Chocolates and Tempering
Besides you, there may be other people who also think that chocolate candy making is an uncomplicated activity but when you really attempt it, you may find out you’ve been quite wrong. Before attempting it, gather a few utensils–apart from the basic ingredient of chocolate, either dark, semi-sweet or milklike a calibrated thermometer, a double boiler, a rubber spatula and candy molds or cutters.
Kick off chocolate candy making by heating the chocolate on a double boiler, stirring it so it doesn’t burn until it achieves a runny consistency. Pour the chocolate melt on a cookie sheet and air dry, then cut with cookie cutters to get interesting-shaped candies. You could also dip fruits in the melted chocolate to get fruit-filled candies.
Expert chocolate makers would tell you that chocolate candy making is an intricate venture because of the challenge posed by tempering chocolates by hand in which tempering temperatures should be maintained accurately at all times. Tempering is vital because your chocolates will lack the shine and snap they should have. The problem of blooming occurs when you don’t take the time to temper. If not, you may have to consume all the candies yourself as you won’t be able to sell something as unattractive as blotchy chocolates.
It is the fatty acids of the cocoa butter that has to be encouraged to form and stabilized during the tempering process. Each type of crystal structure behaves dominantly at precise temperatures, your end objective being to produce only the type V crystals. You’ll need these type V crystals as they’re the ones which give snap and shine to chocolates. Each chocolate type (dark, semi-sweet and white) have different tempering temperatures as well, for producing type V crystals. With the Type Vs, Type IV crystals sometimes form with them if the temperature ranges are encouraging; they result in a glossy chocolate but it’s not as firm as the Type Vs because Type IVs melt easily, in fact way below the body temperature.
Tempering is made difficult by the need to maintain temperatures constant and you’ll need reliable meters (thermometer and tempering) to get accurate readings. Tempering machines will do away with the need to maintain and monitor temperatures. These machines are completely automated and hence you are guaranteed of the formation of type V crystals only every time you temper. By using a tempering machine, what you have bought is a lot of time and you can use this time for clearly focusing on your goals in your business and also for honing your skills in chocolate making.
