How to melt and temper chocolate

Tempering chocolate is the key for making chocolate candies. When you properly temper chocolate, when cooled, it will have a shine and will have a slight snap when broken. Also, tempered chocolate will properly shrink away from the surface of chocolate candy molds, which aids in easy removal.

Melting chocolate (Double boiler method)

1. Place a saucepan half-filled with water over medium heat and cover with a heatproof mixing bowl large enough to snugly rest on the rim of the saucepan. Bring water to a simmer.
2. Chop a block or bar of chocolate into small pieces.
3. Place about two-thirds of the chopped chocolate into the bowl.
4. Use a rubber spatula to stir occasionally until the chocolate reaches about 100°F. Make sure that the water in the pan does not boil or you may burn the chocolate.
5. Carefully remove the bowl from the pan. Stir in the remaining chocolate.

Melting chocolate (Microwave method)

1. If you would rather use a microwave to melt the chocolate, chop the chocolate into small pieces, place into a glass bowl and heat for 15 seconds and stir. Continue to heat for 15 seconds and stir until melted. Make sure the chocolate does not smoke, as this will ruin the chocolate.

Temper the chocolate

1. As the chocolate cools to a temperature of about 83°F-84°F, you will see the chocolate start to crystallize (harden) around the outside edge of the bowl. Use the rubber spatula to stir the crystallized chocolate into the melted chocolate. If the chocolate is tempered, a knife tip dipped into tempered chocolate will set with a nice shine after 60 seconds in the refrigerator.

1. Being careful not to overheat it, place the bowl of tempered chocolate over simmering water until the chocolate reaches the ideal working temperature of 88°F-90°F.

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Hello. I am Jacques Torres from Jacques Torres Chocolates for Howdini, and today I'm going to explain to you how to melt and how to temper chocolates.

First, melting. Different way of melting chocolates. You can break the chocolate in small pieces, put it on a double boiler. When you do that, be careful that the water doesn't boil too fast, because then you will burn your chocolate. So just simmering water, a bowl on top, and the chocolates. And then let the chocolate melt slowly, and stir it time to time. Stop when the temperature reaches about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Another way to do it is to cut the chocolate in small pieces, put it on a glass bowl, put it in the microwave, 15 seconds at the time on high. By doing that, the chocolate will start melting. Stir it, melting it a little bit, stirring, because if you don't do that, the chocolate comes very hot in the middle and starts smoking. And when the chocolate smokes, it's no good anymore. So be very careful with the microwave.

Also, when the glass bowl come out of the microwave, the chocolate is a melted, transfer that in a cold bowl. That will help to temper chocolates.

So, now, why tempering, and what is tempering? So, why is because if you don't temper chocolates, the chocolate will not shrink out of the mold. Chocolates, when it's right temper, it just shrink, and then you can unmold it.

Now, as you can see, a piece of chocolate here, it's very shiny. Shiny means the chocolate was at the right temperature. Also, you get a nice snap. The snap means all those molecules of fat are together. The problem when you melt chocolates is that the molecules of fat break down, and you need to create a crystallization, start a crystallization, in order to temper the chocolate.

So how to do that is, when the chocolate is melted, put a fan on it. Put it in a cool place. And then on the side, the chocolate is going to start to crystallize. So what you do, you take those crystal, and then you mix them with the core of the chocolates.

And then with a thermometer, you look at the temperature of the chocolates. When the chocolate reaches 88 to 90 degrees, it's ready to be used. Anything that you do, from lollipops, to bonbons, to hollow figure, to centerpiece, you need to temper your chocolates, and this is how.

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