chocolate-covered strawberries

[delirium]

I need some tips on making chocolate-covered strawberries!

When they came out, the chocolate layer was often not hard or at least not completely solid.

I think this was due to keeping them in the fridge the whole time, and I've read to only keep them in the fridge temporarily to harden.

 

[nootje]

Came out? I usually make them by melting the chocolate au bain marie, dipping cold strawberries into them and perhaps sprinkle them with sugar. The cold strawberrie should be enough to harden te chocolate..

 

[delirium]

When I took them out of the fridge, they were not completely solid.

 

[nootje]

Probably the kind of chocolate you use, the less pure chocolate becomes the lower the melting point i believe..

 

[Lady Canuker]

Were the strawberries dry? I find if there is any water remaining on them from washing the chocolate will go funny and won't set.

 

[why]

If they're for you, that's gay.

 

[kwilkinson]

To et good chocolate-covered strawberries, there's a lot more involved than just melting the chocolate and then dipping something into it.

You've got to temper the chocolate, rather than melt it. Rather than getting into the molecular **** behind it (I'm sure you could wiki or google it if you're interested), i'll keep it short and say that chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is a fat that forms crystals. Tempering chocolate is the process of breaking up these randomly sized crystals and getting all the crystals to a uniform size. Tempering chocolate is the only way to get a crunch and a snap out of chocolate. If you just melt it and then dip it, you'll develop streaky chocolate that will be dull.


Anyway, Here is a pretty simply guide to tempering chocolate.


Good luck and happy dipping.

 

[Go Surface]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

To et good chocolate-covered strawberries, there's a lot more involved than just melting the chocolate and then dipping something into it.

You've got to temper the chocolate, rather than melt it. Rather than getting into the molecular **** behind it (I'm sure you could wiki or google it if you're interested), i'll keep it short and say that chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is a fat that forms crystals. Tempering chocolate is the process of breaking up these randomly sized crystals and getting all the crystals to a uniform size. Tempering chocolate is the only way to get a crunch and a snap out of chocolate. If you just melt it and then dip it, you'll develop streaky chocolate that will be dull.


Anyway, Here is a pretty simply guide to tempering chocolate.


Good luck and happy dipping.

The smartsiest, everest.

 

[MCsommerreid]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

You've got to temper the chocolate, rather than melt it. Rather than getting into the molecular **** behind it (I'm sure you could wiki or google it if you're interested), i'll keep it short and say that chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is a fat that forms crystals. Tempering chocolate is the process of breaking up these randomly sized crystals and getting all the crystals to a uniform size. Tempering chocolate is the only way to get a crunch and a snap out of chocolate. If you just melt it and then dip it, you'll develop streaky chocolate that will be dull.

Really don't have it too bad when you're working with pre-made chocolate, since those specific temperatures for crystal formation have already been reached.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by MCsommerreid

Really don't have it too bad when you're working with pre-made chocolate, since those specific temperatures for crystal formation have already been reached.

Yeah, you buy chocolate tempered. The problem is, when you melt the chocolate to do the dipping, you mess with the tempering and it causes the crystals to reform, so you have the same problem you would have had if you used non-tempered chocolate.

 

[delirium]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

Yeah, you buy chocolate tempered. The problem is, when you melt the chocolate to do the dipping, you mess with the tempering and it causes the crystals to reform, so you have the same problem you would have had if you used non-tempered chocolate.

Thanks, I did read about tempering.

How can one tell if the chocolate is correctly tempered?

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by delirium

Thanks, I did read about tempering.

How can one tell if the chocolate is correctly tempered?

Really experienced people (read, not me) can tell from the looks. Your best bet is probably to dip a little bit of parchment paper in it and give it 5-8 minutes to set, then see if the dried chocolate on the wax paper is the consistency/glossiness/as snappable you'd want it on your strawberries.

 

[delirium]

so the chocolate had a good evenness and consistency, so it should've just been tempered more?

 

[Casey]

I just bought a box of melting chocolate for an occasion once and the chocolate hardens in a minute or two without needing refrigeration. I don't know what Ghirardelli did to the chocolate but it's an easy way out.

 

[lazar89]

Here is a guide how to make a successful batch of chocolate-dipped straberries.