How to prevent "sweating" chocolate covered strawberries?
Last year for Valentines day, I decided I was going to be romantic and make some chocolate covered strawberries for someone special. I melted and tempered some milk chocolate. Then dipped the washed and thoroughly dried strawberries into the chocolate and put them on a plate in the refrigerator to quickly "set" the chocolate.
Later that night as my special someone and I were eating the chocolate covered strawberries, we noticed that there was condensation both on the outside and in between the chocolate and strawberry. It was delicious nonetheless, but I was curious as to why it was "sweating" and if there is anything I can do to prevent this if I decide to ever be romantic again.
Best Answer
Very simple: don't store your chocolate in the fridge. The ideal temperature for setting chocolate is 20°C. You can store it at less or more than that, but not too much. Setting in the fridge results in bad chocolate. Remember, when you work with chocolate, exact temperatures are extremely important.
Here a loose translation from a good article on chocolate/couverture coating:
This is the usual case. You only want a temperature difference of 12° to 13° between the chocolate and its environment as well as between the chocolate and the confect interior.
If the interior is colder than the room, the setting will happen "inside out". The cocoa butter film which gives a confect its shine will build on the inside, leaving the outside looking dull.
This is a really good case for some types of confect, but you can't do it with most types of filling (definitely not with strawberries). Cooling from the outside gives you a beautiful shine.
If you want to achieve a good shine, it is possible to put the confects in the fridge for a short time, but only after they have cooled to 20°C at room temperature. Don't let them fall to fridge temperature, take them out at 15°C. The continued cooling from the outside is beneficial.
This shouldn't happen. The temperature difference is too small, and the confect doesn't set quick enough. In this case, cocoa butter pools on the surface and creates a yellowish layer after it hardens.
When you make your confect, you should time the first piece. The setting should need 10 minutes. If it is less, you don't get all the possible shine. If it needs more, it will get grey or whitish yellow.
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How do you keep chocolate covered strawberries from getting soggy?
To minimize sweating, place a couple sheets of paper towels into the bottom of an airtight container. Store the strawberries on top of the paper towels. If you need to store multiple layers of strawberries, place pieces of wax paper or parchment paper between the layers.How do you keep chocolate covered strawberries shiny?
I don't recommend refrigerating your dipped strawberries: not only can the berries begin to get slimy, the chocolate is prone to grayish streaks when it goes in and out of temperature extremes. Instead, dip your strawberries then give them several hours to set in a cool, room-temperature place.How do you stop chocolate from sweating?
Sometimes, you have to refrigerate: Summer's hot, and not everyone uses air conditioning. But before you put chocolate in the fridge, first wrap it tightly to protect against odors and condensation, then seal it in an airtight container. When you take it out, let it come back to room temperature before unwrapping.How do you stop chocolate from sweating?
More answers regarding how to prevent "sweating" chocolate covered strawberries?
Answer 2
Chocolate will 'sweat' in the fridge if it cools too quickly, particularly if your fridge happens to be quite moist, which can quite often happen especially with lots of uncovered fruit and vegetables. Also if you think that a strawberry is around 90% percent water it is hardly surprising that water forms (possibly from condensation as it goes from a warm to cool temperature) on the strawberry.
The best place to store chocolate is somewhere cool and dry. I keep mine wrapped in foil, in a sandwich bag, in the 'larder'. In any case the best way to store chocolate dipped strawberries according to this website is by keeping them in the fridge then before serving while still cold, whips of the condensation as not to damage the chocolate.
Another website with tips on storing chocolate is http://candy.about.com/od/workingwithchocolate/a/storechocolate.htm.
Answer 3
Common Belgian wisdom: if you want to prevent chocolate from "sweating", you need to store it at around 15-19 °C, and certainly never ever store it in a fridge...
I suppose to some degree @rumtscho's explanation might explain why.
Answer 4
We served these at a fancy restaurant I worked in and we simply didn't cover them in the fridge. Leave them uncovered and they don't sweat.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Nataliya Vaitkevich, RF._.studio, Fallon Michael, RF._.studio