This presents an excellent technical lesson in working with chocolate.

The issue is moisture.

“Curdle” is not the correct term, but I think the idea is clear – chocolate will not function properly if moisture is introduced.  Even the tiniest drop of water is problematic.  When water and chocolate mix, it will “seize.”

Fresh fruit, including the peel of an orange, is moist and adding it to a chocolate coating spells disaster.  For this reason, chocolate candy bars use dried fruit, candied fruit, or an oil based flavoring.

You can cheat a little (and get away with it) by adding a fruit zest or juice to a ganache and then enrobing the ganache in chocolate.  If the candy is eaten within a few days, the moisture captured in the creamy center should not be a problem.  Truffles tolerate this process the best.  Don’t add the moisture to the coating.  Instead, add it to the candy center.

Another common problem arises when dipping fresh strawberries in chocolate.  Make sure you dry the outer skin completely before covering in chocolate.  This will buy you some time before the moisture makes it way through the fruit and to the surface of the chocolate coating.  When this happens, the moisture will destroy the appearance (with bloom) and texture (making it bumpy or grainy) of the surrounding chocolate.

Now that you’re caught up, here are my Extra Special Helpful Hints when working with chocolate molds.

1. Cool at room temperature…
   I do not recommend using either a refrigerator or freezer to cool the pieces.  These cool the chocolate too fast and they are too cold for crystals to form properly on the surface of the chocolate.  Colder chocolate will not be as shiny as chocolate cooled at room temperature.
    
2. Place the chocolate in front of a fan while cooling…
   This will remove the heat quickly and reduce the surrounding humidity to promote the best gloss, set, and snap.  (Be careful not to operate the fan at too high a speed.  You don’t want to blow debris onto the chocolate.)
    
3. Invert a cookie sheet or use a wire rack for cooling…
   This will allow heat to disperse evenly from all sides.  This is particularly important if you are using a flat mold.  The design or shape of the mold is face down as you pour and cool the chocolate.  It is common to have chocolate stick to the face of the mold if it remains flat against the counter or table while cooling. The trapped heat melts the surface crystals and sends the chocolate out of temper.
    
4. Use a mold at room temperature…
   Do not cool the mold or heat the mold at any time during the process.  Warm molds can soften the surface of the chocolate as it cools.  This promotes Fat Bloom that can appear quickly or as late as 24 hours later.  Cold molds can shock the surface crystals and make a dull looking chocolate piece.
    
5. Do not coat the inside of the mold with oil or fat or a “releasing agent”…
   Sure, adding a coating inside the mold sounds like a really good idea.  But, these products will interfere with the temper of the chocolate.  So while it might make it easier to remove your chocolate you would sacrifice shine and your nice temper in the process.
    
6. Clean the mold with hot water, NO soap, and dry really, really well…
   Soap can leave a layer of residue that will interfere with crystallization.  A moist mold can cause the chocolate to seize and turn into a hard, crumbly mess.
    
7. Avoid condensation…
   Condensation happens when chocolate is removed from a cold environment and begins to warm up to room temperature.  Little droplets of moisture will form on the surface of the chocolate as its temperature rises.  The moisture will dissolve a small amount of sugar from the chocolate’s surface.  After the water droplets evaporate, the sugar that is left behind forms a thin dusting of white powder on the chocolate. This is called Sugar Bloom.

There you have it.  Keep these hints in mind and  your molding success rate will go way up!

Most chocolate molds are made of either metal or plastic. They can be flat, to shape chocolate like a candy bar, or three dimensional, to shape like an Easter bunny.

If you are a beginner at working with chocolate, start with a flat plastic mold with small cavities of simple shapes.  You can buy these at craft stores or baking/candy supply stores or online at a number of candy-making supply websites.

Here are some tips for molding chocolate…

1. Temper your chocolate.  (If you need a refresher on tempering, please refer to my earlier chocolate tempering blog post.)
    
2. Pour the tempered chocolate into the mold using a tablespoon or pastry bag to fill the cavities.  Fill slightly over the rim.  Don’t worry about spilling a little over the top.  After the mold is filled, gently tap it to level the chocolate at the top.  Carefully drop the mold on the counter or table several times.  This will remove air bubbles that are trapped in the chocolate.
    
3. Scrape excess chocolate off using a spatula.  Sometimes I use a clean plastic ruler (the same kind children use in school) as a straight edge to remove the excess chocolate.
    
4. It is best to cool your chocolate at 65-70° F in a room with good air
   circulation and low relative humidity (50% or less).
    
