2

I tempered a few bars of chocolate yesterday and it was a successful experience. Then I stored the remaining in the fridge. If I liquefy it, is it tempered chocolate and can be used as desired or should I do it all again?

Gigili
  • 1,783
  • 19
  • 41
  • 69

2 Answers2

3

If you melt tempered chocolate it loses it's tempering completely and you'll need to do it all again. There's no point in pre-tempering chocolate for storage as there's no benefit if you're going to melt and re-use it.

GdD
  • 74,019
  • 3
  • 128
  • 240
  • 2
    If you melt it fully this is true, but you can melt it very gently so that most of it never goes above the right temperature, can't you? – Cascabel Sep 03 '14 at 13:42
  • @Jefromi but the degree of finesse and control to achieve that is very hard. I tried a lot, all the times it de-tempered. – Mindwin Remember Monica Sep 03 '14 at 20:34
2

It is certainly safer to re-temper chocolate, but it is possible to melt chocolate without letting it go 'out of temper'. The typical upper bound for working with tempered chocolate is 90 F (32 C) for dark chocolate. Using a double-boiler (or an improvised equivalent), it is possible to melt chocolate to a workable state without going over this temperature.

The short answer is likely that, in many cases, it will be easier to re-temper the chocolate than to protect it from higher temperatures during the melting process.

As a side note, a cool, dark place is a preferable storage environment for tempered chocolate. The fridge's humidity may cause it to bloom (develop light patches or spots due to fat separation).

Computerish
  • 2,255
  • 1
  • 17
  • 20