Marble Tempering

Marble chocolate tempering is a technique used to stabilize the cocoa butter in chocolate, in order to obtain a glossy and crisp final product. Here is how to proceed:

Ingredients

• High-quality dark, milk, or white chocolate (the amount depends on how much you need)

Required Equipment:

• A marble slab or a very cold surface
• A spatula
• A food thermometer

Preparation

1. Chop the chocolate into uniform pieces to ensure even melting.
2. Melt about 2/3 of the chocolate in a double boiler, being careful not to exceed 50-55 °C for dark chocolate, 45-50 °C for milk chocolate, and 40-45 °C for white chocolate.
3. Once the temperature is reached, remove the chocolate from the double boiler and dry the bottom of the bowl to eliminate any trace of water.
4. Pour the melted chocolate onto the cold marble slab.
5. Start moving the chocolate on the slab with the spatula, spreading and gathering it, to lower its temperature. Dark chocolate should cool to about 28-29 °C, milk chocolate to 27-28 °C, and white chocolate to 26-27 °C.
6. Put the chocolate back into the bowl and add the remaining unmelted chocolate, stirring until it is completely melted. This step is to raise the temperature: dark chocolate should reach 31-32 °C, milk chocolate 30-31 °C, and white chocolate 29-30 °C.
7. Now the chocolate is properly tempered and ready to be used to coat sweets, make decorations or to be poured into molds.

Curiosity

Chocolate tempering is essential to obtain products that retain a desired shine and consistency. The crystallization of the cocoa butter is organized in such a way as to give the chocolate that characteristic “snap” when bitten and to prevent the chocolate from melting easily on touch.

Remember that tempering requires practice and a certain degree of manual skill, so do not be discouraged if you do not succeed on the first try!