
Iridescent Tempered Chocolate - weinzierl
https://twitter.com/samykamkar/status/1259173832620830722
======
anubistheta
Take a look at another person's approach:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoTi0tM4yQ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoTi0tM4yQ8)

~~~
gerdesj
Very pretty but the intro looks like syrup and not chocolate which is what
this post is about. I know that your link promises chocolate later but that's
no good here 8)

~~~
catalogia
He switches over to discussing chocolate at the 20 minute mark.

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traverseda
You can 3D print stuff on diffraction gratings to produce the same effect:
[https://learn.adafruit.com/3d-printing-on-diffraction-
gratin...](https://learn.adafruit.com/3d-printing-on-diffraction-grating-
sheets)

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flir
There's a patent for casting holograms on chocolate by the same process.
(Holograms rely on the same constructive interference effect as diffraction
gratings). You need enough sugar in the mix to produce a hard shiny surface to
the chocolate.

You can also cut a record on chocolate, but you don't get more than a couple
of plays before the needle wears away the grooves.

~~~
slavik81
The patent (expired in 2005):
[https://patents.google.com/patent/US4668523A/en](https://patents.google.com/patent/US4668523A/en)

A New York Times interview about it:
[https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/02/garden/where-no-candy-
has...](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/02/garden/where-no-candy-has-gone-
before-light-as-the-secret-ingredient.html)

~~~
flir
Thanks for looking those up. I wonder why it never took off - adding surface
interest without adding colourings seems like a no-brainer to me.

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lucb1e
Title should include the tweet's author, that would have made me click a
Twitter link without hesitation. I loved Samy Kamkar's work already but didn't
know he also did hacked food!

~~~
disqard
...and three months ago, he uploaded a short clip of his homebrew magnetron
sputtering setup!

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davidu
Samy is my hero. (same guy)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samy_(computer_worm)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samy_\(computer_worm\))

~~~
yunruse
Is the charge here really proportional to the crime? As frustrating as it
might be to MySpace, it's fairly benign, and it highlighted a vulnerability
that could have been far, far worse. Surely those three years without Internet
would have been better spent highlighting more vulnerabilities, with the
threat of jail time if harm is done again.

~~~
davidu
Yes it was quite a reaction. Regardless, it all worked out, long since behind
him.

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fractallyte
Years ago, I read an article (perhaps in Scientific American?) about some
scientists who had created holograms on the surface of chocolate. Their plans
to commercialize it never materialized, and I haven't been able to find the
article again.

I still remember one of the suggested uses of the hologram: to show an image
of the filling.

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raverbashing
That's weirdly amazing!

One of the possible issues is that the chocolate contracts when cooling down,
possibly changing or damaging the diffraction imprint.

Chocolate making is a whole art (and technique) onto itself. Producing fine
chocolate requires advanced machines (at least for 19th/20th century
standards).

~~~
kibibyte
I'm not sure what you consider to be "advanced", but you can get surprisingly
really far with just machines that can fit on your kitchen countertop and
still produce some pretty high quality flavorful chocolate. In fact, the main
equipment that you need to purchase is a tabletop melanger, which is required
to refine the chocolate. (Nowadays, you can purchase melangers specced for
refining chocolate for 24-72 hours, but perhaps 5-10 years ago, many people
were abusing melangers (wet grinders) designed to make dosa batter in 30
minutes.)

For the whole process, pretty much all you need is:

1\. an oven to roast cocoa beans (though you probably want a tabletop coffee
roaster for reliable results)

2\. a rolling pin to break apart roasted beans into nibs and husk (this does
get old pretty fast after 5 batches of chocolate, so people recommend moving
onto another kitchen countertop device, the Champion Juicer)

3\. a hair dryer to separate husk from nibs

4\. a melanger, as mentioned above, to refine the nibs (with any desired
additives like sugar and milk powder) for 24-72 hours

5\. a couple of bowls and a good thermometer for tempering

6\. (optional) plastic molds for shaping your chocolate.

[https://chocolatealchemy.com/how-to-make-chocolate-the-
compl...](https://chocolatealchemy.com/how-to-make-chocolate-the-complete-
text-guide)

(Off-topic: is there a way to format a bulleted/numbered list to not require
separate paragraphs?)

~~~
raverbashing
Thanks for this description of the process.

I was mostly referring to the presses that separate the cocoa butter from the
rest. It's not an easy process (example
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzcN3cbikzA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzcN3cbikzA)
). Though as I pointed out, it's probably 19th/20th century technology.

~~~
kibibyte
Ah yes, those have also made their way onto kitchen countertops (e.g. the
NutriChef Oil Press), but I'd agree that they'd be in the "advanced machinery"
category.

Most small batch chocolate makers don't bother with pressing their own cocoa
butter because of the scale required to make it worth it. There's only so much
cocoa butter you can press from beans, and then you need to figure out what to
do with the remaining cocoa solids. (As an exception, Goodnow Farms is one
that did invest in one for, I think, $50000; they sell the cocoa solids to
restaurant chefs.) As a result, most of this is still in the industrial realm,
even if the tech itself isn't particularly new (it hasn't changed much beyond
what's in the linked video).

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randogp
A Swiss startup worked in this direction to offer brand protection and
consumer engagement
[http://www.morphotonix.com/chocolate/](http://www.morphotonix.com/chocolate/)

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WilTimSon
Can someone explain the science behind this process? It looks really cool but
I don't understand how this is achieved. He puts the chocolate into a vacuum
chamber and molds it _with_ something? Or is it the vacuum itself that adds
the effect without the chocolate being merged with anything?

~~~
kd5bjo
Diffraction gratings are composed of a series of ridges spaced very closely
and regularly, and this physical shape is transferred to the chocolate through
the molding process. Light bouncing off of the different ridges creates an
interference pattern which varies for different wavelengths of light, creating
a rainbow effect.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction_grating](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction_grating)

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supernova87a
Clever and fun. And I can just imagine how this can assist the teaching of
quantum mechanics:

"Professor, I didn't really understand what just happened with the double slit
experiment there. (munch) I'm gonna need some more chocolate."

