carefully controlled. Cocoa butter can solidify
into six different kinds of fat crystals! Only
two are stable kinds that produce a glossy,
dry, hard chocolate; the other four are
unstable kinds that produce a looser, less
organized network, with more liquid fat, and
crystals whose fat molecules readily detach
and ooze away. When chocolate melts and
then resolidifies in an uncontrolled way — for
example, when it’s temporarily left too close
to a hot stove, or in a hot car — it’s the
unstable crystals that predominate, and they
produce a greasy, soft, mottled chocolate. To
rescue its original consistency, such chocolate
must be tempered.
The crystallization of cocoa butter. Left: In