5. Release the chocolate from the mold.  The chocolate will contract or pull away from the edges when it is ready to be popped out.  Reverse the mold over a flat, clean surface and press firmly on the sides of the mold with your fingers or tap lightly on the counter.  The chocolates should just fall out.  If they don’t, let the mold cool for a few more minutes and try again.

Coming soon, I’ll provide you with some extra helpful tips when working with molded chocolates…

That’s a really good question.  Concerns about the streaking and the lack of shine make me think about how temperatures, crystal development and the appearance of chocolate are all connected.

Properly tempered chocolate is shiny and uniform in color. When chocolate has streaks and does not shine, it indicates that at some point in the production process, the chocolate solidified without being in a properly tempered state.

I am sorry to have to get technical here, but see if you can follow this.  Cocoa butter has to solidify or form crystals within a narrow range of temperatures.  Tempering means all crystals become as identical in size and shape as possible and we can do this by controlling the temperatures.   

There are essentially 3 major stages in the making of chocolates that you have to be particularly careful to achieve the right temperature:

Stage 1 – The Starting Product

If you make your own chocolate candy center, like toffee or ganache, make sure it is absolutely at room temperature before you dip in chocolate.  If you don’t let it cool down enough, the heat will eventually push through your coating and cause it to lose its temper – either entirely or partially.  On the flip side, if you let the center get too cold, you essentially “shock” the chocolate.  This causes really BIG crystals to grow and the coating appears very dull, a flat finish.

If you mold your chocolates, use the molds at room temperature. This could be another source of unintended heat or cold introduced as the chocolate is solidifying.

Stage 2 – The Tempering Process

This is the most likely stage to produce streaking.

Agitating or stirring the chocolate during the tempering process is crucial to prevent streaking.  Imagine adding red food coloring to white frosting to make it pink.  If you stir in the coloring using only a few strokes, you will see streaks of red among the white. Continually stir and the frosting will eventually turn pink. Something similar happens when you temper chocolate without a thorough mixing.  Temperatures along the bottom and sides of the tempering pan will be several degrees different than its center.  Each temperature gradient grows different crystals at different rates.  This causes light to bounce and bend irregularly and we see alternating streaks of light and dark chocolate after it dries.

Too much stirring will cause air bubbles to form and get trapped within the coating.  Air bubbles cause crystals to form unevenly which gives the chocolate a grainy appearance on the surface.

If you use a tempering machine it may have separate milk, dark, and white chocolate settings.  If not, you’ll need to set up the temperature and mixing parameters differently for each type of chocolate that you use.  Milk chocolates temper at a lower temperature range than dark chocolates.  Milk chocolates are tricky because there are different percentages of milk in any given brand or formulation of milk chocolate coating. The higher amount of milk (milk fat), the lower the temperature.  White chocolates can be even more sensitive to temperature than milk chocolates. 

Stage 3 – The Cooling Process

This is the most likely stage to produce dull looking product with no shine.  The ideal temperature for cooling chocolate is between 65 and 68 F.  The relative humidity should be 50% or less.  I use a fan on a medium setting pointed right at my chocolates.  The fan will lift the humidity out of the air surrounding them.  Make sure the cooling tray is elevated off the counter top enough to let air circulate underneath and take away excess heat from the bottoms.  A refrigerator hovers around 40 F and a freezer around 30 F – these temps are too low to encourage a nice shine. Rooms that heat up during the summer spell disaster for chocolate.  Anything over 78 F is too warm and makes the chocolate soft and slightly sticky.

One obvious sign that the cooling process was unsuccessful is the formation of bloom.  Bloom is a gray dusty film that covers the surface of chocolate.  It can happen within hours, or days, after tempering and cooling.

To summarize, this particular tempering problem description appears to be a temperature issue at one of more stages of the process.

I have.  And why not?  Most often those “changes” don’t affect the final product and it saves lots of time.  Yes, sometimes I even buy frosting in a can (shhh, don’t tell my kids!).

One thing I have learned from my experience working with chocolate is that there are some short cuts that work and some that don’t.

Let’s consider the making of chocolate-covered strawberries.  Can you cheat at making chocolate covered strawberries without anyone noticing?

Yes, but………

The real timesaver when making chocolate-covered strawberries would be to figure out how to quickly temper, or harden, the chocolate coating.  Normally, the tempering process takes time and certain amount of skill gained by practice.  Although there are ways to speed up the solidification of chocolate, there is no good way to fake a tempered chocolate.

There are many recipes you can get your hands on that tell you how to make chocolate-covered strawberries.  And almost all of those tell you to melt the chocolate, dip the strawberries, and then put into them in the refrigerator to harden.  Voila, done!

