Basic Couveture Chocolate Rules

I may have lied a little, when I said I'd press on with the basic MallowPop.  But if you know me, you'd know that I have a mini-aversion to rubbish ingredients... If you're going to make a decent MallowPop, I think it's worth spending a little more time and money on decent ingredients.  I promise I will however post shortly using candy-melts, or something of that ilk.

Let's start with a few basic couveture chocolate rules:

• chocolate (generally) hates water - if you're going to use a bain-marie to melt your chocolate, make sure you never drop any water into the melted chocolate - it will seize the mixture
• all pre-tempered chocolate (which is generally what you'd be buying, already has tempered crystals in it.  We're not going to talk extensively about that now, just bear that in mind
• if you melt tempered chocolate to it's given range (which is usually printed on the packet!), you will not take the chocolate out of temper (that is, remove the crystals)
• even if you do take the chocolate out of temper, just add a bit more of the tempered chocolate back into it, and that will reseed the chocolate
• calm down, none of this is as complicated as it sounds
• very generally speaking, if you keep the temperature of the chocolate between 26ºC and about 38ºC, you will not have any problems
• if you're going to melt your chocolate in a microwave (which I do), make sure you only do it in 15 second busts, and check the temperature towards the end
• always microwave your chocolate in a plastic, not glass bowl, and use a plastic spoon when mixing
• an infrared / laser thermometer is an absolute god-send for checking the temperature of chocolate, as you don't have to put it into the chocolate
• always use fresh marshmallows - even marshmallows which have been out for 12 hours in an airtight box are too old - the chocolate will peel away, and the mallowpop is too dry
• by far the best thing to set chocolate onto is food-grade acetate, which is inexpensive to buy
• if you're lucky enough to have Neff warming drawer ( I adore mine), you can keep several bowls of chocolate in temper while you're working by keep them at the 1.5 setting - check the temperature again before you begin, and if over 38ºC, you can reseed them with a handful of fresh chocolate
• I've found I can actually keep chocolate in temper overnight in the warming drawer, though it's probably best to take it down the the 1 setting

Chocolate Suppliers:

Vantage House
The Chocolate Trading Company