Tempering chocolate

by Laura
(Chicago, Il. USA)

Here's an excellent question from Laura in Chicago, Illinois. She asks...

Do you have to use tempered chocolate when it is just tempered, while still melted? Or can you let the tempered chocolate set and use it a week later? Will you have to retemper it or can you just melt it and use it?

Answer:No, you don't have to use your tempered chocolate right away. You can store it in a cool place(at about 65 degrees)for a few months.

You can then melt it and use it again. BUT you need to be very careful reheating the tempered chocolate. If you raise the temperature too high, around 91 degrees or so, it may lose temper.

Then you would need to redo the tempering process.
So reheat slowly and carefully to avoid the extra work!

Hope that answers your questions.

I don't temper my own chocolate so I'm no expert on the subject.

So if you need more technical advice, I suggest you go to Cooking For Engineers. The owner of this site does temper his own chocolate.

At the bottom of his tempering chocolate page you'll find a link to post a comment or ask a question.

Good luck with your chocolate project!

Thanks, Laura, for taking the time to ask a question. I'm sure many others will learn from it.

Please feel free to come back anytime and ask another!