Chocolate – Is plastic wrap safe to use when tempering chocolate

chocolatemicrowavetempering

Tempering chocolate can be a messy process at times. So I had an idea to cover the plastic bowl that I use for tempering with plastic wrap so that once I'm finished, I can remove the plastic wrap, the bowl will end up clean and I can easily collect the leftover chocolate.

Would the plastic wrap be safe to use? Would it contaminate the chocolate or affect the tempering process in any way?

The tempering method I usually use just involves a heating up the plastic bowl in the microwave and seeding with tempered callets to reach the desired temperatures. The chocolate will only reach a maximum of 45 degrees.

Best Answer

Most microwave suitable plastic wrap (cling film) still says you should avoid contact with the food and just use it as a cover. But of course in that case the food is intended to get properly hot, and of course you don't want much heat. If you do get local hot spots the film may well soften. At that point it might impart flavours to the food. It's probably only slightly more likely than getting a flavour of the plastic bowl you otherwise use.

I write this from the point of view that you're more likely to spoil the flavour than harm yourself by slightly misusing a product that's generally accepted as food safe.