Venezuelan chocolate part 1

This is a multi-part process because I must make sure the tempering works properly. It takes awhile for the chocolate to cool and harden and a little longer to bloom if they do which I hope they don't. I believe the failures from blooming result from the silicone molds themselves not being properly tempered, that is, brought to temperature before the chocolate is added. Besides, I'm not even sure about that being the cause.

Blooming is an accident of circumstance in which the butter within the chocolate transpires to the surface and settles in patches, usually the result of faulty tempering or extreme temperature changes. It does not ruin the chocolate, but it does ruin the pleasantness of the candy. The chocolate can be re-melted and the whole thing salvaged.

The point of tempering is to line up the various composite molecules like sturdy little soldiers by stroking through steady controlled temperature changes so that the chocolate snaps appealingly when broken and the candy possesses an attractive shine. Tempered chocolate tends to hold its shape better than untempered chocolate. The thing is, although the chocolate crystal formation is seeded with a bit of pre-hardened chocolate tossed into the molten mass to get it started, to suggest the chocolate's organization, so to speak, because chocolate is a complex amalgamation of molecules varying in size and shape and type and not a single molecule, it does not form into a mathematically perfect crystalline structure, like, say, quartz, so stretching the analogy, the little soldiers organize thus; tall, short, fat, skinny, sharp, fuzzy, kneeling, standing, tall, short, fat, skinny, sharp, fuzzy, kneeling, standing, tall, short, fat, skinny, sharp, fuzzy, kneeling, standing, tall, short, fat, skinny, sharp, fuzzy, kneeling, standing, etc.

My other chocolate tempering analogy is stacking chairs, but that presumes all the chairs are the same and that is not an apt analogy because it is not the case that all the chocolate molecules are the same. Now, having used these two analogies, soldiers and chairs, to convey the idea of tempering chocolate, please crumple these analogies in your mind and discard them now that they've been used for chocolate is not a regiment of soldiers and chocolate is not a closet of stacked chairs

I made the molds for the chocolates a few years ago and they're holding up very well through heavy use. I never mentioned this before but in case you're interested -- and who wouldn't be? -- to make them I carved coin-sized hieroglyphs into plaster with dental tools in the usual way I carve all my bas reliefs. Since they're carved into plaster they do not have smooth surfaces, therefore the chocolate produced from them isn't smooth either. There was a bit of back and forth between pouring silicone and pouring plaster to get them into coin shapes and to get the coins enumerated onto plates and into sets of silicone molds. Visualize the original carvings of one hieroglyph each into a sheet of plaster chipping my little heart out and kicking up a nice white cloud of chips and dust. Oven craft clay was pressed into those random carvings and repeated eight times for each hieroglyph then glued onto plaster coins made from pouring plaster into regular chocolate mint molds, rather like slug coins, both square and round. Eight of each design were then arranged eight per plate. So each plate repeats the same hieroglyph-coin eight times instead of the other option of each plate with eight different hieroglyphs. Finally, I fashioned a frame for the plates, this being the only clever bit, and poured food grade silicone over each plate for each set of eight coins. I did not know what I was doing and made quite an impressive mess of things, leakages, thin areas, uneven surfaces, etc. My first attempt worked but it worked poorly. I continue to use those silicone molds of the plates, shown below, they're flawed but I don't care. I still love them. My second attempt was better and used a different faster drying silicone, because by then I had become quite the awesome mad expert mold maker. Those molds are my favorite, although there are less of them because they used a lot more silicone so they're less useful to me. I still have the original matrices which formed the plates from which the molds were poured, but frankly, the thrill of it is gone. I keep telling myself to pick up where I left off but I never do because what I have still works fine. Although that one little piece of yellow mold pisses me off because the edge of one of the indentations is missing which means it must be treated with special care when pouring chocolate and that is a constant reminder of my ineptitude.

This is the 100% Venezuelan chocolate couverture discs, 73.5% Cacao Apamate Carenero Superior, made from the less productive type Venezuelan trees. In enological terms, it is single estate and its terrior is well known. Although adored by chocolate lovers, it is not universally loved. Supply is uncertain due to the country being presently run into the ground by a straight up maniac * looks warily over both shoulders * and it costs double the more accessible type.

I developed a rapid tempering technique that is brilliant, if I do say so myself. I have a machine but I don't much care for it because it's too slow and it's not a hands-on process and it pushes chocolate out of the bowl and for a machine it's an unnecessary mess. Plus I know what I'm doing without one. I have a marble slab too but I do not use it. The slab method is too messy, and I'm not interested in the show. I use a contrived double boiler devised from a metal bowl and a pot along with a cold bath which is chilled water in the sink. The chocolate bowl goes back and forth between them speeding up the process considerably. Smart, eh? It's convenient to realize the target temperatures are within 15° above and below body temperature, in Fahrenheit, for dark chocolate, heat the chocolate to ---> 125°, chill to ---> 83°, heat to ---> 89°. Ta daaaaaaa.

* Bows deeply, backs out of room obsequiously and servilely, salaaming elaborately *

As it turns out, each little space takes exactly one teaspoon chocolate. I managed this batch without dripping one single drop which says something about ... something.

Tomorrow, wrapping and boxing.