As a follow-up to a few recent posts about tempering chocolate, I thought it might be useful to discuss some common mistakes you might make when tempering.
The most common mistakes I see are the lack of temperature control, lack of proper stirring, not choosing the right chocolate for the job, improper storage, and letting moisture contact the chocolate.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these situations…
Hot and Cold
Temperature control is really important when melting chocolate as well as tempering chocolate. Chocolate can burn easily, so use a low temperature, take it slow, and stir often. After the chocolate is melted, it is too hot to support good crystallization of the cocoa butter. The chocolate must be cooled to the correct temperature depending on the type of chocolate being used (87˚ – 89˚ for dark and 85˚ – 87˚ for milk). Improper temperatures keep the chocolate from hardening and it will remain wet and sticky instead of dry and glossy.
Working up a sweat
Stir, stir, and stir! Constant stirring of the chocolate will force the crystals to form into the proper size and shape until solid. It will also evenly distribute the temperature through out the whole mixture. Lack of stirring means the chocolate will become discolored and dry with white streaks or dots.
Choosing the right chocolate
Using the wrong type of chocolate for your tempering project is bound to add frustration on top of disastrous results! For example, don’t use chocolate chips for melting and dipping. The viscosity, or “flow” property, of a chocolate chip is too thick to be useful for coating. It would be like trying to cover a strawberry with pudding – not exactly the easiest way to do it. :)
Making it last
Chocolate has a long shelf-life, if stored correctly. Chocolate should be stored in an air-tight container, away from strong odors, air temperature around 65˚ – 68˚ and a relative humidity of no more than 50%.
Water Phobia
Water and chocolate get along like cats and dogs. If any moisture comes in contact with chocolate, you’ll know it right away – it turns into a grainy, sodden mess that it difficult to stir. This mistake even has an impressive name: “seizing.” If your chocolate seizes, throw it away and start over. Seized chocolate will not melt or temper.
Avoid these problems and you’re well on your way to a good tempering experience!
I have a not very nice chocolate problem. Sadly this happens to me frequently. The chocolates look nice and shiny after unmolding but an hour later I can see tiny little dots (kind of like tiny water marks), but not bumps in the same chocolate color, no discoloration, it kinda looks like miniature baby rash
………..I did stir a lot I swear!!!! I’ll take all the help I can get.
Comment by Ana — November 30, 2010 @ 1:02 am
Could be tiny air bubbles from either too much stirring and trapping air, or the viscosity is too thick for molding (perhaps you are pouring it in too cold).
If the problem is air, the best way to get rid of it is to vibrate or shake the air out while in the mold. If it is a flat mold, then tap the bottom on the table and watch the air bubbles rise to the top and break. If it is a shaped mold, like bunny rabbit, then vibrate upside down so chocolate does not spill out and keep going until lots of air bubbles reach the opening and start breaking.
OR, it could be the mold is not clean enough. Even a little oil residue from previous molding could leave a mark against the chocolate either as an “oil spot” or the chocolate stuck to the mold at that spot and did not cool at the same rate as the surrounding chocolate. The difference in temperature could leave a “dot”.
Comment by Bryn Kirk — November 30, 2010 @ 9:43 pm