Science of tempering chocolate

Tempering is the secret to making glossy chocolate with a good snap. How do you temper chocolate in your own kitchen, and what is the science underlying all the complicated heating and cooling steps? Come discover the answers with Ming.

LEARN MORE:

OUTLINE:
0:00 Introduction
0:24 Crystal structures of chocolate
1:06 How chocolate bars are made
1:44 Goal of tempering chocolate
2:10 Choosing the right temperature
4:06 How to make crystals form faster
4:30 Undercooling
6:07 Seeding
7:04 Demo: Tempering chocolate in the kitchen
8:51 Demo: Tempered vs. untempered chocolate

CREDITS:
Presented, written, and edited by Mingyu Yang
With additional input from Camille Farruggio, Robin Lindemann, and Jacqueline Baidoo

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

ACCESSIBILITY:

CONTACT US:

[AuroraClair]

Omg, finally an explanation in depth and so easy to understand! I never understood the "need" to reheat the chocolate back up before using it as tempered. Now I understand that without reheating, I'm leaving behind some state 4 crystals as well. I thought the sole purpose of reheating was to make the chocolate more fluid and easier to work with. Now I understand I have to reheat it, and why :) Thank you so so much for making this video!

[naasvanrooyen]

Finally someone who understands. Also explained well. Thank you!

[retovideogames]

Nobody ever ask me again, why I wield a big hammer while cooking! Kitchen Blacksmiths 👍!
Best video I could find on tempering chocolate, with enough information to understand tempering in general.
Cheers!

[santiespejos]

This is the best video i've seen that explains tempering chocolate, thank you. I admire your passion for science <3

[christopherthomas]

As a fellow scientist also studying crystal structures related to fatty acids, this was really well done. Also - can’t believe you are finding time to do this during your degree! Amazing lab group.

[anthonydantona]

If every video were as clear and amazing as this beautifully presented explanation, the world would be a better place

[rosembergmartins]

I had never ever seen one so clear explanation about chocolate tempering! Brilliant!!! Thank you very much!!! 🙏🙏❤❤

[NicoStanitzok]

Today I managed the first time to temper chocolate. It's so satisfying to achieve a shiny chocolate with a nice snap. Thank you very much Ming your explanations helped me a lot.

[hristiyanam.]

I should say this is the first time I actually understand why and how to temper chocolate. Great video!

[Bette]

As a pastry chef, this is really great and admirable how you explain it all on point and so easy to understand. keep doing amazing work explaining the world, I love it when people are curious enough to get excited about discovering how and why things are like they are. 🤩

[martinvargas]

I am a fairly new mechanical engineer working in the steel industry and I think this was a great video! I love your use of the term "culinary blacksmith" because I thought the same thing when I first heard about "tempering chocolate"; my mind also created an image of a steel mill casting chocolate instead of steel haha. One other food product that reminds me of steel making is gelatine, because water gets trapped inside of the triple helix protein structure when it cools, like how Carbon gets trapped inside of Iron's cubic structure during solid solution strengthening.

[totallystories]

Your easy-going presentation and no-nonsense science of chocolate were top-notch. I learned more about the process of tempering in this video than in dozens of others I have seen. Good job :)

[mohammadadaileh]

Engineer here. First time I knew about tempered chocolate I’m like I wish there’s a video that explains the science of it. And there it’s! Amazing

[gustavoforni]

Thank you for the explanation! I'm a machanical engineer and had never associated it with metal tempering. Now it makes so much sense!

[saimon]

Seriously underrated, actually best explanation I've seen.

[JeffO-]

And now I finally know this mystery. At first I thought it might be too much science, but this scientist did a fantastic job of explaining just what we need to know.

[JoaoGabriel-czci]

This explanation was fantastic: well paced, direct but thorough; I learn so much better through graphics and charts, and love to get to molecular level of subjects. Thank you so very much

[jorisArt]

Thank you for the best explanation of something I’ve been doing for 30 years without understanding it!

[jaredb]

At last, I finally understand chocolate tempering. Chefs never explain properly, probably because they don't know the science behind it. Thanks a lot. My daughter and I are off to temper some chocolate and also create some 'bad' chocolate to better understand and prove the science. Cheers!😊

[amredris]

The best presentation that illustrates the tempering process of chocolate. Thanks from Egypt