The impact of shell formation duration during manual tempering process on the hardness and melting point of couverture praline chocolate

Praline chocolate usually contains soft fillings such as water-based filling from fruits. The interaction between water in chocolate filling and fat in praline shell formulation is interesting to be studied. Water in the water-based filling may migrate to the chocolate shell and thus influence chocolate quality. The aim of the study was to physically investigate the impact of duration of shell formation during manual tempering process on the characteristics of couverture praline chocolate filled with blueberry filling. The variables used in this study was shell formation duration (10, 15, 20 minutes), and duration of crystal maturation (day 0, 4, 8, 12). Chocolate shell was formulated with sucrose and 34 of fat content. The result showed that the longer the shell formation, the higher the chocolate hardness and particle size. While, chocolate lightness ranged between 25.47 to 27.57.