cheesedicers

The following ingredients are needed for making chocolates.

For making dark chocolates, you need cocoa butter, chocolate liquor and a little sugar. Using excessive cocoa butter will make the chocolates bitter.  You can add vanilla for flavor.

For making milk chocolates, you need milk and vanilla also.

Purists opine that white chocolates are not chocolates because you do not use chocolate liquor in them though other ingredients are the same.

Tempering gives chocolates shine, velvety texture, snap and a long shelf life and makes the chocolates bloom-free and heat-resistant.    Chocolates become dull and crumbly due to non-tempering and grayish spots appear on the chocolate surfaces.

The items needed for manual tempering are a double boiler or an electric skillet, an accurate thermometer capable of measuring even low temperatures like 82.4ºF, a rubber spatula and persistence.  But for tempering large quantities, you should use a tempering machine only since uniform quality should be maintained in them.

Artisanal chocolatiers have perfect skills in manual tempering and they can temper large quantities also by hand.

Large producers use a huge machine but small and medium producers may need only a small machine.

So, what’s a tempering machine?

A tempering machine is a counter-top appliance, that electronically mixes and heats chocolates to produce type V crystals to the required level.  A computer chip is provided for maintaining accurate temperatures.  Melting, cooling and re-heating are automatically done.  Moisture problem and space constraints are overcome by using a machine for tempering.

Why you may need one

Easy maintenance of temperatures, perfect mixing, production of sufficient type V crystals and the chocolates remaining tempered for longer hours are the benefits of a tempering machine.

In tempering by hand, if you lapse in maintaining temperature, it will spoil temper.  Over-mixing will separate fats and under-mixing will prevent formation of type V crystals.  Chocolates lose temper soon.

What to consider when buying chocolate tempering machines

The number of hours for which you use the machine and number of people who will operate it and your financial allocation should be considered before the purchase of the machine.

Popular chocolate tempering machines

For the beginning candy maker

ChocoVision’s Revolation comes with separate settings for white, milk or dark chocolates.  Its capacity is to temper 1.5 pounds and this is ideal for beginners.

For executing regular orders, the quieter ACMC Tabletop Temperer with a digital temperature setting, a couple of 100-watt lamps for  heat source, front control panels, digital displays and a removable 5-quart stainless steel bowl and a capacity to temper up to six pounds of chocolate is useful.

For the intermediate user

Chocolatiers who know manual tempering already can easily shift to a tempering machine with Revolation 2.   Rev 2 is just like Rev 1 but a digital temperature display, a unique overnight standby mode and a pausing option are available on Rev 1.

For bigger production facilities

A Revolation x3210 with a microprocessor, pausing option and an overnight standby mode is ideal for tempering large quantities.