You may think preparing chocolate candies is as effortless as 1-2-3. The equipment you’ll use is ubiquitous enough: double boiler, trusty thermometer, wooden spoon, candy molds, and chocolate. Heavy cream added would make ganache, base for chocolate truffles.

Preparing the candy is so easy even a seven year old can follow these steps: melt the chocolate chunks in the double boiler over slow heat, taking care to stir constantly with the wooden spoon; after the chocolate’s turned liquid, remove to the candy molds. Coat the fruits with the chocolate for fruity candies. Leave on the countertop to air dry or transfer to the freezer to harden.

It’s your trusty thermometer that’ll turn “easy” chocolate candy making into an intricate venture.

For serious hobbyists, the thermometer will be a trusty companion. Kith and kin will let pass dull, pasty chocolates but if you’re planning on marketing your chocolate treats, you’ll do well to temper your chocolate. It’s in tempering that your thermometer comes in, as a key aspect is the need to maintain your chocolate’s temperatures precise throughout, from chopping chocolate bits to shaping them. The tempered chocolate is the profitable chocolate, so to speak

Chocolate doesn’t, in reality, have the crispness and shine that it’s famous for. That’s why big manufacturers take care to temper the chocolates they sell. However, chocolate loses its temper as soon as it’s subjected to heat, the first step in making chocolate candy. This distempered state is prone to white streaks, called blooming, that appear in chocolate tops.

When tempering, you’d want to have the Type V crystals because it’s this formation that results in the luster and snap that makes chocolates addictive. But these crystals in cocoa butter multiply at six different temperatures, each structure yielding different characteristics. Furthermore, dark, semi-sweet and milk chocolates have each a tempering temperature to produce this Type Vs. To complicate things even more, Type IV crystals also thrive with the Type Vs and almost have similar characteristics only that IVs melt more easily than Vs.

Tempering by hand, for the professional chocolatiers, can be fun and doubtless there’s value in that method. In such cases, you’ll rely on accurate thermometers to mind accurate chocolate temperatures because any changes in the latter will lead to lost tempers. It can be particularly tedious if you need to switch between chocolate design and temperature monitoring often. Stint on your monitoring and you risk tempering chocolates again and again, taking the fun out of chocolate candy making.

Tedious as the manual tempering method is, there’s an even better way to temper: the load and leave method courtesy of chocolate tempering machines. All you need do is load the chocolate and let the microprocessor in the tempering machine melt, cool, and keep chocolates tempered. What’s more, you can leave chocolates overnight in the machine and still have a tempered product the morning after! Nifty. Plus you get to make consistent quality chocolate candy all the time.