How to melt chocolate and other stuff

How to Melt Chocolate
Microwave: Place unwrapped broken pieces of chocolate in a microwave-safe dish. Heat for about 30 seconds, then remove the dish and stir the chocolate. It may not have changed shape, but it is softening. Return to microwave and repeat until just melted.
Double Boiler: Place unwrapped chocolate in top pan. Melt over hot water. Do not let the top pot come in contact with the water in the bottom pot. Stir for 6-8 minutes or until melted.

Saucepan: Not recommended but if you must, place unwrapped chocolate in pan. Melt over very low heat. Stir constantly.

How to Temper Chocolate

The experts at Ghirardelli explain tempering as follows, "Tempering is a method of heating and cooling chocolate for coating or dipping with chocolate. Proper tempering results in chocolate that has a smooth and glossy finish. The tempered chocolate will have a crisp snap and won't melt on your fingers as easily as improperly tempered chocolate. Properly tempered chocolate is also great for molding candies because the candies will release out of the molds more easily and still retain a glossy finish".
And they have come up with two easy methods to do it:

Method 1

Grate or chop desired amount of chocolate. Place two-thirds of the chocolate in the top pan of a double boiler. Heat over hot, not boiling, water, stirring constantly, until chocolate reaches 110 to 115o F. Place the top pan of the double boiler on a towel. Cool to 95 to 100o F. Add the remaining one-third of chocolate to that top pan, stirring until melted. The chocolate is now ready to be used for molding candies, coating or dipping.

Method 2

Starting with a pound of broken chocolate, melt two-thirds of the chocolate over indirect heat, such as in the top pan of a double boiler. Melt just until the chocolate is liquid and smooth (At 110 to 115o F). When it is smooth, add the remaining one-third of broken chocolate and heat again until the entire chocolate becomes smooth. Pour the chocolate onto a marble or laminate surface. Using a spatula, scrape and stir the chocolate across the surface to smooth and cool it. When the chocolate is cooled to 80 to 82o F, return the chocolate to the top pan of the double boiler. Place over hot, not boiling, water. Heat and stir constantly, until it reaches 87 to 91o F. Remove the top pan of the double boiler. The chocolate is now ready to be used for molding candies, coating or dipping.

Storing Chocolate
You should store your chocolate tightly-wrapped in a cool dry place. Preferably the temperature should get no higher than 75o F in the summer and no lower than 60o F in the winter. If absolutely necessary, during the summer, chocolate can be stored in the refrigerator. However, be sure it's double-wrapped and in a plastic zipper-type bag (with all the air pressed out). Chocolate will absorb odors from other foods if not properly wrapped..

Types of Chocolate
Different types are created by what is added to or removed from the chocolate liquor. That is how the different flavors and varieties of chocolate are created. Each has a different chemical make-up and the differences are not solely in taste. Always be sure to use the specific chocolate that a recipe calls for, as different varieties will react differently to heat and moisture.Unsweetened or Baking chocolate is just cooled, hardened chocolate liquor. It is primarily used as an ingredient in recipes.

Semi-sweet chocolate is mostly used in recipes as an ingredient. It has extra cocoa butter and sugar added. Sweet cooking chocolate is basically the same, just with more sugar.

Milk chocolate is chocolate liquor with extra cocoa butter, sugar, milk and vanilla added. By far, the most popular form for chocolate. It is for the most part an eating chocolate.

Cocoa powder is chocolate liquor with much of the cocoa butter removed. This fine powder can pick up moisture and odors from other food products, so treat it like your fine spices by storing in a cool, dry place with a tight fitting cover.

White chocolate is somewhat of a misnomer. In the U.S, to be legally called 'chocolate' the product must contain real cocoa solids. White chocolate does not contain these solids, which leaves it a smooth ivory or beige color. Real white chocolate is primarily cocoa butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. There are some products on the market that pretend to be white chocolate, but are made with vegetable oils instead of cocoa butter. Do your best to avoid these imitations. White chocolate is the most delicate type of chocolate; use caution when heating or melting it.
Is chocolate really an aphrodisiac?
On romantic occasions, the most popular gift exchanged between lovers is a box of chocolates. Even the ancient Aztecs and Mayans (circa 600 AD) of South America loved it. There some very good reasons why.

Chocoholics are beginning to understand the secret behind the amorous inclination we have for these brown and white treats. Two doctors, Donald Klein and Michael Leibowitz, made a theory suggesting that chocolate contains a particular chemical called phenylethylamine (better known as the "love chemical"), which is also present in the brain.

Phenylethylamine, is an amphetamine-like substance, and the chemical produced in the brain of people who are evidently in the state of love. Love struck persons produce more of this chemical than people who are not. Initially, Dr. Klein and Dr. Leibowitz joked about the idea of chocolate being an arbiter for people who are in love. They then tried to prove their theory but were unable to finish their experiments. Later, however, other scientists followed suit but were also unsuccessful to find out if chocolate really had any love-potion abilities. One study revealed that intake of chocolate did not actually increase the level of phenylethylamine in the body, thus ruling out chocolate as responsible for that certain wonderful high.

By nature, however, phenylethylamine is a naturally-occuring trace chemical known to release a certain kind of dopamine in the "pleasure-centers" of the brain. Unfortunately, one of the metabolites phenylethylamine produces also causes a person to become unusually restive. Overproduction of this chemical is found in people suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

Moreover, further studies showed that chocolate was mildly addictive, due mainly to its caffeine content. It also contains small quantities of the chemical anandamide, and endogenous cannabinoid found also in the brain. Aside from these chemicals, chocolate also has a substantial amount of tryptophan, an important amino acid that controls the production of the mood-modulating serotonin.

Probably the most distinctive "side-effect" of eating chocolate is that it releases endorphines, the body's own endogenous opiates. The production of endorphins consequently give chocolate addicts that co-called "inner glow" about them (which explains why many chocolate lovers seem to be so gloriously alive).

To top it all, however, science has yet to prove chocolate's efficacy as an aphrodisiac. While some doctors say that phenylethylamine in chocolate is just a mild love-chemical, the debate is still ongoing and it is still too early to know if chocolate really is the lovers' delight. Then again, maybe giving your special someone a box of chocolates wouldn't hurt a bit, maybe even beneficial. It's worth a try.