Hello, my name is Jeffrey Botticelli, and I have been a craft chocolatier since 2007. I began making chocolate in San Diego, then moved my work to Sedona at Chocolatree in 2008. Like so many, I have been a chocolate enthusiast throughout life and it is a great joy to create flavorful, simple, and complex confections.
Tempering Chocolate is the process of melting chocolate, cooling it down, and slightly heating it up again. Basically, it is raising and lowering the temperature of melted chocolate so that the fat crystals in the cacao butter stabilize. You are simply adjusting the characteristics of the melted chocolate so that it sets up with a nice, glossy shine, doesn't melt in your hands upon contact, has a pleasing texture when eaten, and melts nicely on the tongue. I use this technique of tempering upon a granite slab.
My back round as a farrier and blacksmith provided the foundation for tempering chocolate through the tempering process with steel. Tempering is a process of heat treating, which is used to increase the toughness of iron-based alloys. My transition from this work into chocolate making translated fairly easy, and as a result I am a self taught chocolatier.
I am exited to share this movement in chocolate making, stories, and health benefits with you. This is a food that both warms the heart and brings a smile to your face.
Blessings,
Jeffrey
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