you can hire a tempering machine form these guys.... http://www.chocovision.co.uk/tempering-machine-hire worth looking at before you buy and a lot easier then doing it by hand without the seeding method
Tempering Raw Chocolate
To make a solid bar, you're not going to be able to do any worthwhile tempering if there is moisture in it. Raw beans, even sun dried, still have enough water to give problems. You want to be below 1%, maybe 1.25% moisture. The roasting process is what gets the rest of the water out.
Sorry,I didn't notice that you used Agave syrup. Can you give us the whole formulation? As has been mentioned, this complicates things, so before trying to trouble-shoot tempering, I'd like to see how much moisture you likely have in the mix.
Hi Alan,I first made chocolate putting in and mixing the ingredients in the order that I described above. I then followed the steps outlined by Brad Churchill here: http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/tempering-untempered-c... . The only thing that I did differently is I initially heated the chocolate mixture (it was liquid already) to 115 F rather than 120.
Hi David,I've done the same recipe without tempering in the past. Surprisingly, the end result was better.The molten mixture is pretty runny, not thick at all.You may be right about me not having stirred enough.The order in which I put the ingredients in is as follows:cacao powder --> melted cacao butter --> agave --> vanilla & salt.
The raw cacao that I have tasted here is more like a hard ganache in texture, its no wonder you need to use so much cocoa butter with the water content of he agave syrup. It sounds super fattening (55% ccb + the ccb from the powder up to 22%. If the chocolate (can it legally be called chocolate since it is made with agave?) is mixed well - like a ganache it could be tabled like ganache before being cooled. But this is still not really tempering.
What do you mean by: "tried to temper raw chocolate at 115 F today?"Chocolate will not be tempered at 115 F. Can you explain the exact process that you used? It will then be easy to trouble shoot that way.
Olga,You should not need to add more cacao butter than that. Have you already tried to do the same recipe without tempering? Does it end with the same leathery texture? Is the molten mixture fluid or quite thick?From what I can see either you didnt temper it properly (not stiring enough, wrong temperatures) either the moisture in agave syrup is upsetting the balance somehow (the quantity, but also the order in which you put it might be critical).
Hi David,My recipe doesn't have coconut oil, but it does have agave. Other ingredients are cacao butter, cacao powder, fresh vanilla and a pinch of Himalayan salt.Next time I will try to increase the amount of cacao butter (at the moment, it's at 55%) and see if it works.
Many raw chocolate recipes Ive seen use coconut oil, liquid sweeteners (agave, maple, honey) and additional superfood powders (mesquite, lucuma, maca, etc.)If you use any of these youll have to find the right proportions to be able to temper properly. And Im not even sure that you can temper chocolate containing coconut oil.Also liquid sweeteners are difficult to use as they tend to seize the chocolate in a thick paste (maybe the cause of the leathery texture youve got)Anyway youll definitely need a substantial amount of cacao fats in your recipe because this is what is tempered.
Well, I've tried to temper raw chocolate at 115 F today and I don't think it worked. In about an hour or so after I took the ready bar out of the fridge, it became soft, leathery and certainly wouldn't snap. It melts between fingers almost straight away.Maybe it's the recipe that I need to change? Having said that, this is the exact same recipe that one raw chocolate company uses and their chocolate is pretty good.
Here is a comment by Brad Churchill about tempering by hand without seeds. I regularly use a similar technique and Ive been quite happy with it.Heating up to 120F might be too high to fit in your raw definition though but youll probably be able to temper without going over 115F. The best is to experiment I suppose.
Hi, David,Thank you for your input.From what I read, chocolate needs to be heated to a certain temperature in order to break all types of crystals. The temperatures are quite high (don't remember the exact t though).Also, if tempering by hand, you'd need seeds, right? Where do you get seeds of tempered raw chocolate?No, I haven't tried to temper as I don't have a tempering machine yet and do not know how to temper by hand without the seeds.
Hi Olga,Yes it is possible: tempering raw chocolate is not fundamentally different than tempering roasted chocolate. Although your ingredients and recipes will surely influence the results.Have you tried it yet?
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