Couverture chocolate is the “top drawer” of chocolate, the true art of the seasoned professional. Couverture chocolate is fine gourmet chocolate with a noticeably glossy sheen, made so by its high cocoa butter content and the use of the highest quality and finely ground cocoa beans. The result is a product that is smooth and thin when melted and therefore perfect for covering, in fact the word couverture is a French word meaning ‘cover.’ Its thin consistency works well with molds and when used for hand dipped candies, covers well and sets to form a thin, crisp coating with a distinctively creamier taste than regular chocolate. Due to the unique characteristics of cocoa butter, a technique of heating and cooling (known as tempering) is required to stabilize its crystalline bonds thus enabling it to set. This process is especially delicate with couverture chocolate because of the large quantities of cocoa butter used. Couverture chocolate is available as dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate and sometimes pastry chefs and candy makers will use couverture blends from different chocolate makers to produce particular flavours. Some covertures are better for baking while others may be more desirable for enrobing. Whatever its uses may be, you can be assured that great skill and care will have been exercised throughout its production; from bean selection and blends, conching (the chocolate liquor refinement process) to tempering and packaging, couverture just says quality.
Uses of Couverture Chocolate:
Gourmet Chocolates
Luxury Gourmet Chocolates
Enrobing (covering with Chocolate)
Speciality Chocolates and candies
Hand dipping chocolate
Cake/candy decoration and chocolate molds. Its fine state allows for complex, detailed decorative designs and molds thus giving master chocolatiers oppurtunity to demonstrate their creative chocolate making skill and finesse.
What is compound chocolate?
Compound chocolate is an alternative to real chocolate. It differs by the fact it doesn’t contain any cocoa butter. The cocoa butter is replaced with less expensive vegetable oils e.g. Coconut or Palm kernel oil. The absence of cocoa butter means the chocolate doesn’t require tempering. Low cost and ease of use, makes it a popular choice for regular confectionary makers and home bakers alike. Typically, Compound chocolate doesn’t have the glossy sheen and crisp snap of real chocolate although this is changing due to advances in manufacturing techniques. Compound chocolate will produce a thicker liquid when melted and can (to some extent) emulate the effect of enrobing chocolate. It is ready to use once its temperature has been raised about 5 degrees above melting point.
Compound chocolate may also be referred to as:
Confectioners chocolate
Decorator’s chocolate
Coating chocolate
Cheap chocolate
Chocolate flavoured coating
Confectionery coating
Examples of usage:
Used in a wide variety of confectioneries and chocolate bars
Good for chocolate dipping (dipping chocolate)
Chocolate molding
Home baking
Can be used as an alternative for cake decorating, cake covering, Decorative piping effects, frosting and other such chocolate decorative embellishments
Easy to use therefore ideal for beginners in chocolate baking.
1 comment:
wah.. very informative..
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