Temperature adjustment is the final step in the production, and it has a major impact on the consumer ’s final chocolate experience. Have you ever eaten a very crispy chocolate row with an opaque white film on the outside? The reason for this is either that the temperature adjustment is not done well, or there is a problem with the raw materials.



To understand the root cause of this problem, you need to understand some of the fat in chocolate. Cocoa butter accounts for 48% and 57% of the weight of cocoa beans. It is the substance that makes chocolate insoluble in the hands (solid at room temperature) and only soluble in the mouth (began to melt at body temperature). Put a piece of chocolate on your tongue and feel that it slowly melts in your mouth. This is the most attractive quality of chocolate, and all of this is due to cocoa butter...



Cocoa butter is polycrystalline, which means that under different solidification conditions, it will form different types of crystals, which can be either stable or unstable. Stable crystals are closely arranged and Perfume box packaging their melting points are higher than unstable crystals. We must properly temper the chocolate to ensure that when you taste it, it still has a smooth appearance and a soft inside...



Cocoa butter is polymorphic and is considered to have 5 different crystal forms:

1. The y (Gamma) type is formed by rapid cooling at a low temperature. It is a very unstable crystal form with a melting point of about 17.

2. A (Alpha) type, y type can quickly evolve into a type, its melting point is between 2124, but it slowly changes to B 'crystal type.

3. B '(Betaprime), which has two crystal forms of B' 1 and B '2, the melting point of crystal form B' 2 is between 2729.

4. Form B, its melting point is about 33. The B 'crystal form slowly changes to the B crystal form.

5. Type B is the most stable crystal form with a melting point of about 3435.



In addition, some people think that cocoa butter crystals have 6 crystal types, represented by the number 16, the melting points of these 6 crystal types are: 17.3, 23.3, 25.5, 26.5, 33.8, 36.4. The 14 crystal types and the above 5 crystals Type 14 is basically the same, all of which are unstable crystal forms, and the difference is that the fifth type B crystal is the most stable crystal type with normal temperature regulation, and will slowly change into the more stable sixth crystal during storage type.



Adjusting the temperature is to ensure that the cocoa butter and cocoa butter form the most stable crystal form, and then cool it properly to make the chocolate produce a good gloss and long-term whitening.





 



1. Melt the chocolate completely 2. Cool to the temperature of crystallization 3. Produce crystals 4. Melt out unstable crystals.





During the tempering phase, the chocolate is heated, cooled and gently reheated to a precise temperature to obtain stable crystals of cocoa butter. In this way, you can get a mirror-like shiny appearance when it solidifies, and the entrance feels just right, visit and when you break the chocolate row, you can still hear the crisp sound...



In actual production, the temperature of the refined chocolate is generally above 45, and the temperature of the chocolate kept in the holding tank is also between 4045, and there is no longer any crystallization of fat. Therefore, the first stage of temperature adjustment is to remove the sensitive heat that affects the crystallization of the fat, that is, to cool the chocolate material from 4050 to 32 by cooling. In the second stage of temperature adjustment, the material continues to cool from 32 to about 27, and the oil begins to form a stable B crystal and an unstable B 'crystal. The third stage of temperature regulation is the final stage of temperature regulation, also known as temperature. During the recovery phase, the temperature of the material rises from 27 to 3032. The purpose of the recovery is to melt the unstable B 'crystal form repeatedly by heating, leaving the most stable B crystal form.



Different chocolates have different temperature adjustments



 

Melting temperature

Cooling temperature

Adjust temperature

Cooling temperature after reverse molding

Storage temperature



dark chocolate

5055

2728

3132

1018

1820



Milk chocolate

4550

2627

2930

1018

1820



White chocolate

4045

2526

2829

1018

1820





 



After the chocolate sauce is properly adjusted in temperature, it must be molded immediately, and then cooled to make its structure fixed and transformed into a stable solid state.





After the temperature is adjusted, the chocolate can be cast,





The picture on the left is the machine pouring into the mold in industrial production

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The picture on the right is a manual pouring into the mold.





Hand pouring into the mold is not as precise as the machine, so you need to scrape the excess sauce...



After cooling, it can be demolded into a beautiful piece of chocolate...





A piece of chocolate is born, and then it can be presented in front of consumers after packaging...

Of course, if you want to make truffle chocolate or beautiful fancy sandwich chocolate and other chocolate desserts, the process can be much more complicated. Our own gourmet food channel has detailed production tutorials.