To obtain a chocolate bar with a shiny appearance and perfect consistency, it is not enough to simply melt and cool some chocolate. There is a real science behind it: that of temperingwhich we experienced in the Perugina Chocolate School. In the video we show you how two chocolate bars obtained from a single melted mass, but cooled following two different temperature profiles give two completely different results: one breaks with a satisfying sound (the so-called snap), the other is soft, opaque and melts immediately in your hand.
Because tempering makes the difference
The secret lies in temperature. When chocolate is melted and then allowed to cool uncontrollably, the fats within it crystallize into unstable forms. This is what leads to an opaque and inconsistent product. As you can see in the video, to obtain perfect chocolate you need to follow a precise thermal profile:
Chocolate melting (in a bain-marie, never directly on the flame; it is manual tempering).
Cooling on the surface with a spatula, to bring it to a temperature below 25/27 °C.
Controlled heating until 30-32°Ctemperature at which only stable fat crystals remain.
Casting into molds and final cooling.
This process allows you to select the “right” crystals, those that give shine, hardness and that iconic “snap” that you hear in the video.
Inside the factory: how the famous Baci Perugina are produced
Once we understood the science of tempering, we took a trip to a special place, the Baci Perugina factoryto find out what’s behind the production of these iconic chocolates starting from gianduiawhich for those who don’t know is a mixture of chocolate and finely chopped hazelnuts. After being sieved and cooled, the gianduia is enriched with chopped hazelnuts and shaped to form the base of the chocolate. Then the famous whole hazelnut that characterizes each chocolate is positioned on top of the base using special machinery, but the human eye is essential to correct any errors.
As you can see in the video, after all these steps comes one of the most spectacular moments: the frosting. The melted chocolate – industrially tempered – covers the chocolates both in the lower part and with a real “waterfall” from the top. Finally there is the passage in the cooling cells and a second glazing which makes the coating uniform and perfect, before the wrapping and the insertion of the cartouche, and the distribution of these very famous chocolates throughout the world.
