Archive for the 'Arts + Stuff' Category

Before You Temper Chocolate, Here’s What You Need to Know

Friday, February 26th, 2010

You need re-education if you are ignorant about chocolate candy making but don’t pass a casual remark that chocolate candy making is not a complex process. There is a possibility that a few others may concur with you since the items required for chocolate candy making are easy to acquire: thermometer, double boiler, mixing bowl, spatula, cookie cutters or candy molds, and of course, chocolates. The truth is that it’s actually a complicated task.

Melt chocolate chips on a double boiler and during this step, you must be stirring the contents constantly so you don’t burn the chocolate. Once this melted chocolate has dried on the cookie sheet, candies of various designs could be made using candy molds or a cutter. Fruit candies can also be made with this chocolate mush.

If the candies are made for casual offering to friends or relatives, you do not need a thermometer because it is not necessary to temper your chocolates perfectly. But if the candies are for commercial purposes, you should temper with a thermometer next to you.

Tempering alone can make your chocolate candy glossy, creamy and silken since they are not so naturally. You temper chocolates in three steps–heating, cooling and re-heating–but exact temperatures should be maintained during these steps, failing which, chocolates will not be tempered and chocolates will become blotchy, chalky and flaky.

Dark, semi-sweet and white chocolates are tempered only at their own tempering temperatures. Tempering is made difficult by the crystallization of fatty acids of the cocoa butter into six types of crystals. These six types of crystals by multiplying at six different temperatures hamper type V crystals alone from forming; these crystals make chocolates shiny, smooth and crisp. The formation of type IV crystals, which appear along with type V crystals, does not benefit anyone because type IV crystals quickly melt at low temperatures.

Tempering of a large amount of chocolates is done only with a tempering machine that not only takes care of controlling temperatures with the help of a computer chip but frees you from the hassles of manual tempering as well. Though manual tempering is a tough process, artisanal chocolatiers still prefer tempering chocolates only by hand.

By knowing how to do manual tempering, chocolatiers can do it whenever necessary, like at times of black outs when there are power outages. Tabliering, one of the manual tempering methods, is done by working melted chocolate on a marble slab or any cool surface that soak up heat. In “seeding”, another method of tempering, some tempered chocolate pieces are used to “seed” melted chocolate so it tempers properly.

If you fail in maintaining accurate temperatures in both the methods, you may be forced to repeat tempering again and again, the reason why manual tempering is tricky and complicated.

Gemstone Beads

Friday, June 20th, 2008

A gemstone is a precious or semi-precious stone used for jewelry. Scientifically, it is a mineral, rock or petrified material. Some beautiful gemstones are too soft or too fragile to be used in jewelry, for example, single-crystal rhodochrosite, but are exhibited in museums and are sought by collectors of mineral or crystal specimens.

There are natural and manmade gemstones. Natural gemstones are one of the nature’s finest creations. A genuine real gemstone is available in one piece only, meaning no two gemstones are alike. Sometimes these gemstones are further finished, dyed and stained.

History tells us that semi-precious beads have been used as both ornament and as currency. Coral, lapis and amber were used in the past, but today we there are many more options.

One can find many semi-precious and precious beads. These gemstones are available in different shapes, like round, oval, rondelle, tubes and stars. Some of the most popular are oval- and bean-shaped gemstone, cube- and brick-shaped gemstone, nugget shaped, faceted cuts and button and roundel-shaped gemstones. Genuine gemstone beads include amazonite, amber, aquamarine and topaz, and are available at different prices. The prices of these beads vary in terms of the color, weight and clarity.

Gemstones have been used to make beads for ages, and every culture uses them not only as adornment but to express social circumstances, political occurrences, and religious beliefs. There are gemstones which represent planets and are believed to carry spiritual importance. They are often used to cure the alleged effects of planetary movements. One can choose a gemstone of their ruling planet, or their birthstone. These gemstones can be combined with metal and worn as a piece of jewelry as well.

Beads provides detailed information on Beads, Wholesale Beads, Glass Beads, Gemstone Beads and more. Beads is affiliated with Wholesale Bath Salts.