Tempering chocolate is a skill that is best acquired from an experienced chocolatier. If you've tried tempering chocolate before and not been successful, come along to a chocolate making class and you'll not only have hands-on experience tempering chocolate, but you can also find out what you did wrong, so you don't do it again! We hear about all sorts of things people have done (to chocolate!) and often it is a small (but crucial!) thing that needs to be done differently.

What is tempering?

Tempering or ‘pre-crystallization’ is the process of changing the cocoa butter in chocolate into a stable crystalline form. The chocolate is melted, cooled and brought up to the right working temperature using one of a number of different methods to ensure there are sufficient stable crystals to give the finished product its hardness, shrinkage and gloss.

If the chocolate was just melted and allowed to set without going through the tempering process, the result would not be glossy, the texture would not be smooth and the lack of shrinkage would make it difficult to remove the finished chocolate from the mould.

Three important elements of tempering are:

• TIME
• TEMPERATURE
• MOVEMENT

There are seven types of crystals that can be formed in cocoa butter. One of them is known as the ‘Beta’ crystal. Beta crystals give tempered chocolate its snap and gloss.

Methods of tempering chocolate

There are several methods to achieve well-tempered or ’pre-crystallized’ chocolate. The Beta crystals already present in the chocolate buds, cocoa butter or in the cooled chocolate when ‘tabliering’ are developed or 'seeded' throughout the rest of the melted chocolate (a process known as ‘seeding’). Choice of method will depend on your equipment and personal preference.

Four key ways of tempering chocolate by hand (without industrial equipment) include:

• seeding with chocolate buds
• 'tabliering’ (on a cool surface)
• seeding with a microwave
• seeding with cocoa butter

Method 1: Seeding with chocolate buds

1. Melt an amount of chocolate (note: under 1kg may be difficult to achieve a stable temper)
2. Add up to 20% of the chocolate being used in unmelted chocolate buds (at ambient temperature 15-20°C), start by adding 10% then slowly keep adding more chocolate buds until they are nearly all melted. For example, if you have melted 1kg of chocolate, add up to 200g of unmelted chocolate buds (start with adding 100g then slowly keep adding the remaining 100g until the chocolate buds stop melting).

Method 2: Tabliering

1. Melt the chocolate
2. Pour 2/3 of the melted chocolate onto a cool surface such as a marble, granite or Caesar stone bench top or bread board
3. Move the chocolate around on the cool surface with spatulas, keeping the chocolate moving so that it cools evenly
4. It will be ready when it starts to thicken and keeps its form when drizzled from the scraper onto the bench. At this stage the chocolate should be around 24°C (for white), 25°C (for milk) and 27°C (for dark chocolate).
5. Pour the chocolate (now called 'pre-crystallized') back into the rest of the melted chocolate and stir well until smooth.

 

Method 3: Using a microwave

1. Put some chocolate buds into a microwavable plastic bowl
2. Melt the chocolate (at 800-1000W), removing the bowl every 15-20 seconds and stirring to make sure the chocolate warms evenly and does not scorch
3. Continue heating and stirring until some unmelted chocolate buds are still visible
4. Remove from the microwave and stir well until all the chocolate buds have melted

Method 4: Seeding with cocoa butter

1. Melt the chocolate
2. Allow the chocolate to cool at room temperature (ideally 20°C) to 33°C (for milk or white) or 34°C (for dark chocolate)
3. Add 1% powdered cocoa butter (eg for 1kg of melted chocolate, you'll need just 10g of cocoa butter)
4. Sift the cocoa butter slowly into the chocolate and mix well

Testing for crystallization

Always test that sufficient crystallization has occured.

• put the tip of a knife, spatula, spoon or plastic scraper into the chocolate and leave on the bench for a few minutes
• the chocolate should harden within 3 mins, with an even sheen
  • if there are ’oily’ streaks or it is not touch-dry within a few minutes, insufficient beta crystals are present and the chocolate is under-crystallised. Add a small handful of unmelted chocolate buds, stir through until melted and test again

  Test temper that shows chocolate that has not been tempered correctly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the chocolate has been tempered, it is ready to be moulded into bars, individual chocolates or any other form. The working temperature should be approximately 27-28°C for white chocolate, 29-30°C for milk chocolate and 31-32°C for dark chocolate. These temperatures are just a guide as the important thing is that the chocolate is not over- or under-crystallized.

Over crystallization will occur over time as the beta crystals continue to increase in number and the chocolate thickens. This can be rectified by gently warming the chocolate, using a hair dryer or heat gun and stirring well. If the chocolate is under-crystallized (because insufficient beta crystals were developed), this can be boosted by adding unmelted chocolate buds.

If you do not have a melting tank to maintain the temperature of the tempered chocolate, you can try putting the chocolate over a saucepan with warm water, being careful not to cease the chocolate by getting any or water or steam in the bowl and not going above the recommended working temperatures for the chocolate.