It takes grown-ups to resist a lot of temptations but when it comes to chocolates, even these so-called “grown-ups” can fail. For who can resist such enticing and fine qualities like luster, creaminess, and velvet smoothness? Chocolate even comes in three irresistible types:
- Dark, semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolates - with cocoa butter, chocolate liquor and a small quantity of sugar. People who like bitter chocolates add more cocoa solids to this; some people would add vanilla.
- Milk chocolate has milk added besides the cocoa butter and chocolate liquor.
- White chocolates don’t have cocoa liquor that’s why it may not be chocolate at all, but it does have cocoa butter besides the vanilla and sugar.
All three needs tempering because of the cocoa butter which, if not done, result in chocolates that’s not heat-resistant, smooth, shiny and crisp; and blooming becomes a reality.
Tempering by hand is done in three steps: heating, cooling and reheating. A double boiler or an electric skillet is used to melt chocolate; a calibrated or digital thermometer for close monitoring of specific temperatures; and a rubber spatula for folding chocolate. What you need is a lot of patience to accurately maintain specific temperatures during tempering, molding and dipping because even a small deviation will spoil tempers. Further, over-mixing and under-mixing should also be avoided to prevent separation of fats and to get more of type V crystals.
For small quantities of chocolates, counter-top tempering machines are quite handy. The advantage of automating tempering is that you get consistently good chocolates, as well as the fact that costs are reduced to a great extent.
You do have to take into consideration the number of persons who will be using the machine, for how many hours these will be used daily and also your budget before you buy a machine.
For novices and small producers, ChocoVision’s Revolation 1 is able to temper 1.5 pounds at a time with separate settings for various types of chocolates.
Quiet and continuous production necessitates use of an ACMC Tabletop Temperer which has a digital thermometer included as well as a detachable 5-quart stainless steel bowl. It can work 6 pounds of chocolates per hour. There are a couple of 100-watt lamps for generating heat. It also has front control panels and digital displays for monitoring temperatures and operations.
Revolation 2 and Rev 1 are alike in respect of their capacity, dimension and other basic features but Rev 2 is highly suitable for more experienced chocolatiers. Additionally, you have features like an adjustable digital thermometer display and process-pausing option. It also has an overnight standby mode for keeping the chocolates tempered until the next day of work.
Up to 10 pounds of chocolates per hour can be tempered with a Revolation x3210, the more heavy duty countertop temperer, which comes with a stainless steel body. Pausing option and overnight standby mode are available in this also.