Tempering is a process that uses mechanical and thermal influences to arrange and connect the individual fat crystals in cocoa together. This helps to form a stable chocolate crystal form. Chocolate after being tempered will have a smooth glossy surface, tight structure and is difficult to melt under normal conditions.
This is an extremely important part of the chocolate-making technique. It determines the shine, hardness, which can be said to be the “beauty” of chocolate. In the following article, we will share how to temper chocolate and the corresponding method for each type of product. Let’s learn this content together!
How to Temper Chocolate
There are many ways to temper popular chocolate to get quality products. Three ways are often applied by chefs to tempering chocolate as follows:
- Marble Tempering
- Seeding
- Tempering Machines
1. Marble Tempering
This is the traditional method of tempering chocolate.
To make this temper, you need to prepare the following tools:
- 2 scrapers for scratching Chocolate
- Bowls
- Cooking pot, choose a pot with a mouth to fit the bottom of the bowl
- Of course, there must be a stone table, preferably a marble table or similar equipment.
Methods of implementation
- Melting chocolate, you should use a temperature of about 45 – 55 degrees Celsius
- Pour about 3/4 of the chocolate in the bowl onto the marble table
- Use the scraper to spread the chocolate evenly on the surface of the table
- Continue until the Chocolate temperature cools down to about 28 degrees C – 29 degrees C
- Return the entire cooled chocolate to the bowl, stirring with the remaining 1/4 Chocolate.
- Increase the temperature and maintain about 30 to 31 degrees Celsius, the Chocolate has been tempered
- Next, you should manipulate the chocolate on the marble surface to absorb the heat and wait until the mixture thickens. This indicates the presence of sufficient “germ” crystals. The chocolate is then cooled slowly to the appropriate temperature.
Notice:
- Do not let chocolate come into contact with water, not even 1 drop
- If you want to check whether the chocolate has tempered successfully or not, you can brush the chocolate on the scraper for about 3-5 minutes. If the chocolate becomes more solid and there is a crackling sound when breaking, the tempering process is successful.
2. Seeding
This tempering method is easier to implement than table tempering. All you need to do is stir the solid chocolate in the melted chocolate mixture to “graft” the crystal sprouts into the liquid chocolate.
You can follow the steps to temper chocolate according to the following instructions:
- Put 2/3 of the chopped chocolate in the bowl, leaving 1/3 of the original amount of chocolate
- Cook this 2/3 Chocolate in a water bath to 45 – 55 degrees C
- Add the remaining 1/3 of the Chocolate and stir until the 1/3 of the chocolate has totally melted
- Measuring the temperature to test if it is successful (depending on the type of chocolate to temper)
3. Tempering Machines
This is the most modern and simplest tempering chocolate method. You just need to use the chocolate tempering machine and follow the operating instructions. On the market, there are many different types and models of machines in the automatic or semi-automatic mode for you to choose from.
Is the Tempering Temperature for Each Type of Chocolate Different?
Yes, depending on the type of chocolate, the temperature used to temper is different. For example:
- Dark Chocolate: Melting temperature 50-55 degrees Celsius, Cooling 26-28 degrees Celsius, Warming 31-32 degrees Celsius.
- Milk chocolate: Melting temperature 45-50 degrees Celsius, Cooling 25-27 degrees Celsius, Warming 29-30 degrees Celsius.
- White Chocolate: Melting temperature 45-50 degrees Celsius, Cooling 25-27 degrees Celsius, Warming 29-30 degrees Celsius.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why do we need to temper chocolate?
Temper chocolate is a mandatory operation to create many types of chocolate candies with different structures. Tempering is a technique of heating and cooling molten chocolate to create mirror-like shiny candies. This is absolutely not possible if you simply melt the chocolate and then pour the mold without tempering.
When the chocolate has not undergone the tempering process, the product will be difficult to solidify at room temperature. In case of hardening, the product will not be shiny and there will be a patchy appearance on the surface. The reason is that the internal texture is not uniform and it is easy for the fat to separate from the chocolate. So if you want the chocolate to be shiny, you have to do the tempering.
2. Why does chocolate lose its taste?
- That chocolate is exposed to water or sunlight can cause it to lose its smell.
- Besides, products with strong odors around will make them quickly contaminated.
- Chocolate will also lose its flavor when past its expiration date.
- An imperfect tempering process can also cause chocolate to lose its flavor.
3. Common problems when making chocolate tempering
Blooming is the most common problem in the chocolate industry worldwide. They usually have two common forms: fat bloom and sugar bloom. To distinguish fat bloom and sugar bloom, you can see the tips as below:
If you will feel melted and oily when you touch the chocolate. This is bloom fat. Whereas, the sugar bloom will create the feeling of small particles to the touch.
Besides, poor chocolate storage conditions are also the cause of fat bloom. To avoid this, it is important not to place the chocolate in areas with high-temperature fluctuations. Instead, you should gradually increase the temperature and use the appropriate storage temperature between 15 and 21 degrees Celsius.
- Fat bloom is a consequence of the process of improper chocolate tempering or high-temperature storage of chocolate. This will cause cocoa butter crystals to accumulate on the surface of the chocolate. It is often accompanied by many small grayish-white cracks that dull the surface of the chocolate.
- Sugar bloom is the crystallization of sugar crystals on the surface of the chocolate. This is due to storage in a high humidity environment and condensation (sweating) when products in a cold environment are brought to a warmer temperature.
4. When do I need to temper chocolate?
People often only temper melted chocolate when it is necessary to make candies or surface coatings with a strong and shiny texture on the outside. Examples are molded chocolate candies, bark and cluster. For other uses like using melted chocolate to flavor fondant or making ganache, they don’t need to be tempered.
5. How to chop & melt chocolate properly?
Before melting the chocolate, we need to chop it in advance. You can use a regular knife, serrated knife, chocolate chip or multi-function blender to crumble them. No matter what you use, you should make sure that they are the same size and as small as possible to ensure the perfect melting of chocolate.
Final Words
Surely with the above sharing, you have gained more knowledge about chocolate tempering, right? Now how to temper chocolate becomes easier than ever. Kindly apply the right way to have beautiful chocolate balls.
