Yes, chocolate has a temper! And it needs to be in just the right mood to produce glossy, snappy chocolate that melts smooth in your mouth. There are so many things that can go wrong with tempering, which can result in a lackluster chocolate. It's a scientific process with the forming of crystals at certain temperatures, which have to be lowered and raised prior to molding. Motion is also a key component in the process. You have to be careful what tools you use, and how quickly the chocolate cools as well!
We used to temper by hand on a big, beautiful granite slab... Good to have the skill but not very effective use of our time. It took both of us working together, Tim usually monitoring the temperature with a laser, and me keeping the chocolate in motion across the cool slab to "kill" the unwanted crystals. Once the temp was (hopefully) right, we had to stir that in with some other chocolate that would raise the temperature back up and assist the good crystals in forming.
Now, we have this gorgeous piece of steel and mechanics that will do that for us! Thank you technology. Now we can provide more chocolate more effectively... And it's much easier to clean up!
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