Handy tips for chocolate

Choosing chocolate for home baking and candy making:

The most important factors in determining the quality of your finished products are the quality of your ingredients and your recipe. When buying chocolate we recommend that you purchase only pure chocolate that is wrapped in a nontransparent packaging. Chocolate that is wrapped in a transparent wrap and sits on a shelf may lose flavor and/or become dry. Pure chocolate may contain cocoa liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, lecithin and vanilla or vanillin. Milk chocolate may contain these ingredients plus powdered milk. Frequently imitation chocolate that contains vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter is misrepresented as chocolate. We recommend that you use only pure chocolate in your recipes.

Melting Chocolate :

Option 1-Microwave melting: Place large chunks of chocolate in the microwave set on low heat. Stir the chocolate every 15 to 20 seconds until the desired temperature is reached.

Option 2-Double boiling : Put your finely chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler. The water should be hot, but not boiling. Once 1/3 of the chocolate is melted, stir slowly and frequently until the chocolate is melted. Chocolate should not be heated over 120 degrees fahrenheit.

Storing Pure Chocolate: When you are finished working with melted chocolate, line a bowl with plastic wrap and scrape the excess chocolate into the bowl. Let the chocolate set. Wrap the chocolate in the plastic wrap and place this in a tightly sealed ziploc bag. Place this in a brown bag. Store chocolate in a cool, dry and dark location.

The shelf life of pure chocolate is one year for dark chocolate and 5 months for milk and white chocolate.