Properties of Ghirardelli Caramel Sauce?
Does anyone know why a drink would develop a wax-like substance? A customer brought to our employee's attention that her "mocha" had gooey, wax chunks in her to-go cup. I haven't confirmed as yet if this was a straight-up mocha or perhaps a caramel mocha. Given it was indeed caramel my troubleshooting thought process has me wondering:
1. if the jug wasn't properly shaken/mixed before use - would the settlement properties combined with the cooling of milk develop a wax ring?
2. what about non-dairy topping?
3. We use solo cups so I've eliminated this as the problem.
Anyone?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Phil Proteau on
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Was the sauce perhaps dried up in the pump nozzle? I have seen chunks of sauce and syrup crystals come shooting out of those pump assemblies. It is very labor intensive to keep pumps clean and free from dried residue. I am not an advocate of the pump.
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Permalink Reply by The Village Bean on
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No. We don't use the pump either - we work from a small nozzle bottle kept on top our machine which keeps it warm and easy to use. Also, we go through approx. 5 jugs of caramel a week, never a chance to get old.
Phil Proteau said:Was the sauce perhaps dried up in the pump nozzle? I have seen chunks of sauce and syrup crystals come shooting out of those pump assemblies. It is very labor intensive to keep pumps clean and free from dried residue. I am not an advocate of the pump.
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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My first inclination is to suspect the non dairy topping. What topping are you using?
We use a fair amount of that Caramel (not as much as you tho, 5 bottles?!). I haven't run across that. A bit of weirdness with at Torani White Choc before, but nothing like you described. Not sure how a waxy chunk would get through your squeezie bottle anyway.
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If its the caramel, my guess would be it forms after cooling. Which is to say who let's a drink sit that long expecting its components to remain the same? Nonetheless, something is happening to the components of the drink long after leaving our establishment. I'm now leaning towards the non-dairy topping.
Brady said:My first inclination is to suspect the non dairy topping. What topping are you using?
We use a fair amount of that Caramel (not as much as you tho, 5 bottles?!). I haven't run across that. A bit of weirdness with at Torani White Choc before, but nothing like you described. Not sure how a waxy chunk would get through your squeezie bottle anyway.
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I suppose its possible, since you are storing the caramel on top of the machine, that a component separates out that would normally be solid at room temp. In that case, it could theoretically re-solidify when it cooled.
I'm a little more suspicious of the hydrogenated vegetable oil in your non-dairy topping. See Cool Whip ingredients list here. Its basically sweetened, thickened, whipped Crisco shortening after all, so portions will be solid at room temp. Sorry if I've ruined anyone's ability to eat or use the stuff, by the way - I know once I pictured a dollop of Crisco on top of my pie I never touched the stuff again.
(A quick warning, the rest of this post is a little gross.)
Now, back on the caramel topic - sort of... I strongly discourage my clients from storing sauce bottles or pitchers of milk on top of the machine. Bottles drip, lids pop off, bottles tip over - all leading to caramel dripping into the machine. I've never seen a machine that had sauce bottles on top that wasn't a mess on the inside. Once that caramel hits your hot boiler it bakes on permanently. It'll also drip onto the bottom pan of your machine or other not-hot parts - a great food source for roaches and other bugs that like warm places. All of this stuff smells pretty awesome too. I've had to work on so many gross, stinky, sticky machines I'm about to start charging extra for stuff like that.
I've found it to be unnecessary with most of the commercial sauces anyway - they are thin enough at room temp to be totally usable. If you need it to flow faster, just cut a little more off the tip of your squeeze bottle. Or park it in a pitcher of hot water if its cold out.
OK, rant over. Didn't want to derail too far, but so many people never consider that kind of thing until they've made a huge mess of the most expensive piece of equipment they own. Thought I'd mention it.
Hope that helps.
The Village Bean said:If its the caramel, my guess would be it forms after cooling. Which is to say who let's a drink sit that long expecting its components to remain the same? Nonetheless, something is happening to the components of the drink long after leaving our establishment. I'm now leaning towards the non-dairy topping.
Brady said:My first inclination is to suspect the non dairy topping. What topping are you using?
We use a fair amount of that Caramel (not as much as you tho, 5 bottles?!). I haven't run across that. A bit of weirdness with at Torani White Choc before, but nothing like you described. Not sure how a waxy chunk would get through your squeezie bottle anyway.
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Permalink Reply by Shadow on
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I have used 3 brands of caramel sauce (Torani, Ghirardelli and Monin) and have seen separation issues which appear to be a sort of melted waxy residue once pumped into the cup. Never caused any issues with texture, taste, etc. I'm guessing heat is the main culprit. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to shake any bottles a few times here and there to keep things mixed as much as possible. AND I surely wouldn't store anything on top of our machine regardless of space/convenience.
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Permalink Reply by Chris on
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Brady said:I'm a little more suspicious of the hydrogenated vegetable oil in your non-dairy topping. Now, back on the caramel topic - sort of... I strongly discourage my clients from storing sauce bottles or pitchers of milk on top of the machine. Bottles drip, lids pop off, bottles tip over - all leading to caramel dripping into the machine.
Uhm, yeah, yeah, and yeah.
I keep honey on the top of my machine just to make my evening tea a bit less onerous. I used to keep it in, well, I can't remember now, but the first time I had to clean honey off the top, boiler, internal parts and wiring, and bottom pan, I switched to a completely sealed jar off in one corner.
And I open it up after I get it off the top, clean the edge and close it before it goes back up.
And still worry about the day that...
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We have come to the conclusion the culprit is most definitely non-dairy whip - hence retired. And, I totally agree with everyone's comments regarding product stored on top of machine. We are very careful to use sealed containers placed within an enclosed riser.
As far as Ghirardelli caramel goes, the jugs do their fair share of settling and before opening a new one we always give it a couple good upsidedown shakes.
Thanks everybody! I love being able to come to this forum and troubleshoot, you're all terrific!
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Kettyle on
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We use Solo cups and this sauce in Black Label Chocolate, Caramel and White Chocolate and I've never had this problem. I'd check your cups or your milk. How long has this been happening? Are you steaming to long? How are you building the drink?
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