Too Dry for Tempering?

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Stern on January 27, 2012 at 12:29pm

Humidity shouldn't really affect your tempering process. I work at 10,000 feet here in Quito with probably 40% or lower humidity much of the time and never had an issue. 

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Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on January 27, 2012 at 12:37pm

Jasmine -

Not sure if you mentioned this before, but what kinds of machines are you using for tempering and what exactly are the symptoms (visual and otherwise) of the temper being off.

I have to agree with Jeff about low humidity, as chocolate is not supposed to have any water in it anyway. The only issues I have ever seen with humidity is when it's too high, and the chocolate, being hygroscopic, absorbs moisture and thickens making it difficult to work with.

Another issue - I suppose theoretically - is that you're not melting out all the crystals before starting to cool the chocolate down. This would result in "bad" (unwanted) crystals still being in the chocolate, forcing improper crystal structure. When you warm the chocolate up, to what temperature and how long do you keep it there before starting to cool it down?

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Permalink Reply by Jasmine Mead on January 27, 2012 at 12:41pm

Oops, sorry about that.

I'm using ChocoVision Revolation X3210, and Noel and Callebaut chocolates. After going though the tempering process, the chocolate has shiny streaks as well as whiteish streaks and spots.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on January 27, 2012 at 12:51pm

A couple of things suggest themselves as this sounds like it might be inconsistent distribution of crystals in the chocolate.

1) Keep the chocolate at the melted point for a while longer, 10 minutes? before starting the cool-down part of the cycle (when you add the seed chocolate). This will help to ensure that the chocolate is completely melted. Remember, the temperature is only being measure where the little sensor probe is located. Waiting a while will make sure that the chocolate is a more even temperature and that the crystals are all melted out.

2) When the temper cycle is over, do two things: a) stir the chocolate a bit to mix it, evening out the temperature and spreading the crystals around; and then b) wait a while before starting to use the chocolate - remember, the temperature sensor measures the temperature in only one place.

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