Hi everyone,

So, I'm interested in experimenting with chocolate, to see what I can do with it and if it's as interesting as I think it is.

I'd rather not spend a lot of money on expensive couverture, in case I spoil the chocolate. Can I experiment with tempering using cheaper chocolate, like Cadbury's or Galaxy? I'm wondering if the vegetable fat might be an issue.

updated by @james-p: 04/18/15 06:05:28

HI There,

you cannot temper vegetable fat based "chocolate", it doesnt work.

to temper you don't need 10 kg chocolate, but as small as 100gr.... and even if ou mess up the tempering, you just need to re-melt and start again!

"experiment" with compound chocolate will not teach you anything....

best of luck!

Antonino

Hi Antonino,

Thanks for the reply - I'll stick to non-vegetable fat chocolates for experimenting. Presumably that's the only thing that matters when choosing chocolate?

James, if there is a Trader Joe's near you, you can get pretty good quality dark chocolate for about $5/ pound. I use their pound plus bars for some things and they have worked well. They are rather thick when melted compared to a good couverture but they are an excellent price to start experimenting with! Have fun!

Hi Patti,

I'm in the UK, so there isn't a Trader Joe's nearby to me. There are some bargain shops that sell names like Lindt relatively inexpensively, though. I'll see what they have on offer.

I think for the moment, I just want to get started with tempering - I'm not fussed about making anything yet - I just want to get the tempering right before I do anything else.