Tempering chocolate

If you've taken one of my courses, you've heard that (regardless of the techique, the whole marble/spatula thing is silly) the difference between professional and amateur chocolate is tempering #TrueStoryBro. This process stabilizes chocolate and gives it a shiny appearance and smooth texture. At a microscopic level, heating and cooling chocolate forms stable crystals of cacao butter.

Chocolate is a complex mixture of cacao mass, cacao butter, sugar, and other ingredients (vanilla, soy lecithin, and other unnecessary things), and it is sensitive to heat. If chocolate is heated to a temperature above its burning point, it can burn and develop a bitter, unpleasant flavor. Yes, you've been eating burned chocolate. It's not supposed to be bitter. The burning temperature of cacao when roasting is around 160-180°C (320-356°F).

But the burning temperature of chocolate can vary slightly depending on the specific type of chocolate and the ingredients it contains. For example, dark chocolate has a higher burning temperature than milk chocolate because it contains a higher percentage of cacao solids.

So, back to the subject. To temper cacao butter, depending on the amount of cacao solids you melt it to around 45-50°C (113-122°F). The melted cacao butter is then cooled to a temperature of around 27-28°C (80-82°F). During this cooling process, the crystals begin to form. Once at the desired temperature, you stir to encourage the formation of the stable crystals. The tempered cacao butter is then ready to be poured into a form.

Tempering is important because it helps to give chocolate its characteristic snap when you break it, and its smooth, glossy appearance. It also helps to prevent the chocolate from easily melting or blooming when stored at room temperature. Of course, if you ask me, blooming is a gorgeous thing to look at both macro and microscopically.

Bloomed chocolate has a white, cloudy layer on top or some white lines, which is the main fat in chocolate saying hi. I think it makes chocolate look like mountains, and if you look at it with a microscope, it looks like dandelions. But... haters gonna hate.

Took this beauty from the SCIMAT / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

The process of tempering chocolate was likely discovered through trial and error by European chocolate makers around the 1700s. Before the 1800s it wasn't eaten as a solid, so blooming or tempering wasn't a problem because it was for drinking.

I keep a random piece of bloomed chocolate so people can find beauty in imperfections.

Thanks for reading!