Processadvanceddraft
Fat crystallises (tempering)
Also searched as: cocoa butter, tempering chocolate, crystal form, shine and snap
In short: Cocoa butter can set in several crystal forms. Only one of them gives chocolate its shine and snap.
Picture it
Like soldiers standing in neat rows (shiny, snaps) or in a wild jumble (dull, crumbly).
Level 3 · Cocoa butter setting≈ 1 nm
Simplified model
Temperature thresholds10 °C
10 °C120 °C
- 27 °Ccool: stable crystals form
- 31 °Cwork (dark 31–32 °C)
- 34 °Cabove this the good crystals melt
- 45 °Cmelt: all crystals gone
Below 27 °C none of this happens yet. From 27 °C: cool: stable crystals form.
What happens
As it cools, different fat crystals form. The desired form (form V) only forms in a narrow temperature window. When , you melt all crystals, cool so that stable crystals form, and warm slightly to melt the unstable ones again.
Why it matters
Explains why chocolate that has melted and set again turns dull and streaky, and why pralines do not shine without tempering.
Rules of thumb
- Dark chocolate: melt to 45–50 °C, cool to about 27 °C, work at 31–32 °C.
- Work milk chocolate at 29–30 °C, white at 28–29 °C.
- Keep water well away.
Levers
Temperatureone degree too many → crystals melt
Sources
- Thermapen: The ultimate guide to tempering chocolate
- Harold McGee: On Food and Cooking (2004), Kapitel Milch, Zucker, Schokolade
- Callebaut: Guide to different tempering methods