Another good question in a long list of chocolate queries (I swear I really did make an Opera cake, shortly I’ll put up the pictures to prove it). Melted chocolate “seizes” when it comes into contact with small amounts of water. The question is: why? The answer is that melted chocolate is a flowing mixture of fat, cocoa solids and sugar that’s easily upset. It contains almost no water at all, but when a small amount is added, several things happen. First, the sugar in the matrix grabs hold of the water (sugar does that) and a syrup is created. That syrup is quite sticky and it acts like glue on the cocoa solids, causing them to clump together. The result is that the molten chocolate stops flowing and turns into a grainy paste. Can anything be done about it? Funny you asked that. It just so happens I have my camera handy…
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So, does that mean that unsweetened chocolate won’t seize? I always thought that something similar happened to other fatty substances when water is added–peanut butter, for example, seizes when you add water (or water in the form of honey). But pure peanut butter doesn’t have sugar in it…
Hey Kelly!
No, the amount of sugar doesn’t impact seizing. It’s the chocolate solids that stick together. Something different is operating when you add water to fatty mixtures: a lack of an emulsion. You need to really apply elbow grease to establish one…if you can. Some mixtures just don’t have the molecular gunk (emulsifiers) in them to keep one going!
Thanks for the question!
- Joe