Tempering chocolate: why a bar shines and snaps
The simple physics of cocoa butter behind the shine, the snap and the way chocolate melts.
Cocoa butter can set in different ways. If chocolate is simply melted and cooled, it turns out dull, soft and with a grey bloom.
Tempering is controlled heating and cooling that makes the butter form the right crystals. The bar then shines, breaks cleanly and melts in the mouth rather than in the hand.
In the workshop chocolate is tempered on a marble slab or in a machine with precise temperature control. A few degrees decide the result.
