Working With Chocolate and Caramel Filling
August 8, 2010
One of my email subscribers was wondering how chocolate candies made with high water content fillings, like caramel, can seemingly withstand blooming or other adverse effects?
It is true that even the smallest amount of water and chocolate don’t get along. The combination often leads to problems like seizing and sugar bloom. Yet, you can buy chocolate-covered caramels and see for yourself that they look good and tastes good. They have a fairly decent shelf life, too.
So what is the secret for getting this to work?
Let me say, first of all, that it isn’t so much a secret as it is strategy. It is a timing game. How long can we keep nature’s forces at bay because eventually the issues between a high water content filling and the chocolate coating will come to life.
Tip #1 – Find the right caramel formula. During the caramel making process, boiling the ingredients will allow most of the water to evaporate and the remaining water should be trapped among the sugar solids. But this behavior depends on the right recipe. Finding the right formulation will take experimentation and practice.
Tip #2 – Wrap a thick coating of chocolate around the filling to slow down the migration of any water or liquid fat from reaching the surface. You’ll know pretty quickly if the coating is not thick enough because bloom will appear early and the shelf life will be shorter than expected.
Tip #3 – Store and package the final product correctly to prolong the arrival of bloom. It is optimal to store at a room temperature of 70F and 50% relative humidity.
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