Gunnaknow: a belated thanks for your links and e-mails: Not quite what I was after however, and as you can see above I have had a good result!

http://tayloredtreats.bizland.com/id7.html
http://tayloredtreats.bizland.com/id14.html

http://www.homestylechocolates.co.nz/moulds_index.html

-Zero is where truth begins. Didn't you know? You can't say it wasn't obvious.-

James

-Zero is where truth begins. Didn't you know? You can't say it wasn't obvious.-

I had already discovered the Valrhona range at Truffle, but the other sources are all new to me. Must visit La Cigale when I'm up there next!

I had a look at the Resotec website: Their moulds look a little pricey for what they are ($70 vs $35ish for the ChocolateWorld ones). I will follow up my order with PTL in the new year and let you know how I get on.

It was bitterly cold down here in the weekend, but seems to have cleared up now!

Have a nice Xmas

Stu

But to suggest a reason for those not as faint-hearted as me, I don't see any good reason to use microwave (except time for time, maybe). It does not sound easier at all. As I mentioned earlier, it is very easy to place a bowl of chopped chocolate over a pan of simmering water and leave it there (do not stir) until melted. I never fail on this, and the chocolate does not require my attention during the procedure.

Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don't need an appointment.

Martin Christy
Editor
http://www.seventypercent.com

Nice to see another New Zealander here!

At the moment I am just a keen amateur. I don't work in the food industry at all right now (I'm actually an Engineer) but I have long term plans for a career change in that direction.

I'm only after 2-3 moulds initially. I have been in contact with PTL in Auckland (www.ptl.co.nz), who are the agents for ChocolateWorld, but because of the very small quantities involved they can only get them if somebody else in NZ places a large order. Have been waiting 4 months so far, so am certainly keen to find any alternative sources!

Stu

P.S. Does anyone in AK sell Bonnat? I used to be able to get it down here but they've stopped selling it.

This is my first post! I just came across this topic and thought I might be able to help as I was in Kyle's position a few months ago (i.e. a chocolate nut who wanted to learn to temper)

To the above comments, I would just like to add that tempering choclate by hand (dbl boiler + Marble slab) is not at all difficult, even for a beginner. My very first attempt was a bit of a failure, but the second one was really good and I have been happily tempering ever since. If you screw up one attempt, just re-melt it and try again.

It is useful to understand exactly what is going on in the chocolate during tempering. Have a look at this article from Scharffen Berger, which gives a very good "how to" as well: http://www.scharffenberger.com/article_info.php?articles_id=58&template_file=chochealth.php

As long as you follow the instructions carefully and watch your temperature ranges, you should have no problem!

The only issue that I have run up against is that I can't get my hands on decent moulds (JKV or ChocolateWorld)! There don't seem to any available in New Zealand, and the shipping costs for importing a small number of moulds (2-3) direct from the factory are prohibitive.

Regards

Stu

For ease of tempering, I've not seen anyone here suggest using a microwave. It's really very easy, and all you really need is, well, a microwave, a plastic bowl, and an accurate thermometer (very important, and probably the one thing most home owners don't own). If you want to do this, you can be a digital thermometer from most scientific supply houses that's accurate to 0.5 degrees, w hich may seem awfully small, but when it comes to tempering, a variation as small as 1 degree can mean the difference between success and failure.

What you do is break your already tempered, solid chocolate that you've purchased into the bowl, setting perhaps 10% of it aside should we need it later (it will come to you tempered, but in order to melt it and form it in a way that it doesn't look bad or melt as soon as you pick it up, you have to specially handle it). Melt it at 20 second intervals, taking it out and stirring each time. When it begins to melt, use your thermometer to make sure that the temperature doesn't go above 91F. it should be fluid and pourable in the 88-91F range, and if there are some small lumps in it, continue to stir it until they melt out. If you go above 91F, you're going to 'lose your temper', which is a bad thing, but you can recover by adding in shavings of that 10% we set aside before we started microwaving, until the're completely melted into the mass, and your temperature is below 91F. Now you've got yourself tempered chocolate, and are ready to pour it into a mould, coat a truffle, whatever.

It's not as glamorous as using a marble slab, but it's a heckuva lot easier and less time consuming. In fact, when I'm making candy at home with my daughter, this is how we do it. After you've poured it into a mould, you'll have to solidify it; if you've got a very cool room (say, high 60F's) you can let it sit on the counter top with a fan blowing over it. If not, you can pop it into your 'fridge for 15 minutes or so, but be advised that if it's humid or warm in your kitchen, when you remove it from the fridge you're likely to get a layer of condensation on it, which doensn't hurt it, but will discolor it.

Happpy tempering!

At one point recently, I was trying to be extra-careful about the appropriate temperature ranges, so rather than table or seed the chocolate I just stirred it until the thermometer showed it was in the right range. When I tested that out, it was my worst attempt ever! It didn't solidify at all for 10 minutes, and even after a few hours the sample drop was grainy and smeared all over when I tried to touch it. It seems that the chocolate needs to be cooled quickly for the tempering to work. I'm still trying to figure out why that is (again, the engineer in me), but at least now I know one mistake not to make.