Chocolate: French Tempering and Ganache

Overview

Chocolate tempering — the process of melting chocolate and then re-crystallising the cocoa butter into the specific Type V crystal form through a specific temperature progression — is the fundamental technique of French confiserie. Untempered chocolate is dull, soft, and blooms. Tempered chocolate is glossy, snaps cleanly, melts at the correct temperature, and contracts from the mold.

Key Principles

- **Why tempering is needed:** Cocoa butter can form six different crystal polymorphs (Types I–VI). Only Type V (the beta-2 crystal) produces the correct texture and appearance. The tempering process selectively grows Type V crystals.

- **The temperature progression for dark chocolate:**

1. Melt to 50–55°C (all crystals melt)

2. Cool to 27°C (Type V and some Type VI crystals form)

3. Reheat to 31–32°C (Type VI crystals melt; only Type V remains)

— [VERIFY] Robuchon's specific temperature points.

- **Ganache:** Cream heated to just below boiling poured over chopped chocolate — the cream's heat melts the chocolate; the emulsification of the cream's fat and the chocolate's fat produces the smooth, pourable ganache. The ratio: 1:1 cream to chocolate for a standard ganache; 1:2 for a firmer ganache for truffles; 2:1 for a pouring sauce.

Source

The Complete Robuchon