# Melting chocolate for coating ice cream bars



## chocolatehelp (May 20, 2015)

Hello all, 

I'm trying to keep chocolate in a liquid form, to dip frozen fruit and ice cream bars. Do any anyone know what product, I should use?

And what warmer to use, for maintaining the liquid state for the day. I want to be able to use the chocolate for dipping when people request something to be dipped. (made fresh)

I was looking at a server warmer. Any suggestions?


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## petitetreats (May 31, 2015)

Hi I was just hired as a Chocolatier so I think I may be able to help you! The chocolate has to be kept at around 70-72 degrees for your purposes. You can use a double boiler and keep the product on a simmer, or you can use a crock pot designed for chocolate and it will keep it liquid for you as long as you'd like. The other option is to put the product in a chocolate fountain and dip to your hearts content.

Good luck,

petitetreats


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## petitetreats (May 31, 2015)

Any chocolate product will work, you can buy them on Amazon.

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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Most of the stuff used for dipping icecream is thinned with veg oil, same for frozen fruit. Using regular couverture for these items is not ideal, because if you introduce any water, or ice to couverture it will sieze up. You would also have a very thick coat of choc on your items--very high food cost.

A crock pot will work, as will any container with a lid sitting on a heating blanket, like the kind you have at home.

Add about one quarter high quality tasteless veg oil to three quarters couverture and keep at around 34 celcius. This will work fine for anything frozen to be dipped, but useless for any other kind of chocolate work.

Hope this helps


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## chocolatehelp (May 20, 2015)

Thanks foodpump for the response.

You said couverture is not idea for frozen stuff, so type of chocolate should I use wih the vegetable oil?


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Use a lower quality "chocolate" like a Callebaut d8-11, something with around 45-50% cocoa content. Once you freeze chocolate, the flavour doesn't really come through so there's no sense in using the good stuff for this purpose. What people want is a thin coating they can "crunch" through. If the coating is very thick, it isn't very fun to eat.

*DO NOT USE *"baking chips" or the like. Remember, if these things won't melt in a 1/4" thick cookie in a 350 F oven for 20 minutes, they won't melt in a pot either.

Thin out the chocolate with the veg oil. Temperature is not really critical, but the hotter your chocolate is, the longer it will take to "dry" on the frozen item, and the softer the frozen item will be once the chocolate hardens. Anywhere from 32-36 C is ideal. Soup warmers don't really have a "low" setting" for this range (it is right in the "danger zone" for perishables), but a crock pot or heating blanket will work.

Hope this helps


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## chocolatehelp (May 20, 2015)

The best thing for you, is to use a cone dipping chocolate. It's easy to melt down and works perfect for what you want to do.


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