photographs and illustrations, Chocolates & Confections provides a comprehensive foundation in confectionery, offering accessible explanations of theory as well as illustrated step-by-step guidance on technique, from tempering chocolate to candying fruit. It also includes helpful charts that pinpoint common candy-making pitfalls and how to avoid them, guides to the best quality chocolate and other all-natural confectionery ingredients, as well as information on packaging and storage.

Chocolates & Confections features chapters on every confectionery type—cream ganache, butter ganache, non-crystalline sugar confections, crystalline sugar confections, jellies, aerated confections, and nut centers—and includes nearly 150 formulas for classic confections, such as marzipan made using fresh almonds, as well as contemporary variations such as Madras, a coconut curry butter ganache. From truffles, butter ganache confections, hard candies, brittles, toffee, caramels, and taffy to fondants, fudges, gummies, candied fruit, marshmallows, divinity, nougat, marzipan, gianduja, and rochers, it demonstrates how to produce world-class confections and provides the in-depth background information candy-makers need to formulate their own signature creations.

From the Back Cover

"A passionate professional, Peter understands the philosophy of using only the freshest of ingredients to create chocolate edible works of art that arouse your senses."
—Norman Love, Chef and President, Norman Love Confections

"Peter Greweling has written the right book at the right time. Pastry chefs need to understand chocolate in greater depth than ever before; Chocolates and Confections provides that understanding with admirable lucidity."
—Robert Steinberg, Co-founder; Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker

"The most complete chocolate and confections book that I have come across in my 35 years in the business… complete with great traditional and innovative recipes, easy-to-follow explanations, and great pictures."
—Biagio Settepani, Pasticceria Bruno

"This insightful book can be regarded as the Bible for serious chocolate artisans or for anyone who wishes to become one. Peter Greweling has written this book with so much thought and intelligence."
—Dieter G. Schorner CMB, CHE, Professor at the Culinary Institute of America

"Peter Greweling has taken the complexities of confectionery and chocolate technology and reduced them to an easy-to-understand subject. His complete explanations of his formulae and methods are easy to follow."
—Terry Richardson, Richardson Researches, Inc.

"Chef Grewling has covered the subject! The formulas are formatted in a most practical way while imparting artistry and wisdom."
—Thalia Hohenthal, Sr. Scientist, Research & Development, Guittard Chocolate Company

"An excellent book that not only tells you how to make a wide variety of chocolates and confections, but also explains the theory and equipment needed."
—Mel Warnecke, Warnecke Technical, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764588443
• ISBN-13: 978-0764588440
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 1.3 x 11.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Baking > Chocolate

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

161 of 162 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive techniques and recipes. March 30, 2007

By Eric J. Wu

Format:Hardcover

Contents of book: cream ganaches (liquor, orange, amaretti, chai, pear, passion vanilla, habanos, hazelnut latte, etc...) , butter ganache (gingerbread, orange, raspberry, lemon, etc...), hard candies (caramels, taffies, soft caramels, toffees, etc...), sugar candies (cherry cordials, different fudges, etc...) , jellied candies (candied fruits, jellies...), and nougats.

Incredible comprehensive book. Greweling takes a scientific approch to chocolate making, so you get all the science behind the everything. In that way, it is similar to a textbook.

In terms of techniques, this book is a rigorous as you will find. For instance, the technique of molding chocolates is described in 18 steps and 9 pictures. Chocolate molding and dipping defects are described over 3 pages. Preventing 'broken' ganches are described over 5 pages. It talks about freezing. And so on.

In terms of recipes, extremely comprehensive. 28 cream ganache recipes, 11 butter ganache. And that's only up to p173 out of 375. Because of the emphasis on technique and science, this book teaches you to teach yourself. That's the real beauty of the book.

On top of it all, the photography is beautiful.

In terms of difficulty level, I think it's for all levels. A true beginner can skip through the science and just just try out a few recipes. An advanced chocolatier can still find useful information in the tips and recipes. In terms of ingredients, some of the ingredients in some recipes are tough to find for beginners (invert sugar, invertase, co2 cartridges), but a beginner can still pick through and find a recipe to make.

Must have for the serious chocolatier. Compared to other books, Jean-Pierre Wybauw's book is similar in its 'science and technical' nature, covering similar but not always exactly the same stuff. These two books are complementary, and both excellent. It is also complementary to Shott's book, which is less scientific and slightly less on technique, but has very nice recipes and a little cheaper.

79 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything You Need for Candy-Making July 28, 2007

By Mary loves Murder

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been making candy for 50 years. For the last 15, I've been trying to find out why taffy can turn into a chalky texture instead of chewy. I have gone through all my candy cookbooks and all those in the library. I have asked small commercial candymakers. Nobody could tell me. So the disappointing end of my lessons with nieces and nephews has been left dangling for years upon years. THIS BOOOK HAS THE ANSWER! (We pulled it too long, to save you the trouble of looking.) It also has tons of other information about making candies (professionals call them confections), with good recipes. You can use as little or as much of the text as you like - even if you just use the recipes, your homemade fondant, fudge, nougat, taffy, brittles, and yes your chocolates will be very good indeed. I'm very glad Amazon has the book at a discount. I started dipping into a library copy, and found myself marking about every other page to make notes from, and decided I ought to buy the whole book. And it is terrific! Well worth the price.

67 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Yup March 24, 2007

By orangekay VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a hefty tome that covers virtually every base out there with regards to candy making. Sure, it says "chocolate" in the title, but you'll find enough info on gummis, gels, marshmallows, nougats, caramels and nut pastes to start your own little candy empire. It's expensive, but I've never seen such a thorough discussion of the properties of agar anywhere else, and it's well printed and well bound. I learned at least 10 new things in the first five minutes worth of flipping through the pages at random, so I consider it a wise investment.