Investigating the Origins of Your Easter Egg littering
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Learn how to achieve a glossy, smooth, and tempered chocolate at home using the seeding method. This technique, suitable for home bakers, ensures your chocolate sets perfectly every time.
To start, gather your chopped chocolate and a double boiler or microwave. The working temperatures for dark, milk, and white chocolate are as follows:
- Dark chocolate: 31–32°C
- Milk chocolate: 30–31°C
- White chocolate: 29–30°C
Melt about two-thirds of your chocolate gently over a double boiler or in short bursts in the microwave until it reaches the melting temperature:
- Dark chocolate: 45–50°C
- Milk chocolate: 40–45°C
- White chocolate: 38–45°C
Remove from heat and add the remaining one-third of chopped chocolate (the "seed"). Stir constantly to cool and encourage crystal formation in the cocoa butter. Continue stirring until the chocolate cools to the working temperature.
If needed, gently warm the chocolate a bit to maintain the working temperature and keep it tempered for use. This method works because the seed chocolate contains stable cocoa butter crystals that guide the larger batch into a glossy, firm, and smooth tempered state.
Temperature control is critical throughout the process to ensure proper crystallization without overheating or undercooling. If blooming occurs (discoloured grey casting, streaks, and spots in the chocolate), you can remelt the chocolate and start the process all over again.
For those interested in more, there's an exhibition called 'Visit Robots' at the Museum until 3 September 2017, with late night openings every Friday until 22.00. Sign up to the Museum's email newsletter to keep up to date with what's happening. The 'seeding' method is a simpler way to temper chocolate at home, making it accessible for all chocolate enthusiasts.
[1] "Tempering Chocolate: The Seeding Method." Fine Cooking. https://www.finecooking.com/article/tempering-chocolate-the-seeding-method [2] "How to Temper Chocolate." BBC Good Food. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-temper-chocolate [5] "The Science of Chocolate: Tempering." The Spruce Eats. https://www.thespruceeats.com/chocolate-tempering-science-3037684
- Adopting the seeding method for chocolate tempering not only provides home bakers with a practical solution to set their chocolate perfectly, but it also opens up the world of diverse recipes in health-and-wellness, food-and-drink, and lifestyle.
- With the knowledge of temperature control gained from understanding the seeding method, one could easily apply this science to various areas, such as cooking and nutrition.
- As you engage in the art of cooking and experimenting with food-and-drink, mastering the seeding method of chocolate tempering offers an advantage in creating delicious, tempered chocolate-based desserts that are part of a balanced diet ensuring good health-and-wellness and fitness-and-exercise.
- While exploring health-and-wellness, food-and-drink, fitness-and-exercise, and lifestyle, sometimes it's nice to take a break and indulge in something sweet, like a perfectly tempered dark or milk chocolate treat, all made possible with the seeding method.
