To temper or not to temper that is the question

[whole milk]

I love candied citrus peel. Recently after boiling in sugar syrup I soaked a batch in Grand Marnier for a week and I'm ready to dip in chocolate. Question: Tempering is really hit and miss with me, if I don't get it right will the storage time differ? What I mean to ask is does tempered chocolate increase the shelf life?

Thanks,

 

[suziquzie]

tempering chocolate doesn't change shelf life. What it does is (at the right temp) keeps it uniform, and it wont separate, leaving your chocolate looking funny.... they call it "bloomed". Tempering without a machine is pretty tricky, chocolate prefers to be tempered to about 86 degrees.... I think. I used to work in a chocolate shop but it's been about 9 years.
Keep in mind when it blooms it is not bad, nothing is wrong with it, it tastes no different. It's just not as pretty.

 

[whole milk]

Thank you!

You don't happen to know how long we can keep something dipped in chocolate in the fridge, do you? As for my citrus peels, they're candied and soaked in liquor, so I'd guess they could have a long life in my fridge and that I can't freeze them because of the chocolate. Do you think that's right?

Cheers,

 

[suziquzie]

you really dont even need to refrigerate the chocolate if the citrus doesn't need to. It stays good as long as its contents.
Actually keeping it in the fridge may make the chocolate pick up other odors and make it taste funny. If you need to keep it I'd use the freezer, it just wont be pretty when thawed.

 

[archiduc]

I love candied citrus peel. Recently after boiling in sugar syrup I soaked a batch in Grand Marnier for a week and I'm ready to dip in chocolate. Question: Tempering is really hit and miss with me, if I don't get it right will the storage time differ? What I mean to ask is does tempered chocolate increase the shelf life?

Thanks,

Hi Wholemilk,

1. If dipping candied peel in chocolate then it needs to be dry. If it is liquid then this liquid will leach into the chocolate and affect the ability of the chocolate to set or become hard. Consequently, you may need to dry out the liqueur soaked citrus peel in the oven first. Even then it may not work because it depends upon the recipe you`ve used to make the candied peel.

2. Not all chocolate needs to be tempered. The type of chocolate that needs to be tempered (must be) is COUVERTURE chocolate, most probabaly available from specialist shops, delis and NOT from the local supermarket.

3. If I remember the food science correctly, tempering is about melting, emulsifying and distributing the fat particles in chocolate so that they set within the chocolate and give a good gloss. If they do not set within the chocolate then they (the fat particles) come to the surface and cause "bloom" which spoils the appearance of the finished product - greyish/white or speckled surface. This makes the chocolates look old and stale.

4. It may be possible to buy blocks of tempered chocolate which you can use immediately, i.e., pre-tempered chocolate - don`t know of any suppliers or sources in the USA.

5. The chances are that a good quality plain chocolate bought in the supermarket only needs to be melted. Plain chocolate should not be heated above 50C/120F and milk chocolate not heated above 45C/110C.

6. Two things "kill" chocolate - moisture and excess heat. Chocolate is best melted in a clean, dry bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Never let any moisture get into the bowl. If you need to pick up the bowl, wrap the outside, top of the bowl in a teatowel and lift up sharply, then away from the pan. The teatowel will absorb moisture rising from the pan. Also, avoid using a microwave to melt chocolate.

Hope this helps,
Archiduc

 

[jasonr]

4. It may be possible to buy blocks of tempered chocolate which you can use immediately, i.e., pre-tempered chocolate - don`t know of any suppliers or sources in the USA.

All real chocolate you buy, from Hershey to Valhrona, is tempered when you buy it. All chocolate is "pre-tempered", regardless of make or quality. And you can temper any chocolate you buy, regardless of whether or not it is a couverture.

Common sense tells us that if you melt tempered chocolate and then let it harden, it will harden into the same thing it was before. Common sense is wrong, unfortunately. If you melt chocolate, it will go out of temper. I don't know the science, but it has to do with the alignment of crystals or some such thing. Bottom line: if you want melted chocolate to set like it did before it was melted, you have no choice but to temper it.

Tempering does more than prevent discolouration. Tempered chocolate is much shinier. If you don't temper, it will appear duller. You can tell the difference visually.

