Chocolate is a treat we all love but keeping it looking
smooth and flawless can be a challenge. One of the most common issues encountered
when working with chocolate is bloom—those white spots, streaks, or dull
patches that can appear on the surface. In this post, we’ll explain what causes
bloom and share simple tips to keep your chocolate looking perfect!
What is Bloom?
Bloom can appear as spots, streaks, or dusty-looking patches and can
range from a dull white to a severe white discoloration. There are two types of
bloom:
- Fat Bloom – If your chocolate feels greasy, you've got fat bloom. This is the most common source of bloom which occurs when cocoa butter fat rises to the chocolate’s surface and recrystallizes. While fat bloom has a negative effect on appearance, the product is still safe to eat. You can fix pure chocolate by melting and retempering it. Unfortunately, finished confections (like truffles) can’t be easily repaired since they have fillings or inclusions.
- Sugar Bloom – When you rub chocolate and it feels dry and powdery, say “hello” to sugar bloom. Sugar bloom happens when chocolate is exposed to moisture. Water dissolves the sugar, which then forms rough sugar crystals on the chocolate’s surface when it dries. Sugar bloom generally appears as droplets of sugar crystals on the surface of the product. If the bloom is moderate to severe, the chocolate may feel grainy and should be discarded.
What Causes Fat Bloom?
- Heat
Exposure –
Excess heat can cause perfectly good chocolate to bloom. The heat melts
some or all of the cocoa butter, and when it recrystallizes it
lacks the proper stable cocoa butter crystal nuclei and cooling for
proper recrystallization. Keep chocolate away from heat and direct
sunlight to prevent this!
- Poor
Tempering –
Another source of fat bloom is poorly tempered chocolate. If chocolate
isn’t tempered correctly (under tempered or over tempered) it will bloom
faster than well-tempered chocolate. Using a tempermeter or other
means of optimizing your tempering, will maximize bloom resistance.
- Incompatible
Fats – A
third source of fat bloom is the mixing of incompatible fats. If you use
compound coatings, which are usually palm kernel oil based, these should
not be mixed with cocoa butter-based chocolate. The incompatibility of
these fats can lead to inefficient crystallization and eventual fat bloom.
How to Prevent Sugar Bloom
To avoid sugar bloom, keep refrigerated or frozen chocolates
packaged and sealed until they equilibrate to ambient temperature. This
prevents condensation, which can trigger sugar bloom.
Bloom might make chocolate look unappealing, but in many
cases, it’s still fine to work with and can be melted and retempered to make
beautiful, delicious chocolate confections. To keep your chocolate looking its
best, store it properly, temper it well and avoid mixing incompatible fats.
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