Chocolate – the ideal temperature to cool the melted chocolate in a freezer

chocolate

I have temperated chocolate that is now in a liquid state. I have chocolate molds that I use and I fill up these molds with the chocolate. Now I need to set these chocolate-filled molds in a freezer so that the chocolate can solidify and after solidification, I should be able to remove chocolate without much effort by the process of de-molding so that they become consumable solid chocolate bars. So my questions are:

  1. What should be the temperature of the freezer so that the chocolate hardens in the molds?

  2. How long should I leave the molds in the freezer, before I remove them?

  3. After removing the molds from the freezer (with the solid chocolate in them), do I need to set it in another freezer at another temperature so that the chocolate can solidify even more i.e. at a temperature higher than the freezing temperature but lesser than room temperature?

  4. After de-molding the chocolates, when should I wrap them and for how long, before I can consume them?

I am hoping that the temperature and time suggested will help avoid problems such as fat bloom, sugar bloom and melting.

Thank you.

Best Answer

Do not use a freezer, that's way too harsh on the chocolate and will almost certainly introduce terrible condensation, and possibly off tastes, if there is other food stored in the freezer.

If you have a way to create a temperature-controlled "box", you should cool it at 20 degrees Celsius. If not, keep it in a room which is as close to 20 C as you can get, and on the dry side - most normal rooms will do, unless you live in a tropical or equatorian climate without air conditioning, you just won't get the most perfect shine if you keep your room much colder or warmer than that.

"How long" cannot be answered, you just have to wait until it is solid through and through, which will depend on the thickness of your shapes. Just way overnight before trying the first one.

Also see a diagram with best temperatures, which is slightly more complicated because it considers chocolate poured over a solid core, in this old answer of mine.

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