Notice the badly tempered chocolate covering the apricots on the right.
The others are better. I'm improving, but I need more practice.
[Previous entry: "Moving along"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Wedding Shower"]
10/29/2003 Archived Entry: "Chocolate Days"
It's quite hard to tell autumn from summer here in the Bay Area, especially this year. The past few days it was hovering over 90. Hot. Not a very good week to make chocolate, but that's exactly what I did. I attended a chocolate making class by Richard Donnelly last Monday, and I've been making chocolate everyday since. I'm determined to master tempering, but it's proven to be quite a challenge. I attempted to use my digital thermometer, but I don't think I can trust it -- Richard Donnelly swears by the 'upper lip' method; meaning, you smear some chocolate on your upper lip while tempering, and if you don't feel any change (it's supposed to be the same temperature as your upper lip), then you're on your way to perfectly tempered chocolate. It takes many many attempts to master this, and I clearly haven't. The result of 2 days of chocolate practice -- Lavender Infused Chocolate Madeleines, Chocolate Dipped Candied Grapefruit Peel, Chocolate Covered Apricots, and Chocolate Nut Bark.
