Cambie Melting Wafers: Six New Wafers, 1 lb to 25 lb
Cambie melting wafers are on the shelf now: six coatings under our own name, in bags from 1 lb to 25 lb. Four are everyday colors — Milk Creme, Dark Cocoa, White Velvet and Brilliant White — sold in 1, 2, 5 and 25 lb bags. Two are flavors, Matcha and Strawberries & Creme, sold in 1 and 25 lb bags. None of them need tempering. They’re made in the USA, have a two-year shelf life from the date of manufacture, and are packed by the pound so you can buy what you’ll actually use. Why We Made Them This year, a lot of makers lost the bag size they’d built their business around. Some of the small packs that used to be easy to find are gone, and a 45 lb case isn’t the right answer for someone dipping 20 dozen strawberries a week. We covered what happened in what changed in small packs this year. Our answer is a wafer line we control from start to finish, in the sizes people asked for. We aren’t asking anyone to give up a coating they love. We still carry factory cases from the makers we’ve always stocked, and plenty of kitchens will keep two bags on the shelf. This is the other one. The Four Everyday Wafers All four come in 1, 2, 5 and 25 lb bags. Cambie Milk Creme Melting Wafers. A creamy milk coating with a glossy set. This is the one to use for cake pops, pretzel rods, dipped cookies and molded bars — any time a recipe says “milk chocolate melts.” Cambie Dark Cocoa Melting Wafers. A deeper cocoa flavor and darker color, the same handling as the milk. Use it for truffles, bark, and anything that needs contrast under a white drizzle. Cambie White Velvet Melting Wafers. A soft white with a classic white-coating flavor. It’s the base for colored work, since it takes oil-based and candy colors cleanly. Cambie Brilliant White Melting Wafers. Our whitest wafer. Use it when a shell has to read bright white on camera, when pastels need to stay true, or on wedding and baby-shower orders where ivory won’t do. It’s whitened with titanium dioxide, which is listed on the bag. The Two Flavors Both come in 1 and 25 lb bags. Cambie Matcha Melting Wafers. Made with real matcha green tea powder for an earthy, creamy green tea flavor and natural green color. Use it for dipping, drizzling and bark. It pairs well with pistachio, white coating and anything with raspberry. Cambie Strawberries & Creme Melting Wafers. A white coating base with strawberries-and-cream flavor and a pink color. It’s made for dipped strawberries, cake pops and drizzles over anything chocolate. Specs Every wafer in the line shares the same base and the same handling. Milk Creme Dark Cocoa White Velvet Brilliant White Matcha Strawberries & Creme Bag sizes 1, 2, 5, 25 lb 1, 2, 5, 25 lb 1, 2, 5, 25 lb 1, 2, 5, 25 lb 1, 25 lb 1, 25 lb Tempering None None None None None None Fat base Palm kernel / palm Palm kernel / palm Palm kernel / palm Palm kernel / palm Palm kernel / palm Palm kernel / palm Contains Milk, soy Milk, soy Milk, soy Milk, soy Milk, soy Milk, soy Color from Cocoa Cocoa — Titanium dioxide Matcha Red 40 Shelf life 2 years 2 years 2 years 2 years 2 years 2 years Made in USA USA USA USA USA USA Full ingredient lists and nutrition panels are on each product page. These are compound coatings: the fat is palm kernel and palm oil, not cocoa butter. That’s why they melt without tempering and set at room temperature. It’s also why anything you dip in them should be labeled as coated or chocolate-flavored, not “chocolate.” How to Melt Them Every wafer in the line melts the same way. Microwave: Weigh the wafers into a clean, dry glass bowl. Heat at 50% power for two 30-second bursts, stirring well after each. Then switch to 15-second bursts, stirring between each, until a few pieces are left. Then stir until they melt in the residual heat. Double boiler: Keep the water below a simmer and the bowl out of the steam. Stir constantly. Warmer or melting pot: Set it low and give it time. Don’t let the coating get hot. Overheated coating thickens and goes dull, and no amount of stirring brings it back. If it’s too thick for dipping once it’s fully melted, thin it with a little [thinning agent made for compound coating — confirm the product Cambie stocks] and write down how much you used.