That method is indeed fast and easy but it only works if you eat the strawberries within seconds of taking them out of the fridge.  If you want to put those remarkably delicious works of art out on a plate for your guests to admire before eating, the quality of the experience will certainly be diminished if you took the easy way out. 

The chocolate coating should be tempered.  This is not a step I recommend you skip.  An un-tempered coating will start to melt in your hand almost immediately.  It will bend when you bite it – giving you a soft and pasty feel in the mouth.   The chocolate will melt quickly on your tongue and the flavor will be gone before you can savor it.

A tempered chocolate will give a crisp snap when you bite and won’t get all gooey on your fingers while you hold it.  The chocolate will melt slowly in your mouth and allow a full blast of chocolate flavor to come through. 

If the strawberries with un-tempered chocolate sit long enough, they may start to bloom.  This means they will develop a white dust over the surface and look very unappetizing.

Try dipping strawberries in tempered chocolate and notice the difference.  If needed, refer to my earlier blogs on how to temper chocolate.  It will be worth the effort.

Fudge is a treat anytime of year, but for me, it is especially meaningful during the holidays. 

As a child, I remember my mother and grandmother walking around the house stirring, and stirring, and stirring that bowl of fudge.  Sometime they would pause to watch TV, I suppose to prevent boredom, stirring all the while.

Fudge is an American invention.  There are several stories about how fudge first came to exist.  Most food historians agree that fudge was invented in the late 1800’s.  At least one story claims that fudge was the result of a batch of caramels gone wrong and the name came from the exclamation, “Oh fudge!”  Before becoming “fudge”, it first may have been called “Divinity” because it tasted “divine.” 

Crystal formation is the key to making great fudge.  It is the super small crystals of sugar in fudge that give fudge a firm but smooth texture.  Forming crystals at just the right time and in just the right size is the secret to successful fudge.  When the crystals are small enough, they won’t feel grainy in your mouth.

Making non-grainy fudge is all in the cooling and stirring.  A typical recipe will require you to heat the ingredients and then cool undisturbed until a certain temperature is reached.  If you disturb the fudge during this time you risk the formation of large crystals of sugar and thus a grainy fudge.

When the fudge has cooled, you must begin proper crystal formation.  Here is where the stirring comes in.  You start to stir, and keep stirring, until the fudge becomes thick.  The more you stir, the more crystals you get; lots and lots of tiny crystals.  You should end up with a firm, smooth fudge.

When your finished stirring, your arm feels like it’s about to fall off.  Yeah, but s-o-o-o worth the sacrifice!

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!

If you want to get down to the business of eating the chocolate straight out of the package, no problem, just break off a chunk and go to it!  But, if you want to use the chocolate for any other purpose you may have to re-temper.

This is the final part in my series of tempering chocolate.  The first article was about the importance of tempering chocolate.  The last article was about melting the chocolate to get ready for tempering.

Now this post explains the actual tempering process. 

There are several methods of tempering but I prefer one method over the others – I prefer the SEED METHOD.

Solidifying chocolate is all about the crystals, and the secret to success depends on time and temperature.  The seed method is my favorite way to cheat in the process.

Seeding releases already stable crystals into melted chocolate, thus building upon existing structures that will begin the tempering process.  It is a faster method than starting from scratch, which attempts to create crystals where none exist. 

Here is the step by step process for tempering chocolate using the seed method.

1. Chop about 1 lb. of the chocolate into small pieces but set aside a chunk a little smaller than the size of the palm of your hand.
    
2. Melt the chocolate by one of the methods presented in the melting the chocolate article.
    
3. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and drop in the saved chunk of chocolate.  Stir until the chocolate temperature drops to between 89° F to 91° F for dark chocolate or 87° to 89° F for milk chocolate.**Here is where arm strength and patience come in handy. The temperature will drop slowly, which is a necessary part of this process.  Stirring constantly will help distribute the growing crystals evenly throughout the mixture and form them into consistent sizes and shapes.
    
4. Remove the remaining piece of solid chocolate (seed chocolate) if there is any left.  Set it aside.  (No, don’t eat it!  You still might need it.)
    
5. Test the temper by smearing a small amount (say a teaspoon) of the chocolate on wax paper and allow it to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.  It should harden to be smooth, shiny, and dry to the touch.  If you see any dull areas, wet areas, or streaks in the hardened chocolate that indicates poor crystal development or lack of thorough mixing and stirring. If the results are not satisfactory, repeat the process by reheating the chocolate.  Use any leftover seed chocolate to begin again.