The other big plus to tempering is that the chocolate will set at room temperature fairly quickly, and you'll get that satisfying "snap" when you break it (at least with dark chocolate, less so for white or milk). If you don't temper, it takes forever to set, and the consistency never gets to that good hard snap.

Why not try to temper? If you're successful, then great, if you fail, then you're no worse off than if you hadn't tried.

 

[jpmcgrew]

Tempering is done to keep the sugar and fat molecules from separating which is what causes the bloom. I have always tempored by feel I learned it from the original owner of Rocky Mountain Choclate factory it's really simple to do. All you do is melt chocolate as usual then stir it while it cools this will keep the molecules from separating as it cools take a a small bit of chocolate and put it on your lips if it feels hot or warm it's not ready keep stirring, as soon as the chocolate feels really cool to the lip it's ready to dip. This is the only way I have ever done it it really works . Dont forget keep stirring slowly until it's ready.

 

[aguynamedrobert]

Hello jpmcgrew,
You learned from the original owner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory? I worked for them under their master confectioner a few years back. I haven't ran into anyone that has worked with or for them before. How did you meet him?

Have a great day,

 

[jpmcgrew]

Hello jpmcgrew,
You learned from the original owner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory? I worked for them under their master confectioner a few years back. I haven't ran into anyone that has worked with or for them before. How did you meet him?

Have a great day,

I don't remember his name it was about 25 years ago in Durango, CO. I didn't work for him but he used to come to a little bakery in town called the Stone House Bakery it had to be the tiniest bakery ever. He would come in for our bagels and pastries. One day he came in and noticed my Tosca Bars had bloomed which was because I had no idea what I was doing with chocolate. So he took me to his factory just outside of town and he had little old ladies sitting there hand dipping their chocolates. That is where I learned to temper by feel no thermometers needed . So that's how I have done it ever since. Pretty cool dont you think?

 

[suziquzie]

I used to work in a Rocky Mtn CHoc Factory!
Figured out how to scale the fudge recipe down to home sized.
I miss that job alot, luckily I am still friends with my former boss, she sends me pounds upon pounds of bloomed, packaged chocolates here and there.
I'm pretty convinced I want to get myself a little tempering machine.... I cant do it by look anymore.

 

[archiduc]

All real chocolate you buy, from Hershey to Valhrona, is tempered when you buy it. All chocolate is "pre-tempered", regardless of make or quality. And you can temper any chocolate you buy, regardless of whether or not it is a couverture.

Common sense tells us that if you melt tempered chocolate and then let it harden, it will harden into the same thing it was before. Common sense is wrong, unfortunately. If you melt chocolate, it will go out of temper. I don't know the science, but it has to do with the alignment of crystals or some such thing. Bottom line: if you want melted chocolate to set like it did before it was melted, you have no choice but to temper it.

Tempering does more than prevent discolouration. Tempered chocolate is much shinier. If you don't temper, it will appear duller. You can tell the difference visually.

The other big plus to tempering is that the chocolate will set at room temperature fairly quickly, and you'll get that satisfying "snap" when you break it (at least with dark chocolate, less so for white or milk). If you don't temper, it takes forever to set, and the consistency never gets to that good hard snap.

Why not try to temper? If you're successful, then great, if you fail, then you're no worse off than if you hadn't tried.

Hi Jasonr,
This is a global website and as such one has to respond bearing this in mind as the original poster may be buying their chocolate from all over the world - not just in the USA!!!! The chocolate that you buy, can buy, may not be the same as me!

The fact is that not all chocolate is tempered (in the global scheme of purchasing!), so that when used for dipping, filling etc., it will be shiny, glossy and have the characteristic snap of a high quality chocolate product. Tempering is necessary for a great many chocolate products to give the gloss and snap to the chocolate which encases the final product. The "catch words" here are gloss and snap!

When I was a student, I was taught that there are two different fats in chocolate - Fat A and Fat B. The process of tempering was to redistribute the fats and, on cooling, allow them to settle/set in such a way as to produce a glossy product with a good snap. The objective is to allow the fats to set and not rise to the surface - IIRC! When ,and if, the fats rise to the surface, through poor tempering, the resultant chocolate(s) will be liable to bloom and lack the appropriate snap and, more importantly, the gloss.

