I have been researching tempering techniques and wanted to ask some of
the experts here (Alex :-) ) what your favorite (and most reliable for
results) way is.

The seeing technique sounds so much easier than the scraping
(mulching?) method. If the scraping way is better, can you give me
some pointers?

Also, who sells chocolates (truffles, etc.) here? Anyone? If so, have
you any advice?

Thanks.

SC

SC wrote:
> I have been researching tempering techniques and wanted to ask some of
> the experts here (Alex :-) ) what your favorite (and most reliable for
> results) way is.
>
> The seeing technique sounds so much easier than the scraping
> (mulching?) method. If the scraping way is better, can you give me
> some pointers?
>
> Also, who sells chocolates (truffles, etc.) here? Anyone? If so,
> have you any advice?
>
> Thanks.
>
> SC

I sell chocolates and truffles. I use a tempering machine, and El Rey
chocolates (Gran Saman, Mijao, Caoba, and Icoa). When I started out, I used
the tabling method, which was particularly good for me because I have a
granite countertop that is perfect for it. Now, when I need to temper small
quantities for garnishing, I generally use the tabling method for milk
chocolate and the seeding method for white. Whether these are the best
methods for those chocolates I don't know, but they suit me.

I found that the hard thing was not tempering the chocolate, but keeping it
in temper while I dipped. I used to go through all sorts of contortions with
simmering water and heating pads and thermometers. That's why I bought the
machine.
--
Janet

Dear Artemesia! Poetry's a Sna/Bedlam has many Mansions:have a
ca/ Your Muse diverts you, makes the Reader sad:/ You think your
self inspir'd; He thinks you mad.

Thanks Janet. I'll have to look online for some good deals on a
machine...I think that will work best for me since I have a 2 year old
at my feet all the time.
Let me know if you know of any good deals on them.

SC

at Wed, 22 Dec 2004 02:04:29 GMT in <1103681069.346155.162080
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, (SC) wrote :

>I have been researching tempering techniques and wanted to ask some of
>the experts here (Alex :-) ) what your favorite (and most reliable for
>results) way is.

I use the slab-and-palette-knife method most of the time.

>The seeing technique sounds so much easier than the scraping
>(mulching?) method. If the scraping way is better, can you give me
>some pointers?

The seeding method is definitely easier, and I'll use it when appearance
and/or perfect results aren't critical, for example, on top of cakes. Its
other major advantage is that the equipment required is usually to hand in
any house, while a cool, nonporous surface, essential for the slab method,
isn't always available, and if you have to buy a marble board, it can get
pretty expensive.

The slab and palette knife method yields better results, especially in
terms of evenness of temper over the whole mass of the chocolate. I find
also that the finished texture is somewhat smoother and silkier.

As to how to do the slab method, there's no big mystery: you just need to
spade the chocolate on the slab around continuously and uniformly until it
just begins to solidify. Perhaps the other critical thing is to work
quickly. As soon as it starts to solidify, you've got to scrape it back in
to the rest of the chocolate *immediately*. Also, don't be timid in spading
it. Use vigorous, rapid movements. You want to move the chocolate around on
the slab as much as possible. Make sure your work area is neither too hot
(over 80F is deadly) nor too cold (under 60F and your tempering window will
pass too quickly). It's good to practice a couple of times, so you can
learn how the process goes - buy some quality bulk chocolate you can pick
up relatively cheaply (such as Guittard or Callebaut) to experiment with.

With the seeding method, the main thing is to keep stirring all the time.
Don't stop stirring until you're ready to dip, mould or whatever else you
plan on doing.

With either method, the more chocolate you use, the better your results
will be. Don't try to melt and temper less than 1/2 kg or so because it
won't work very well. The chocolate falls out of temper far too fast.

You can buy tempering thermometers, purpose-made for this application, that
help give you a more accurate sense of where the chocolate is at. After a
while, you'll be able to judge by eye, but even then, a thermometer is a
more reliable indicator.

And as has been said already, if you're making more than a few pieces, or
want to avoid hassle, you can buy tempering machines that keep the
chocolate in temper. This is essential for all but small-scale work
(anything over about 3 dozen pieces) because otherwise your chocolate will
fall out of temper and you'll get maddeningly inconsistent results.
However, these machines are $500 and up, so be sure to take a very
realistic assessment of how much chocolate you really are going to make.
And *never* fall into the trap of believing that, were you to have the
machine, you'd make more chocolate. It won't happen.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

>have been researching tempering techniques and wanted to ask some of
>the experts here (Alex :-) ) what your favorite (and most reliable for
>results) way is.

