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DECEMBER. 2020 | VOL. 12
Step 7: Conching Step: Tempering
This is a crucial stage of chocolate making. Tempering controls the crystals so only
Even if perfectly ground and blended, the consistently small crystals (good
product that emerges from the mill does not crystals) are produced, giving us much
yet deserve to be called chocolate. Conching better-quality chocolate. It means
is a process of intense mixing, agitating, and specially treating melted chocolate so
aerating of heated liquid chocolate in that it dries to a hard, shiny finish.
machines called conches. Conching can last Tempering chocolate isn't hard to do,
as long as three days. It eliminates any off- but it is a bit of a delicate procedure.
flavours and unwanted bitter substances that
may be still present. The longer a chocolate is If you would like to find out
conched, the finer and mellower it will be but more from David head to:
if it gets smaller than 16 microns it will start to
taste sludgy. The conched chocolate is then www.coeurdexocolat.com
cooled down and goes through the final david@coeurdexocolat.com
stage, tempering which I cover in detail
further on.