In conclusion, anyone wishing to work with chocolate should have 2/3 very finely calibrated thermometers which operate at appropriate temperatures or buy pre-tempered chocolate.

Hope this helps,
Archiduc

 

[jpmcgrew]

Chocolate that has been melted must be re-tempered because the melting separates the the fat and the sugar molecules which is why they need to be stirred slowly as the chocolate cools to a certain point to stabilize the two so that they will hold together as to not cause the bloom. This is not rocket science folks. You do not need a thermometer to temper small amounts of chocolate. I'm talking 2-4 cups. I don't know if larger amounts can be done by feel. Of course you could have larger amounts melted and then temper smaller batches as you go but I'm talking about home or small business not a large factory.

 

[chocolatier]

I'm just starting to work with chocolate and I'm having a lot of fun doing it. Tempered chocolate, when melted, does need to be tempered again. I purchased a small tempering unit that tempers up to 1.5 lbs in around 30 minutes. Very easy and worth the money. I made some very quick and easy oreo balls and dipped them and they had the gloss and "snap".

 

[swish2]

If it's not tempered you may also get a gritty chocolate. You may want to try confectioners coating. It's not as good as true chocolate but it doesn't need to be tempered. When it's mixed with nuts, dried fruits, pretzels etc. It will taste fine. But if you do try the coating try to get a good brand not Wilton.
You can find some good video's on youtube on tempering. One with Jac. Torres and one from Epicurious.

 

[jasonr]

Hi Jasonr,
This is a global website and as such one has to respond bearing this in mind as the original poster may be buying their chocolate from all over the world - not just in the USA!!!! The chocolate that you buy, can buy, may not be the same as me!

As far as I am aware, all commercially available chocolate is tempered. I don't think it's possible to buy chocolate that hasn't been tempered. It's just part of the process any manufacturer goes through when they turn their chocolate into bars / squares / blocks, etc...

Where are you buying your chocolate from that they don't temper it?

 

[Capirossi]

I hate tempering!!! If I could buy pre-tempered, high quality liquid chocolate then I would! Has anyone bought a tempering machine? I would love to buy one but at £350 (roughly $644) dollars I feel it a bit on the expensive side!

Any suggestions as to where to buy a 'home' machine rather than an industrial one? I guess it may even be worth buying from the US if the price is right. As I do love my truffle making, and want to experiment a lot more with chocolate!

 

[archiduc]

As far as I am aware, all commercially available chocolate is tempered. I don't think it's possible to buy chocolate that hasn't been tempered. It's just part of the process any manufacturer goes through when they turn their chocolate into bars / squares / blocks, etc...

Where are you buying your chocolate from that they don't temper it?

Hi JasonR,

Good to talk with you again. How is the demi-glace going - I`m sure you`ve realised by now that it is a question of experiencing what is happening in the pan rather than a message. All you needed was practice and confidence and you`ve clearly got that!

Re. chocolate. Is all chocolate labelled as tempered chococlate. I`m not sure that it is in the UK or EU. It may be so in the USA but even then I`m not convinced. In the UK one tends to buy chocolate on the basis of cocoa solids and cost rather than having been previously tempered. It is only after trying to use it that one discovers the need to temper it as it "clouds and blooms" on standing after use. Yes, there is pre-tempered chocolate available, but, IIRC, it still needs to be melted to a specific temperature.

Tempering is a process which redistributes the different fat particles (when I was a student it was a case of fat A and fat b) so that the chocolate when cold and set is hard and glossy and has "snap". Now, in my experience, you can do this with different dark chocolates (not milk). The critical point is the raising, lowering and raising of temperature to redistribute the fats so that when the fats sets a good, hard, glossy set around the chocolate is achieved.

To asume that a bar of chocolate will give a good gloss and snap when used by you is not enough. It has been tempered for sale which is not the same as being tempered for use by you in another product.

All the best,
Archiduc

 

[jasonr]

Arch, the demiglace went great. I've since moved on to other things, but all the suggestions were helpful.

I think you're a little confused on the tempering issue.

Firstly, I guarantee you that milk chocolate can be tempered. I can open up about four or five books on my shelf that will say the same thing, including two professional pastry textbooks. Even white chocolate can be tempered. Bo Friberg in the Professional Pastry Chef goes on about how to temper white and milk chocolate. Pierre Herme, one of the best pastry chefs in the world, specifically instructs you to temper your milk chocolate in his own books.

