November 19, 2009
An Introduction to Tempering and Chocolate Candy Making
To the uninitiated, crafting chocolate candies is a no-brainer. The equipment is right in your kitchen: a dependable thermometer, a double boiler, rubber spatula, candy molds, and of course, chocolates! For chocolate candy that rocks, add cream and you’ll have truffles.
There’s not much rocket-science involved in cooking chocolates either. If you know how to melt and stir, do so with your chocolate on medium heat. Experiment with the candy molds to design your chocolate candy’s shapes, or enrobe fruits with the melted chocolate for fruit-filled sweets. Chill in the freezer to set or air dry, and your chocolates should be ready afterwards.
So why would you need a dependable thermometer? Basically, that’s where the snag in making “easy” chocolate candy is.
Your purpose in making chocolate candies lies has something to do with the thermometer. If your audience is your loved ones, you won’t need one; otherwise, if you’re selling, then you’ll need it to look after your tempering temperatures. You see, the chocolate confectionery from your favorite store is tempered and the key to keeping chocolate tempered is working chocolates at specific temperatures.
Tempering is routine in chocolate manufacturing. It’s in reality what gives chocolate the luster, and crispness because chocolate doesn’t have these qualities originally. Although the chocolate bars that you buy are already tempered, this is lost as soon as it’s exposed to heat. Such a state in turn exposes your chocolate to blooming, a condition whereby cocoa butter crystals disintegrate and rise to the top to appear as white unsightly streaks.
There are in chocolate cocoa butter whose crystals bonds together at six different temperatures; at a specific temperature, a particular crystal bond flourishes. What you want is to keep chocolates at that temperature so only the desired crystal multiplies rapidly. In this case, it’s the Type V structure that you want, which gives chocolate the snap, body and texture that makes it compelling. But did you know that Type Vs have different tempering temperatures for the different chocolate types and another crystal, Type IV, also produces the same shine and snap only it softens more readily than its cousin?
You can always try to be artistic and temper your chocolates by hand. If so, make sure your thermometer’s nearby because any extreme change in temperatures can cause chocolates to distemper. You don’t want to be too distracted with the chocolate dipping and molding part because you may overlook chocolate temperatures and tempers and in the end, find yourself tempering again.
Fret not for there’s a way to keep things simple: chocolate tempering machines. A chocolate tempering machine is a small kitchen appliance that’s intended to manage the tempering process, liberating you from the tedium of monitoring temperatures while working. The microprocessor that comes with it will not only temper your chocolate properly, it will also keep it tempered at all times, even overnight if necessary, just so you can focus on your passion: crafting creative confectioneries.