Tempering chocolate: shine and snap

🔬 CHEF TECHNIQUE
Tempering chocolate: shine and snap

Melted chocolate that sets dull, streaky and soft has not been tempered. Tempered chocolate is glossy and snaps.

🔬 The science
Cocoa butter can set in six different crystal forms. Only one, "form V", gives shine and snap. Tempering means melting all the crystals, then guiding the chocolate to form only the good ones by controlling the temperature.

👨‍🍳 How we do it in a professional kitchen
1. Melt dark chocolate to 45-50 °C (113-122 °F).
2. Cool it to about 27-28 °C, stirring (or add a third of chopped chocolate: the seeding method).
3. Re-warm gently to 31-32 °C (88-90 °F) and keep it there while you work.
4. Test: a drop on a knife should set glossy in about 5 minutes at room temperature.

💡 Chef's tip: Milk chocolate works at about 2 °C lower, white chocolate about 3 °C lower than dark.
❌ The mistake I see most: A drop of water: chocolate seizes and turns grainy.

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