I can personally attest to tempering milk chocolate with the exact same technique I use for dark chocolate, and it has the same effects. I could never do certain things without tempering my milk chocolate,

Secondly, I'm really quite sure that all chocolate, no matter who manufactures it, is tempered when you buy it. It has nothing to do with labeling, as there's no need to label chocolate tempered or untempered. This is a given. I'm not sure what you mean by "tempered for sale" versus "tempered for use in another product".

As I said, all commercially available chocolate that I have ever heard of is tempered when you buy it. If you melt it, it gets knocked out of temper, and so has to be tempered again if you want to use it in an application that requires certain characteristics of tempered chocolate.

Some chocolate may have different characteristics and may require some slight variances in temperature control when tempering, but all chocolate, ultimately, can be tempered.

What you may be confused by is the existence of certain chocolate products (typically I think known as plastic chocolate) that have many of the characterstics of tempered chocolate, without requiring any tempering on melting. I believe this is done by substituting some vegetable oil for some of the cocoa butter, or otherwise changing the composition of the chocolate. But the end product is not really chocolate anymore. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

 

[archiduc]

Arch, the demiglace went great. I've since moved on to other things, but all the suggestions were helpful.

I think you're a little confused on the tempering issue.

Firstly, I guarantee you that milk chocolate can be tempered. I can open up about four or five books on my shelf that will say the same thing, including two professional pastry textbooks. Even white chocolate can be tempered. Bo Friberg in the Professional Pastry Chef goes on about how to temper white and milk chocolate. Pierre Herme, one of the best pastry chefs in the world, specifically instructs you to temper your milk chocolate in his own books.

I can personally attest to tempering milk chocolate with the exact same technique I use for dark chocolate, and it has the same effects. I could never do certain things without tempering my milk chocolate,

Secondly, I'm really quite sure that all chocolate, no matter who manufactures it, is tempered when you buy it. It has nothing to do with labeling, as there's no need to label chocolate tempered or untempered. This is a given. I'm not sure what you mean by "tempered for sale" versus "tempered for use in another product".

As I said, all commercially available chocolate that I have ever heard of is tempered when you buy it. If you melt it, it gets knocked out of temper, and so has to be tempered again if you want to use it in an application that requires certain characteristics of tempered chocolate.

Some chocolate may have different characteristics and may require some slight variances in temperature control when tempering, but all chocolate, ultimately, can be tempered.

What you may be confused by is the existence of certain chocolate products (typically I think known as plastic chocolate) that have many of the characterstics of tempered chocolate, without requiring any tempering on melting. I believe this is done by substituting some vegetable oil for some of the cocoa butter, or otherwise changing the composition of the chocolate. But the end product is not really chocolate anymore. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

Hi Jason,

I knew you would master the sauce! There is a point when teaching, as I discovered, when one has to butt out and leave the person to explore, taste and develop their competence and confidence! In other words, one has to turn one`s back and leave them to it them to make decisions as to flavour and consistency!

Now, stop being so saucy!

This is a worldwide messageboard, composed of people from different countries, incomes, abilities and financial positions which will determine whether they buy their chocolate from a corner shop, deli or specialist supplier; a bar of Bournville, couverture, Supercook Chocolate (milk or plain) or Hershey`s bars.

You are right to say that all chocolate will have been tempered prior to selling and will therefore keep within the sell by date (in the shop) and not "bloom". Prior to selling, chocolate will have been tempered to enable it to remain stable without the creation of "bloom" whilst it sits on the shop shelf.

In the UK, I could go into many shops, supermarkets, delis, etc., and buy chocolate or products labelled as chocolate as per EC regulations which are great and flavoursome and some which are poor for use in making chocolates insofar as they lack the potential "snap" (after tempering) of a good chocolate, but are used by just melting and used for dipping.

AFAIK - it is possible to buy "pre-tempered chocolate" in the UK.

Finally, it depends, to some degree, as to regulations in the USA and EC as to what constitutes milk and white chocolate. I may be wrong, but I suspect there may be a difference and labelling may not clarify this difference when using the learned texts to which you refer.

All the best,
Archiduc
P.S. Check the law and debate re. chocolate in the EU!