Chocolate tempering using grated cocoa butter

[DianaM]

Resurrecting an old thread. I have been tempering with Mycryo for a couple of years and found it pretty much foolproof... until recently. The last few batches that I have done have been off and I can't figure out why. I am using Cacao Barry Fleur de Cao and CB Lactee Superieure and have had problems with both.

I melt to around 45C (sometimes slightly lower) then cool (stirring occasionally) to 34.5 for dark and 33.5C for milk. Then add 1% Mycryo and stir in thoroughly. Used to work fine but I am now getting streaky dull-looking chocolates. Snaps OK so it seems to be tempered but just doesn't look like it is.

I did find this though when I was looking for help:

With MYCRYO®, 100% pure cocoa butter, tempering becomes an easy task.

(1) Melt the chocolate at 104-113°F/ 40-45°C (microwave, bain-marie or chocolate melter).

(2) Allow the chocolate to cool at room temperature to:

93-95°F / 34-35°C for dark chocolate;

91-93°F / 33-34°C for milk chocolate;

91-93°F / 33-34°C for white chocolate.

(3) Add 1% of MYCRYO® – 10 g for 1 kg.

(4) Mix well until the chocolate reaches its

ideal working temperature:

88-90°F / 31-32°C for dark chocolate;

86-88°F / 30-31°C for milk chocolate;

84-86°F / 29-30°C for white chocolate.

(5) Maintain ideal temperature in order to use

chocolate for final product application.

I haven't been doing step 4, but I would have thought that adding Mycryo at 33.5 - 34.5 and then stirring to mix would have brought the chocolate to pretty near those temps.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. My Xmas chocolates are looking a bit dull and sad!

If your room was hotter this time, or your bowl was less heat-conductive, or if you tempered a larger mass of chocolate, stirring only to mix in the Mycryo may not have cooled the mass down enough to working temperature. When I temper 300g it takes 5-6 strokes to cool it down, when I temper 4 kilos, takes much more stirring than that.

After adding the 1% I mix almost constantly, not only to bring the temperature of the chocolate down, but also because agitation promotes the formation of the beta crystals you are looking for. I have tempered all 3 kinds of chocolate this way (and I also use Cacao Barry couvertures), and have had very good results. But I use as a guideline for working temperature the info on the packaging, so my ideal temps are the higher ones in the ranges provided: 32 dk, 31 mk, 30 wt.

[Edward J]

You forgot to factor in if the vendor stored the mycro in a warm place prior to sale, or if it got warm during transport, or if it is expired.

I only do about 40 kg a day, but never have used mycro, just plain "seeding" with virgin couverture chips. My logic is that you need just as much effort to get the couverture to 34-35C as you do tp get it to 31-32 C.

[xxchef]

I bought a case of Mycryo about 3 years ago and I used it maybe 4-5 times to temper small (4 lb) batches of dark chocolate. It worked fine but did not seem any faster or easier or better than the seeding method I usually use. I have tried similar with regular cocoa butter and it did not work for me at all. The Mycryo is 100% tempered butter so it is like using pure seed chocolate which I'm sure is the main difference. This season I am tempering more like 20 lbs at a time and haven't used that method at all. I'm probably just use the rest of the Mycryo like regular cocoa butter in a few things to get rid of it (although at the price it will hurt!).

[markwightman]

Thanks for the responses. Apologies for taking so long to reply, I was having problems with my account.

DianaM - I think you nailed it. I thought that I hadn't been doing anything different but I had been tempering larger batches of chocolate, which of course would cool slower. I have taken more care with temps now and the latest batches have been in temper - no more streaks. However I am still noticing a variation in shine - chocolates made earlier in the batch seem to have more shine than those dipped later. So probably still to do with temperature, but getting there.

[Matthew Kirshner]

Hello All, I recently got a sample of the Mycryo cocoa butter from one of vendors. I have never used this product before, but reading the past post i have an understanding on how to use this product as tempering agent. Has anyone used this product for spraying applications. Normally I would just melt chocolate and cocoa butter together by equal weights and start spraying. Any suggestion would be great. Thank You..

[keychris]

Just use it as you would normal cocoa butter, as that's what it is. Just in another form

[Edward J]

Ehh, No.

In my last post I said that mycro is cocoa butter, but cocoa butter is NOT mycro.

Mycro is hot cocoa butter sprayed/atomized onto a frozen marble roller and scraped off, in a cold room. It is pure beta 6 crystals.

Regular cocoa butter may or not be tempered properly.

When I get a 3 kg pail of cocoa butter I melt the whole thing and puir into small molds or onto parchment lined pans. When cold I break it up and keep it back into the pail--makes it much esier to use. This is no way, shape, or form, a replacement for Mycro, just a lot easier than stabbing a rock of cocoa butter in a plastic pail with a knife trying to get a 50 gram chunk..

[Alleguede]

Matthew, please don't use mycrio to make a spray, it s worth 3 times the price of traditional cocoa butter. If you don't want to use it as a sweet application use it at home as a replacement to your cooking fat method, seared scallops precoated with mycrio, or any vegetable... Or sift it on tarts to create a thin protection, or in ganaches that are at temperature to slightly harden them.

Edward, the debate about tempered cocoa butter has been big for years. I melt down my pail well more use to now that they have callets. And would table it to 30 ish then smooth it on parchment. Just like my left over chocolate... So I would believe that my cocoa butter would be in temper. Till the last time never had an issue, now my life is slightly easier but a touch more expensive. Just my tought.