Tempering Chocolate by Peter Greweling

The brief discussion below is not intended to teach anyone how to temper chocolate, rather, it is intended for those who already temper chocolate, but are occasionally frustrated or confounded by the process. 

I often see people, even experienced pastry professionals, having difficulty when hand-tempering smaller quantities of chocolate, say five or ten pounds. And no wonder. There is so much conflicting information and misinformation out there about the process that it seems confusing. While the physics of chocolate tempering is complex, the process itself is really quite simple.

Remember that tempering chocolate is nothing more than pre-crystallizing a small quantity (~1%) of the melted cocoa butter in the chocolate. These crystals become nucleation sites, or seeds, that cause the rest of the cocoa butter to crystallize quickly and evenly so that your chocolate sets with a smooth firm texture and without bloom.

Since most of us don’t have the benefit of a very expensive temper meter in our kitchens, we must evaluate the chocolate ourselves to determine proper temper. Regardless of the technique you are using to temper, when hand tempering chocolate, keep these three observations in mind. It is not an exaggeration to say that if you remember these three observations, what each one tells you and the order in which to implement them, you will never have any difficulty in tempering any chocolate. Be sure to make these three obervations in this exact order.

Observation 1: Temper test. Tells you if your chocolate is underseeded.

• As you are tempering by your chosen method, when you think the chocolate potentially could be ready, dip a palette knife into the chocolate and observe how it sets. Dark chocolate should set within about seven minutes and be free of streaks or grainy texture, htough milk and white chocolate should take a little longer. If it doesn’t set within that time, if it has streaks or if it has a grainy texture, the chocolate is underseeded. Any problem with the temper test is due to underseeding* and indicates that you need to create more seed. If you are using pistoles, add more. If you are tabling, table a bit more. Regardless of technique, you need more crystals. Do not warm the chocolate if there are problems on the temper test. You will only melt the already insufficient crystals, making the problem worse. Once the test sets properly, and only then, proceed to observation 2.

Observation 2: Viscosity. Tells you if your chocolate is overseeded.

• Once you are sure your chocolate is not underseeded, as explained above, now it is time to make sure you did not create too many seed crystals, as often happens.  Evaluating viscosity takes practice and varies with every chocolate. To evaluate, before you begin to temper the fully melted chocolate, pick it up with your paddle, hold the paddle six-to-eight inches above the surface of the melted chocolate and observe how it lands on the surface of the chocolate. Does it pile up on the surface? How much? Does it go flat? How quickly? These vary greatly from chocolate to chocolate, but when your chocolate is properly tempered, only ~1% of the cocoa butter is in crystal form, so the viscosity of properly tempered chocolate should not be significantly higher than the melted untempered chocolate. This takes practice. If the tempered chocolate is decidedly thicker than the melted untempered, you have created too many crystals, and it is overseeded. You need to melt some crystals out very carefully, while still leaving enough to seed the chocolate properly. Once the viscosity is correct, proceed to observation 3.

Observation 3: Temperature. Tells you if you are creating stable cocoa butter crystals.

• Once you are sure your chocolate is not underseeded (from the temper test), and not overseeded (from the viscosity), now it is time to use your thermometer. A thermometer is an important tool, not for tempering chocolate, but for working with the chocolate once it is tempered. Proper temperature tells you nothing about either the presence or absence of cocoa butter crystals, we determine those by making observations 1 and 2. It is, however, important to work with your tempered chocolate at the optimum temperature in order to create stable cocoa butter crystals for optimum shine, snap and shelf life. For dark chocolate, the optimum working temperature is very close to 90F. (32C.). For milk or white chocolate, the optimum temperature is very close to 87F. (30C.). If the temperature is low, carefully warm it to the proper working temperature. When the third and final observation, temperature, is correct, the chocolate is ready to use.

Do not think about viscosity until the temper test sets properly. Do not think about temperature until both the temper test and the viscosity are right. I guarantee that remembering and abiding by these simple steps will save you time and frustration whenever you work with chocolate.

* There is a very rare exception to this. Under extreme circumstances, overseeding can cause bloom on a test due to the latent heat of crystallization. But if you are watching the chocolate as you work with it, you should not encounter this problem.

Peter Greweling is a Professor of Baking and Pastry Arts at the Culinary Institute of America

(This article appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)