Tempering Chocolate

To achieve the desired high gloss and hard, brittle texture, and to make the chocolate more resistant to warm temperatures, it is necessary to temper it. The cocoa butter in chocolate consists of many fat groups with melting points that vary between approximately 60° and 110°F(16° and 43°C). Cocoa butter actually melts a few degrees below this, but we warm it slightly higher to make sure. The fats that melt at the higher temperature are also the first ones to solidify as the melted chocolate cools. These fats, when distributed throughout, are what give the chocolate its gloss and solidity (a properly tempered chocolate should break with a crisp snap). One might say that these high-melting-point fats act as a starting point around which the remaining chocolate solidifies.