HOW TO CREATE STABLE CHOCOLATE GANACHE?

a little trick which elevates your chocolate creations by a lot
I know you're in rush and want to know a secret sauce. Have you ever heard about chocolate tempering and know why it's important? Yes, you get me right, you do need to temper chocolate in your ganache as well. This is the secret of stable ganache with long shelf life. If this information is enough for you, go ahead and try it, but if you want to learn more about ganache tempering, I encourage you to read further.
Theory
Ganache contains a lot of cocoa butter as its main component is chocolate, thus it inherits polymorphism. Check out my previous post about tempering and 6 types of cocoa butter crystals. And since it is polymorphic, the same as chocolate, If ganache is not properly pre-crystallized with stable fat crystals, it will not set with a firm, uniform texture. This results in centers that are too soft to handle and a grainy texture produced by the development of large fat crystals during storage. You may easily encounter cracked shells, if not already.
Practice
How to keep cocoa butter in tempered state when working with ganache?
  1. Use tempered chocolate when preparing ganache as it contains stable Form V crystals.
  2. Control temperature. Your ganache mixture should not exceed 34C, to save stable crystals. Think about ganache as it would be chocolate in this sense.
  3. Stir it gently for proper crystals destitution.
  4. Work in a proper environment. Ideal temperature at which ganache should be crystallized is 18-20C. Crystallization takes time, so you don’t need to rush here. The same as for chocolate. No matter what, don’t use refrigeration until it’s fully set.
  5. As the result, following guidelines above, you will improve your ganache solution by a lot, especially it makes a difference when it comes to shelf life.
Want more tips to improve your artisan skills? I have a couple of free tools for you. Follow my newsletter, blog, and Instagram to acquire knowledge for free.

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