Eva

Nut clusters, chocolate-dipped candies, and chocolate-dipped strawberries are just some of the delicious goodies that have a thin, rich layer of chocolate wrapped around them. But how do pastry and candy chefs make these delectable treats? The first step is to melt and temper **chocolate****. When the cocoa butter molecules are in this pattern, the chocolate is shiny and breaks with a sharp snap. Tempering chocolate is an art and a science. It is a science because the tempering is temperature dependent. If the temperature of the melted chocolate is too high, the chocolate will burn. If the temperature of the melted chocolate is too low, it might never harden properly. In this science fair project, investigate how different temperatures affect the resulting melted chocolate. After tempering, brush some of the chocolate on wax paper. Does the chocolate harden or does it stay soft? Is it shiny or blotchy? Can you peel it off or does it stick to the paper? Try tempering dark chocolate and white chocolate. Is there a difference in the tempering temperature for each one? Once you have figured out the tempering process of your favorite chocolate, use your recipe to cover nuts, strawberries, or your favorite treat. Share your goodies with your friends and family and let everyone know that your science fair project has a sweet ending.**
 * *** Note: **This is an abbreviated project idea, without notes to start your background research or a procedure for how to do the experiment. You can identify abbreviated project ideas by the asterisk at the end of the title. If you want a project idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk.** ||

 Tempering Chocolate

What I am going to do for my science fair project is take different kinds of chocolate and use different techniques to temper it. Tempering the progress in  **which the cocoa butter in chocolate is hardened into a specific crystalline** **pattern**  I want to do this because I want to know the best way to make melted chocolate for many different fruits and treats. I want to know what makes it sticky, hard, or soft, and whats the best ingredients. I think I will succeed with finding these things out while doing my project. I am going to temper different kinds of chocolate such as dark, light, white etc. I am also going to try the different kinds of melted chocolates with different kinds of fruit. What fruits will taste best with which melted chocolate? which techniques will have the best texture? I will determine the best chocolate and fruit by doing a blind taste test with family and friends. I will give them a question and have them give me a rate from 1 to 10. For example dip a banana in dark chocolate and a strawberry in dark chocolate and then dip a banana in light chocolate and dip a strawberry in light chocolate. Maybe most people will like the banana in dark and the strawberry in light or maybe the other way around.I am not yet sure of what chocolate i am going to use yet or exactly what techniques but i am in the progress of doing so. When i have finished i am going to set up my fruit dipped in the different chocolates and have them on separate napkins for everyone to sample and give their opinions.


 * [[image:http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/FoodSci_img010.jpg width="465" height="322" caption="Cooking and Food Science Project chocolate "]] ||
 * Figure 1.** Stacks of various kinds of chocolate. (Wikipedia, 2008.) ||