Tempering Machines and Chocolate Candy Making
Chocolates with that lustrous appeal, shine and smoothness will excite you, for sure. Such great looks, crispness and the luxurious texture are due to the tempering process done on them. It is a process undertaken via the three-step cycle of heating, cooling and reheating. Melted chocolate is worked upon so that it gets tempered.
Due to tempering, the shelf life of the chocolates also increases. Whitish gray spots that show on the surface of the chocolates, which is called blooming, will not occur if tempering is done. Tempering needs to be done to prevent the dull and crumbly appearance and the undesirable chalk-like taste of chocolates, too.
It is from cocoa beans that chocolates are made and you should do tempering to enable the fatty acids of the cocoa butter to crystallize uniformly, though they have a tendency to melt and solidify at various temperatures.
In general, tempering by hand is viewed as a difficult process because the fatty acids of the cocoa butter re-crystallizes into six types of crystals which dominate at six different temperatures. Out of these six types of crystals, only type V is the preferable crystals as they make the chocolates, smooth, shiny and crisp. Hence tempering is done to increase the quantity of type V crystals.
Since these six types of crystals behave dominantly at six different temperatures, to avoid complications, it is necessary that you maintain specific temperatures during tempering. Utmost care should be taken towards this because even a slight change in temperature may force you to repeat the whole process again.
Tempering by hand is done in two ways. One method is to work upon the melted chocolate at a particular temperature on a heat-absorbing surface till it gets tempered. The second method is to use already tempered chocolate as a seed to temper at the specific temperature your freshly melted chocolate. These exact chocolate temperatures should be maintained during the next step of dipping and molding too.
When you intend to produce large quantities of chocolates, it is better to use a tempering machine. Using a tempering machine does not involve maintenance of specific temperatures and handling the process in a moisture free environment, among others. Tempering machines have the advantage of producing more type V crystals that are responsible for the smoothness, shine, and creamy texture to the chocolates. Heating, cooling, reheating and maintaining specific temperatures for all these are done by microprocessors in the tempering machine.
A lot of your time and efforts are saved if you do tempering by machine and you can use this time for improving your skills in chocolate making as well as planning to expand your business.
