Tempering Chocolate: 101

Authored on September 4, 2014 by Colts Chocolates

Chocolate 101

The heat is on! In this Music City we call Nashville, we’ve recently been having some of the hottest temperatures of the year. Ugh! You would think most folks would not be buying chocolate, but you would be wrong. We’ve been very busy at our little chocolate factory! We have started production for our big project customers for their holiday catalogs and their stores across the country. Christmas in August! In the business of manufacturing those wonderful holiday treats, we begin making now what you will be enjoying later. When Christmas is the last thing on your mind as you lay on the beach or are floating in your swimming pool, we are hard at work to provide you with the sweetest, most delicious joys of the holidays! And we can do this in July, August, and September because… here’s the secret… TEMPERING. When pure chocolate is tempered correctly, it has a super long shelf life.

It took years for me to learn and teach our production managers how to temper chocolate. It’s a complicated chemistry of heating and cooling the chocolate, reaching specific temperatures to destroy certain crystals, then bringing back the good crystals so you end up with a shiny chocolate that has a snap when you break it and a good, long life! As hard as it was to perfect this process (you can do it at home in your microwave with very small amounts of chocolate), when you are working with 1000 lbs of chocolate at a time it takes some practice and skill. But… it is such a joy to see the finished product. It shines like a mirror and is as smooth as glass! 

Here’s our shiny, tempered chocolate on its way to becoming our award-winning Colts Bolts! Isn’t it beautiful?!

If you love beautiful chocolate, you should try this at home. It’s much easier to temper chocolate in small amounts. Here’s a proven recipe: Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries from one of my favorite people… Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Love her!

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

Ingredients
175 grams (6 ounces) dark chocolate
12 long-stemmed strawberries

Directions
To make tempered chocolate, chop the chocolate into pieces and place 3/4 of it in a small glass bowl in a microwave for 20 seconds exactly. Stir the chocolate and continue to microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth and shiny. Add the remaining 1/4 of the chocolate and stir until smooth. The chocolate should register 87 to 89 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Dip each strawberry into the tempered chocolate and place on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Refrigerate for 2 minutes to set.

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

Ingredients
175 grams (6 ounces) dark chocolate
12 long-stemmed strawberries

Directions
To make tempered chocolate, chop the chocolate into pieces and place 3/4 of it in a small glass bowl in a microwave for 20 seconds exactly. Stir the chocolate and continue to microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth and shiny. Add the remaining 1/4 of the chocolate and stir until smooth. The chocolate should register 87 to 89 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Dip each strawberry into the tempered chocolate and place on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Refrigerate for 2 minutes to set.