at home. The freshly melted chocolate and its smell is something that brightens up your mood and lifts your spirits to get through the day.
However, with profound experiences of perfecting recipes, there comes a huge gap dedicated to unavoidable mistakes, seized chocolates being one of them – and that is what today’s blog is about.
At Melt, our expert chocolatiers have shared their words of wisdom; their outlook and a few useful ways to fix seized chocolate and of course, how you can avoid it in the first place.
Let’s look at it!
What is Seized Chocolate?
If you’ve noticed the quickness with which the chocolate melts if left out in the sun, you’ll know how sensitive this ingredient is.
Ideally, the heat required to melt white and milk chocolate is close to 110 F and for dark chocolate, the maximum you can reach is 120 F. However, once you overdo it, the chocolate begins to loose its rich and shiny texture, beginning to lump in your container. It will turn into a muddy and sludgy texture, completely unacceptable for any recipes out there.
To rescue this chocolate, you need to think on your feet by quickly bringing in measures to cool it down.
Something as simple as a drop of water can seize your melted chocolate and to regain it, a little extra fat is required, which can be procured from vegetable oil, butter or cocoa butter.
Make sure you are adding fat in small amounts, approximately 1 tablespoon for every 6 ounces and stirring constantly to make the granules disappear.
Other than this, here are some of the precise ways to fix seized chocolates.
1. Add More Chocolate
As mentioned above, the lumpy mixture is a result of overheating. To fix seized chocolate, you need to quickly cool it down to regain the original consistency.
One of the best ways to go about this is by adding more chopped chunks of chocolate to fix the seized chocolate. This ensures that the chocolate at high temperature is supported by room temperature chunks of chocolate; to retain its true melted consistency.
Pro Tip – Ideally, add ¼ cup to ½ cup of fresh cocoa buttons and stir continuously until the chunks have been well incorporated.
2. Add Oil
Consider this as a backup of the backup. This means, if adding chunks of chocolate still has no effects on the seized chocolate, you can simply add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the mixture. Although, ensure that you’re stirring it thoroughly until it’s mixed well.
Vegetable oil is extremely helpful to fix seized chocolates in two ways; firstly, it has properties that make it easier to mix well with chocolate and secondly, oil has the shine that allows chocolate to regain the silky melted texture.
3. Use Dairy
Another sure shot way to revive the original texture of the melted chocolate is by adding dairy products such as hot cream and stirring until it’s smooth again.
The resulting mixture, comparatively, will have a thinner consistency than desired and you might have to alter the recipe.
In other words, cream with chocolate will give you a chocolate ganache that can be used in multiple recipes such as lava cake or as a sauce for puddings, sundaes and so on.
Visit Melt Chocolates to Place Your Orders
We, at Melt Chocolates, have always prioritised the quality of experiences and chocolates that we offer. Having been in the industry for so long, we have come across many mistakes and have tackled them with grace.
Keeping chocolate melted is a great way to make a luscious topping for ice cream or an irresistible dip for strawberries, sugar cookies, marshmallows and chunks of pound cake. But if the chocolate hardens, you can no longer dip into it or pour it — and the magic is lost.
Add a few additional ingredients for keeping chocolate melted, so it's dippable and pourable even when it returns to room temperature.
Use Proper Chocolate Temperatures
Chocolate is only worth keeping melted if you do so properly. Chocolate that spends too much time on the heat will turn grainy and can even burn.
Dark chocolate should never exceed the temperature of 115 degrees Fahrenheit, while milk or white chocolates should remain below 110 F, according to What's Cooking America. Chocolate returns to a solid state when it reaches 65 to 70 F, which is room temperature.
Keeping Chocolate Melted
A couple of methods can be used for melting chocolate for molds or other uses. Use a microwave or double-boiler to melt the chocolate.
For the microwave, chop the chocolate into small chunks and it heat in a glass bowl on high power for 30 seconds; stir and continue to heat in 30-second intervals until it's still glossy, but liquid and smooth.
To use a double-boiler, place a glass or metal bowl snugly over the top of a pot of boiling water, as explained by the Cooperative Extension. Bring the water to a boil, turn the heat off and then place the bowl on top with the chunks of chocolate inside.
Stir continuously until the chocolate is almost melted, and then remove from the heat — the residual heat will smooth the mixture out. As explained by Princeton University, if you get any water in the melted chocolate — even a droplet — it will seize and recrystallize; the chocolate is then unworkable.
You can keep melted chocolate from returning to a solid by maintaining it at a temperature between 88 and 90 F, according to Michigan State University. This is too cool for it to burn, but isn't warm enough for it to harden.
Keep it in a metal bowl or glass serving dish set tightly over a bowl of warm water or in a warm environment, such as a toasty kitchen. When kept at this temperature, the chocolate will be warm to the tongue, but not scalding.
Create a Sauce
For chocolate to stay smooth and liquid even at cooler room temperatures, you need to create a sauce. For an easy version that's delicious over ice cream or as a dip, place 8 ounces of chopped bitter- or semisweet chocolate in a metal or glass bowl.
Heat a cup of heavy cream and 1/2 cup of light corn syrup together in a small sauce pan and then pour over the bowl of chocolate. Allow the mixture to sit for several minutes, until the chocolate bits soften considerably and whisk to incorporate.
Store in a sealable glass container for up to two weeks in the refrigerator. Use it chilled or reheat it for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave.
What can I add to chocolate that won't melt?
Reversing the reaction means adding just enough water [or other liquid] to dissolve most of the sugar and cocoa particles in the seized chocolate clumps. It's easy to do: Simply add boiling water to seized chocolate, 1 teaspoon at a time, and stir vigorously after each addition until the chocolate is smooth.
How do you post chocolate without melting it?
Metalized bubble packaging insulates your chocolates and deflects the heat. Nestling your chocolate box in ice packs keeps them below their softening point.
How do you make heat resistant chocolate?
A heat-resistant chocolate or chocolate-like composition is prepared by mixing a polyol, such as sorbitol or glycerine, with a flowable chocolate or chocolate-like composition through an increased apparent viscosity phase. Upon continued mixing, the mixture returns to a reduced apparent viscosity [fluid] phase.