Assuming your test looks good, your chocolate is well tempered.

So now what?  What can you do with a bowl of tempered chocolate?  Yes, I know you’re thinking you can eat it.  But wait, you’ve gone through the hard work, let’s enhance something!

How about chocolate-dipped strawberries, or chocolate covered pretzels, or homemade chocolate candies.  Get the picture?  Once you’ve got a good temper you can coat anything.  Then let it harden at room temperature for a beautiful finish and great snap.

OK, stop drooling and start tempering!  You can comment below to tell me how it goes.

You might be thinking, what’s the big deal about melting chocolate?

Chocolate is a low melting point food.  It melts just below human body temperature.  While this low melting point means it’s easy to melt in the mouth, it also means it’s easy to burn when direct heat is used. Overheating chocolate will cause it to burn.  Burnt chocolate is irreversibly damaged and cannot be used.

In addition to burning, another potential problem when melting chocolate is “seizing”.  This can happen if you use an indirect heating method like a hot water and a double boiler. Small amounts of water will cause the chocolate to “seize” or become hard and crumbly.  Seized chocolate is irreversibly damaged and cannot be used.

There are several ways to melt chocolate effectively.

Microwave method

1. Place a few chucks of chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.

2. Heat the chocolate at 50% power for one minute.  Remove and stir. If chocolate is not melted, return to the microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds.  Remove and stir.

3. Repeat every 30 seconds until chocolate is nearly melted. When small lumps remain, do not heat, but continue to stir until all is melted.  The key to melting is in the stirring.  Latent heat will continue to melt the chocolate while stirring.

The microwave method is the fastest way to melt chocolate but is also the easiest way to burn it if you are not careful.

Double boiler or bowl over hot water method

1. Place small chucks of chocolate in the top pan of a double boiler over hot, but not boiling, water.  If the water is boiling, some may splash into the top pan and ruin the chocolate.
2. If you don’t have a double boiler, then use a glass bowl or metal mixing bowl over a sauce pan filled ½ full with hot, but not boiling, water.
3. Allow the chocolate to melt, stirring it occasionally.

This is a slower method, but there is very little risk of burning. Just be careful of the water!

Oven method

This method is really effective, especially if you want to melt a large amount of chocolate at one time or if you have to leave the chocolate in larger chunks. Your oven must heat evenly and be set to a very low temperature of 100°F.

1. Place the amount of chocolate you want to melt into an oven safe bowl or pan.
2. Let the chocolate melt at 100°F, stirring every 5 minutes until completely melted.

Of the three melting methods presented, this one takes the most time to melt.  A benefit though, once melted, the chocolate can be held at this temperature in the oven for the entire time you need to work with it.  There is little risk of burning and no water to splash.

In the next article in this series I’ll go over the “seed” method of tempering…

One day I was attending a local street festival and happened upon a vendor selling “Fresh Pineapple – Chocolate Covered!”  Most people’s first reaction might be, “Yum!” but mine was more like, “Well, this is interesting.  It is either a chocolate disaster in the making (there’s too much moisture in most fresh fruit to support a tempered chocolate) or a major discovery!”

I guess I was picturing a wedge of pineapple (carefully wiped dry?) dipped in chocolate, similar to a chocolate-covered strawberry.  My curiosity was growing by the minute.

Well… the vendor put pineapple in a bowl and poured liquid chocolate on top.  You had to eat it with a spoon!

Cheater.

You see, chocolate must be tempered.  It is, in my opinion, the most important step when working with chocolate.

Tempered chocolate is solid at room temperature, has a smooth, shiny finish, and snaps when you break it.  Un-tempered or poorly tempered chocolate will melt too quickly in your hand, crumble or bend instead of snapping, and have a dull appearance or even “bloom” – which is that ugly gray film covering the surface.

Considering that description, which chocolate sounds more appealing to you?  Tempered or untempered?  Yeah, I thought so.

Tempering chocolate is not easy, but it is not difficult either.  Yes, there are ways to harden chocolate without tempering but trouble is right around the corner if you decide to take a short cut…

Freezing, or sticking chocolate into the refrigerator, instead of tempering is a solution that lasts about ten seconds (ok, maybe ten minutes, but you get my point).  You can’t break the chocolate rules without consequences, in this case condensation makes the untempered chocolate even worse.

To hold up best at room temperature, the cocoa butter in chocolate must crystallize from a liquid to a solid at the right temperature, in the right form, and in the right amount.  This is the tried and true principle behind tempering.

In an upcoming article I’ll explain the steps of tempering.