Tempering chocolate is important because it determines the final gloss, hardness, and contraction of the chocolate. So what is there to learn about tempering that could possibly take over 2 hours to show? When melted chocolate returns to solid form, the cocoa butter in the chocolate forms a crystal structure. The neat thing about cocoa butter is that the crystal structure it takes on depends on the temperature at which the crystals are formed. This program will take the mystery (and terror!) out of tempering chocolate. Chocolate Man Bill Fredericks starts off with an introduction to the cocoa pod, where it comes from, how it's harvested, processed, the resulting nibs in their purest form and what happens when the cocoa butter is extracted from the nibs. Next learn about several indirect methods for melting chocolate (double boiler, warming plate, microwave), whether the chocolate starts in blocks, discs, morsels, buttons, batons, chips, callets, rondos, pistoles, ribbons, chunks etc... it all needs to be melted before it can be gradually cooled to optimum working temperature. Above all, learn how to be in "good temper". No, this doesn't mean your mental state of mind, but getting the chocolate in the correct crystalline structure to accomplish what you want to do with it! Learn how to perform four different tempering methods... Slab, Seed, Stick Blender & Mycryo to create all sorts of detectible treats such as Tulip Cups, Fruit & Nut Bark, Dipped Apricots & Strawberries and Molded Chocolates. Bill explains the science behind chocolate and how temperature and other factors contribute to chocolate's texture and appearance during melting and cooling. He also shows how to keep the working area sanitary so all the left over chocolate can be reused again.
