Advice needed for storing home-made truffles

[Emmalou]

Hello, I have volunteered to make truffles for our school's Xmas fayre and as the big day approaches am realizing that I may have storage problems. I have 2 recipes, one with cream and an italian one without cream. Do I really need to store them in the fridge? I have a cool utility room, could I not put them in air-tight containers in there? Or even just packaged up in there? They will be made 3 days before the fayre. Any advice would be a god-send.

[Serah]

May I humbly suggest that you make up a small batch now, store them in small batches in different manners and then in 3 days time do a taste test? This way, you will know for sure which is the best storage manner

Can you post your recipes too???? Its ages since I made truffles and I can't remember how

[Serah]

PS one thing I know for sure is the tuffles I used to make were stoed in the pantry, not the fridge.

[Serah]

Is there any point in correcting my spelling? Just send me a truffle

[Carmenere]

They will be fine in the utility room

[Emmalou]

Hi everyone, thanks for the advice and the funny spellings .... Carmenere - can I store the truffles made with cream in the utility room as well? Thanks. Will dig out recipes and post asap.

[Emmalou]

Hi again, on a slightly different but related note, can anyone explain what tempering means with regard to melting chocolate? Thanks.

[sunchowder]

It is when you heat the chocolate up to body temp (I think) and then you add additional bits of non-melted chocolate to it--this is what gives chocolate it's shine. If you overheat chocolate it looks terrible too. Has to be just right.

[Tamba]

mmmmmmmm i want a truffle

[sunchowder]

Here it is exactly, I was wrong about body temperature:
"chocolate with a dusty look. This means the chocolate was exposed to heat (a warm truck during shipping or a warm storage cupboard). While it won't really effect the taste of the chocolate, it does make for a unappetizing appearance.

Tempering returns the cocoa butter crystals to suspension within the chocolate mass and produces a chocolate with a dark glossy appearance and a firm consistency. There are many processes used for tempering but I have found the following to be most reliable. You will need a double boiler (I've used a metal bowl over a shallow sauce pan if a real double boiler wasn't available), a candy thermometer that will register low temperatures to 28ØC/82.4?F, a rubber spatula and at least one pound of semi-sweet, milk or white chocolate chopped into small pieces.

Melt 2/3 of the chocolate in the double boiler over hot, but not simmering, water that is not touching the bottom of the container holding the chocolate. (Remember, the biggest enemy of real chocolate is heat, so don't let the water get too hot.) Melt the chocolate until it reaches a temperature of approximately 45?C/113?F. Remove the top of the double boiler containing the chocolate and place it on a towel on the counter. Beat in the remaining 1/3 of chopped chocolate letting the mixture cool to approximately: 31?C/87.8?F for semisweet chocolate, 29?C/84.2?F for milk chocolate, and 28ØC/82.4?F for white chocolate. Mixture should be smooth and glossy. Hold at that temperature by moving the container on and off the hot water while you dip or mold your chocolates. "

[Carmenere]

Hi there, tempering chocolate is something that chocolatiers do to make the texture of the chocolate finer. It's a process of melting it and pouring it out onto marble and then kind of mixing it around with a couple of spatulas before using it. I'm not sure if it's neccesary with commercially available chocolate.

AFAIK your truffles, even when made with cream, should be ok as long as the larder is very cool.