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The white splotches that you see on the exterior of some chocolates simply mean that you’ve botched the tempering process; that you didn’t maintain the right temperature; and that other crystal types besides Type V have formed. Type V crystals are the ones responsible for the glossy look and rich taste of chocolates and they come about through a process called tempering. Tempering is the very important step that all chocolates must undertake to ensure the best quality.

Chocolate makers usually take extra care when they try to temper the chocolates. Natural chocolates don’t look glossy and firm; it must go through the process of tempering to get delightful appearance and luscious taste. Appearance of huge crystals can also be avoided through tempering; these huge crystals could ruin the texture of the chocolate.

The bars that we purchase from the store already have that fine quality so that means they’ve already been tempered. In order for the chocolate to look like this, it should be melted and cooled and reheated properly at the right temperatures, to make them flexible enough for any kind of dipping and shaping.

Real chocolate candy should be made from cocoa butter; it is the one responsible for the richness and buttery texture of the chocolate. The liquor that comes from the roasted and ground cocoa beans have 60% cocoa butter in it.

On the other hand the cocoa butter also contains fatty acids which form into six different crystal formations. It’s very important that you maintain the proper temperatures during tempering since a different type of crystal, other than the Type V, may proliferate during the process of crystallization. The one responsible for the fine quality of the chocolate is the Type V crystals.

Tempering the chocolate involves a warm up, a cool down and a re-heat of chocolates as well as working the chocolate at certain temperatures to be able to come up with the Type V crystals. Type IV crystals can form with the Type V so it’s important to maintain precise chocolate temperatures. These Type IV crystals have the same attractive shine but can make the chocolate melt quickly.

For chocolatiers, one easy way to encourage only the Type V crystals to form is by the use of a chocolate tempering machine. These kitchen appliances come with a computer software that dictates tempering and temperatures so that you won’t have to worry about them. All you need to do is place the chocolate to be melted onto the tempering bowl, dial the settings, and wait until the tempering is done to begin molding and dipping chocolates.

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