>The seeing technique sounds so much easier than the scraping
>(mulching?) method. If the scraping way is better, can you give me
>some pointers?
>From theoritical understanding and practical experience?.. as the
basis of comparing the best manual method of chocolate tempering.:
The paint scraper/palette knife /marble slab method is the best as it
can produce even tempered chocolates ( at a faster rate)even if there
is the presence of dissimilar fats( milk fat in milk and white
chocolates) which will result in the formation of eutectic mixture of
cocoa butter and milk fat which lowers the melting point of the
combined fat.
Beside the tempering process is a combination of the primary
nucleation( the formation of the desired form V polymorph) which then
serves as the template for the other chocolate crystals to attach and
follow the mode of crystallization.. And the secondary nucleation the
aggregation of the other chocolate crystals to fit on the structure of
the starting seed.( nucleus)
Another thing is the supecooling due to the cold surface of the marble/
granite slab will also promote rapid dissipation of the heat of
crysallization of the cocoa fat crystals resulting that the desired
crystallographic orientation is best maintained.even
In the presence of competing alternative fat such as milk fat which
does not follow the same structural orientation as the cocoa butter.
Meanwhile in the other methods such the seeding and innoculation where
the predominance of secondary nucleation occurs; the dissipation of
the heat of crystallization is not that as efficient and takes time to
equilibrate and stabilize resulting that this method there are still
considerable presence of other fat polymorphs( beta prime and others).
Which affects the temper characteristics of the resulting chocolate.
If compared with the chocolates tempered by the slab method.
With any type of chocolates ( dark, milk and white the slab method
provides best and consistent result. As the amount of foreign fat(
dissimilar triglyceride composition such as present in milk fat) is
increased the degree of tempering efficiency by seeding method is
affected slowing down the degree of temper uniformity. Due to the
effect of the competing fat on the dissipation of the heat of
crystallization of the cocoa butter and the different crsyatlographic
orientation of such fat in relation to cocoa butter which competes (
form a barrier)in the attachment and crytallographic growth of the
desired form V polymorph with the nuclei.( seed crystal).

Roy

SC wrote:
> I have been researching tempering techniques and wanted to ask some of
> the experts here (Alex :-) ) what your favorite (and most reliable for
> results) way is.
>
> The seeing technique sounds so much easier than the scraping
> (mulching?) method. If the scraping way is better, can you give me
> some pointers?
>
> Also, who sells chocolates (truffles, etc.) here? Anyone? If so,
> have you any advice?
>
> Thanks.
>
> SC

I sell chocolates and truffles. I use a tempering machine, and El Rey
chocolates (Gran Saman, Mijao, Caoba, and Icoa). When I started out, I used
the tabling method, which was particularly good for me because I have a
granite countertop that is perfect for it. Now, when I need to temper small
quantities for garnishing, I generally use the tabling method for milk
chocolate and the seeding method for white. Whether these are the best
methods for those chocolates I don't know, but they suit me.

I found that the hard thing was not tempering the chocolate, but keeping it
in temper while I dipped. I used to go through all sorts of contortions with
simmering water and heating pads and thermometers. That's why I bought the
machine.
--
Janet

Dear Artemesia! Poetry's a Sna/Bedlam has many Mansions:have a
ca/ Your Muse diverts you, makes the Reader sad:/ You think your
self inspir'd; He thinks you mad.

SC wrote:
> I have been researching tempering techniques and wanted to ask some of
> the experts here (Alex :-) ) what your favorite (and most reliable for
> results) way is.
>
> The seeing technique sounds so much easier than the scraping
> (mulching?) method. If the scraping way is better, can you give me
> some pointers?
>
> Also, who sells chocolates (truffles, etc.) here? Anyone? If so, have
> you any advice?
>
> Thanks.
>
> SC
>
The easiest way is a tempering machine. I have a revolation II by
Chocovision and it takes less time. I suspect the only time a
professional chef uses the the marble is in competitions where it is
required.

I sell truffles to coworkers and what not to pay for my chocolate so I
can keep experimenting.