How tempering can make or break a good chocolate
Generally it takes years of experience, talent, good background in confectionery and pastries to master the art of working with chocolate. Master Chocolatiers like Kees Beyers have earned their title – having perfected the skill of creating exquisite and intricately-crafted pieces of chocolate art.
Our very own Master Chocolatier at Beyers Chocolates, Kees Beyers himself, says that “the creation of every Beyers truffle, slab and chocolate bar involves immense skill and care. To achieve characteristics like glossiness or ‘snap’, which is the way chocolate breaks, we put the chocolate through a heating and cooling process known as tempering.”
Tempering involves heating the chocolate at around 30-32 °C, for specific periods of time and then cooling it and working with it in alternating segments.
Specific chocolate attributes like mouth feel, snap, colour, dullness and shine are the result of the cocoa butter in chocolate crystallising during the melting and tempering process.
Beyers has enormous passion for the complexity and creativity that accompany working with chocolate, “Pouring the liquid chocolate into a mold, waiting for it to harden, and then seeing those perfect shapes and designs emerge is a never-ending thrill for me.” Says Kees Beyers
It requires a steady hand and a brave heart to work with chocolate and also chocolatiers who specialise in sculpting, or the creation of three-dimensional chocolate artworks, are deeply admired.
Next time you bite into a delicious Beyers chocolate, think about all the work and passion it has taken to get from the tree to your taste buds in its delicious form.
