How to get chocolate of chocolate covered strawberries shiny?
Yesterday, I made strawberries covered with chocolate.
Both my strawberries and milk chocolate were at room temperature. I heated the chocolate in the microwave together with a drop of peanut oil, stirred and dipped the berries in it. I let it all cool down in my cellar (+-15° C /+-60° F) on a piece of parchment paper.
While the taste was great, I didn't like that they looked a bit 'dull'. I would prefer it if they shone.
I added the oil, because I read it somewhere as a tip to get shiny strawberry-chocolates. I don't think it was as much as they adviced me to do though.
Can I do anything to make the chocolate shiny?
Best Answer
Chocolate which has been melted will look dull when cooled down again. Cocoa butter contains crystals, and when heating and cooling chocolate, there will form crystals of different sizes. Because of this, your chocolate look matt. You can use the technique of tempering chocolate to get great shiny chocolate. There will only form 'right' crystals with this technique. If you google 'tempering chocolate' you get lots of good results, which give you a better description of what to do then I can. For example you can use this sites description:
http://candy.about.com/od/candybasics/ht/temperchoc.htm
Or this site which give the description using both Celcius and Fahrenheit: http://allrecipes.com/howto/tempering-chocolate/
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Quick Answer about "How to get chocolate of chocolate covered strawberries shiny?"
Stop microwaving if only little bits of chocolate are left, as there should be enough residual heat to melt the rest. Stir the oil into the chocolate. It should have a shiny appearance and smooth consistency.What makes chocolate covered strawberries shiny?
Add Butter for a Shiny Finish If you want super-shiny strawberries, add a pat of butter to your chocolate! The extra fat gives the chocolate coating an even richer flavor and a mirror-like finish that's sure to attract attention. Just don't add too much or your chocolate covering will melt, even at room temperature.What do you put in chocolate to make it shiny?
The most time consuming way to make chocolate shiny is to temper the chocolate. Tempering gives the chocolate a sharper crack and a shinier appearance. You can also usually get the chocolate to shine just by adding a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the chocolate when melting.Why do my chocolate covered strawberries look dull?
Tempering the chocolate will help prevent the chocolate covered strawberries from looking streaky, gray or dull after the chocolate sets. All you need to do to temper melted chocolate is set aside some of the chocolate to stir in at the end, after most of it has already been melted.How do you make chocolate shiny without tempering?
To keep the temperature below 92 degrees, grate the chocolate or chop it finely so that it will melt evenly. Heat the chocolate over a very low heat source, such as a heating pad on low or a small coffee warmer or hot tray, stirring constantly, until about two thirds of it melts.The Best Chocolate Covered Strawberries
More answers regarding how to get chocolate of chocolate covered strawberries shiny?
Answer 2
It's all about the tempering. A shiny "snappy" chocolate coating is tempered, and a dull coating isn't tempered.
In a chocolate dipping class I took in February, we used fruit which was chilled from the refrigerator, and that helped the chocolate to temper. See Why would dipping a cold item in chocolate "help" with tempering?.
Also see Is it possible to temper chocolate at home? and What is the purpose of tempering chocolate? for more about tempering chocolate.
Answer 3
Tempering is important, but not enough. Assuming that you have perfectly tempered chocolate and you dip your strawberries in it, you can still get either shiny or dull chocolate, depending on how quickly you cool it, and from which side.
To get shiny confections, you need tempered chocolate at 33°C, you have to quickly dip a filling at 27°C into it, and let it cool at 20°C. These temperatures are guidelines, but a few degrees deviation in any direction will give you less nice chocolate.
See also my more expansive answer on strawberries and dipping: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/21142/4638.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Sydney Troxell, Pixabay, Diva Plavalaguna, Diva Plavalaguna