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Top Tips For Tempering Chocolate - Discover How the Professionals Do it Right Every Time

By Pat Lock

The best quality chocolate contains a high proportion of cocoa butter, which is why the chocolate is so delicious. Cocoa butter is a cream coloured hard fat, and chocolate needs tempering because it contains cocoa butter. Let’s try to disperse some of the mystic surrounding this process. The various fat crystals in cocoa butter have different setting points. If, when chocolate is melted, these crystals are allowed to go their own way they will set into large crystals, resulting in the chocolate setting with a grey ‘fat bloom’ on the surface, and lacking its customary hard snap.

So this is were tempering comes in. According to the Wikipedia encyclopaedia, the word tempering originates from the Latin ‘temperare’ - to mix correctly - exactly what needs to happen to chocolate. By the way, this process only applies to chocolate containing cocoa butter. Some products, which have the word ‘chocolate’ on the packaging, contain vegetable oil in place of cocoa butter. Chocolate is already tempered when it comes from the factory, but it is in the melting and setting again that the process can go wrong. It is worth remembering that each time chocolate is re-melted, it has to be tempered again.

Patisserie chefs are skilled at tempering, and they do this by pouring melted chocolate onto a marble slab. Then, using a scraper, they move the chocolate around until it just begins to set, before scooping it back into a bowl to rewarm. This is done to melt the different sized fat crystals so that they all have the same setting point. The chocolate is then gently warmed (not too much otherwise the crystals will revert to their old tricks) to a working temperature.

The temperature chocolate melts and sets at is critical, and this is were a chocolate thermometer is needed. However, many experts know from experience when chocolate has reached the right temperature. One way they test it is by placing a dab of chocolate on the lower lip to ‘read’ the temperature. Anyone serious about working with chocolate, for instance those who make the popular chocolate-coated wedding cakes, would do well to invest in any electrically operated bain-marie. These are expensive but will take all the guesswork out of tempering and be well worth the investment.

Those less dedicated, should ideally, use chocolate drops, or chocolate nibs, as they are sometimes called. Alternatively, chop chocolate into small pieces. Place the bowl of chocolate over a saucepan of hot - not too hot - water. Remove the saucepan from source of heat, remembering that the base of the bowl must not touch the water or the chocolate will overheat and stiffen. Gently stir the chocolate as it is melting until the correct temperature is reached. One method of tempering is to bring the chocolate up to the desired temperature, then add an block of unmelted piece of chocolate to the already melted chocolate - this will bring the temperature down. Keep stirring and once the right temperature is reached, remove the block.

Another way to temper is in the microwave. This method is quick and easy, but only a small amount of chocolate can be tempered at any one time. Set the microwave at 800 W and timing to 20 seconds. Each time this setting is reached, remove the chocolate and stir gently. Once the chocolate is nearly melted, stir well until slightly thick. Test to see if the chocolate is correctly tempered by spreading some on a piece of baking parchment. It should set in a few minutes with a shiny surface. If not, repeat the process. Luckily, chocolate does not need tempering when used as a flavouring, for instance, in mousses, cakes and sauces.

You may want to check out my other guide on chocolate tempering and wholesale chocolate