6 min read
Merckens Small Packs: What Changed, What’s Left & What Now
What Happened to Small-Pack Merckens — and What to Do About It Merckens no longer allows distributors to break down bulk cases and sell the product under their brand name. Small-pack. The distributor repacks you’ve been buying — including the 1, 2, 5 and 10 lb bags we packed here — are no longer being branded as Merckens. Bulk is untouched: 25, 45 and 50 lb Merckens is still available. If you’ve been buying a repacked Merckens melting wafers, your pack sizes are changing and you have a few weeks to decide what replaces them. If you buy by the case, nothing changes. The rest of this post walks through both, and through the options in front of you — including the ones that don’t involve us. What Actually Changed For years, the small bags of Merckens on distributor sites were repacks. A distributor bought factory cases, broke them down into 1, 2, 5 and 10 lb bags, and sold them under the Merckens name. That’s how a product built for commercial kitchens ended up in home-based candy businesses, and it’s the version most cottage-food makers know. Merckens has ended that. A distributor can still sell Merckens — bulk factory packs as-is, and now small packs too — but not under the 'Merckens' brand name. We’re not going to speculate about the reasoning. It’s a manufacturer’s decision about how its brand is sold, and you’ll see the same shift play out across the trade over the next few months as other distributors work through the same rule. In conjunction with this news, we've made the decision to only sell small pack sizes of melting wafers under our own brand - Cambie. If You Buy a Repack: This Is You Most people reading this are here. You go through somewhere between a couple of pounds and a case a month, you buy as you need it, and Merckens in a small bag has been the default because it behaves predictably and everyone in your groups uses it. Here’s what to plan for. Your current bag is fine. Nothing about the product changed. Compound coating stored cool, dry and out of light holds for its full shelf life, so a bag you bought last month is the same product it always was. Don’t rush to use it up. Your reorder is the change. Only Cambie branded small sizes of compound coatings are available now: In 1 lb, 2 lb, and 5 lb bags. What you’re actually choosing. The decision isn’t “Merckens or not.” It’s whether the two sizes that remain fit how you buy, and if they don’t, whether bulk or a different small-pack coating fits better. The options section below covers all of it. The next section is short and it’s for the case buyers, so skip it if that’s not you. If You Buy 25 lb and Up: Unaffected The factory bulk case packs are not discontinued and the brand is not leaving distribution. Merckens milk, dark, white and super white in 25, 45 and 50 lb packs are still being made, still sold through distributors, and still carry the Merckens name on the box. If you’ve been buying by the case from us or anyone else, your order looks the same next month as it did last month. If you’ve been buying 5 or 10 lb bags and were on the fence about stepping up to a case, this is the nudge. Cost per pound drops at the 25 lb break, and the product inside the case is the identical coating you’ve been using. Your Options Now There are five realistic paths. Most of them have nothing to do with us. 1. Buy the Cambie branded melting wafers. This is the direct replacement, and for most repack buyers it’s the answer. If those work for you, you’re done reading. 2. Step up to a factory pack. A 25 lb or 45 lb case of Merckens is the cheapest way per pound to keep using the same coating. It works if you can move the product inside its shelf life and you have somewhere cool and dry to keep it. A rough test: if you’re using more than 2 lb a week, a case is worth considering. 3. Split a case. Two or three makers who already share a market or a kitchen can buy one 25 lb case and divide it. The restriction is on distributors selling repacked product, not on you sharing a case you own. Weigh it out, label it, and keep the lot number from the box in case you ever need it. 4. Move to a different trade coating. If neither remaining size fits how you buy, Merckens is not the only compound coating made for commercial use. Cambie and Van Leer are both professional-grade coatings that are available in smaller quantities and behave in the same family — melt without tempering, set at room temperature, hold a shell. They are not identical to what you’ve been using, and anyone who tells you a substitute is identical is selling something. Expect to run a test batch. We’ll publish a full guide to switching coatings without wrecking a production run in a few weeks; the short version is to test at the size you actually produce, measure set time and bloom at seven days, and adjust your process before you judge the product. None of these is wrong. The right one depends on your weekly volume, your storage, and how much testing you’re willing to do this month. If you want a gut check, the questions in option five are the ones to bring. What We’re Doing About It Two things, briefly. We’re keeping Merckens. The 25, 45 and 50 lb factory packs stay on our shelf, and all of it lives in our Merckens collection. Everything there is Merckens in Merckens’ own packaging — which from here on is the only way we’ll sell it. And we’re replacing our own repacks. The 1, 2, and 5 lb bags we’re retiring will be succeeded by a Cambie melting wafer line in those same sizes, made without tempering, with the melt numbers published so you can check them yourself. It’s not out yet. When it is, the announcement will be a plain statement of what’s available and what it does, and the old repack pages will point to it. Until then, if you have a question about your specific situation — pack size, storage, whether a case makes sense at your volume — email us or ask in the groups. We answer as people, and the answer might be “you don’t need to buy anything from us yet.” Frequently Asked Questions Is Merckens discontinued? No. Merckens factory packs — 25, 45 and 50 lb — are still made and still sold through distributors. What’s ending is Merckens branded distributor repacks — the 1, 2, 5 and 10 lb bags distributors filled themselves. Why can’t I buy Merckens in 1 lb or 2 lb bags anymore? Those bags were distributor repacks of factory cases. Merckens now requires that small packs be sold only in bags Merckens fills and seals itself, which come in 30 oz and 5 lb. Distributors can no longer break cases down and sell the pieces under the Merckens name. Can I still buy Merckens in bulk? Yes. The 25, 45 and 50 lb packs are unaffected and available from distributors, including Cambie. Is the product in my current small bag still good? Yes. Nothing about the coating changed. Store it cool, dry and out of light and use it within its normal shelf life. What’s the closest replacement for a 1 lb, 2 lb or 5 lb Merckens repack? Cambie melting wafers are the closest replacement to what you were buying previously. We offer a variety of melting wafers in 1 lb, 2lb, and 5 lb sizes. Can I split a 25 lb case with other makers? Yes. The restriction applies to distributors reselling repacked product, not to you dividing a case you bought. Weigh, label, and keep the lot number.
3 min read