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sous vide caramelized white chocolate

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Nik Sharma

Hey Friends, I’m a multi-award-winning and best-selling cookbook author and photographer.

This isn’t groundbreaking rocket science by any means, but the strength of this method lies in its simplicity and convenience. Caramelizing white chocolate can be accomplished by heating the chocolate in a warm oven or microwave. But depending on how these methods are performed, you can destroy the structure of white chocolate, dry it out (if you use a wide baking dish), and risk over-burning the chocolate (microwaves are notorious for this). After attempting several methods to make caramelized white chocolate at home, I’ve found the sous vide to be the best, least stressful, and something I can leave and walk away from and get the other stuff I need done. I use the Joule Sous Vide that I’ve really grown to love over the years.

Though the term “caramelize” is applied to this, it involves two separate reactions;

  1. Caramelization of Sugars – this involves a bunch of different reactions where sugars like lactose (milk sugar), sucrose, glucose, and fructose undergo a series of complex reactions to produce bittersweet tastes, toasty and nutty aromas, and the caramel family of brown-colored pigments. This reaction occurs in the presence of heat.
  2. The Maillard reaction is a distinctly separate reaction from caramelization. Reducing sugars react with the amino acids present in proteins to produce new flavors and brown-colored pigments. Both of these reactions occur simultaneously in the chocolate. Other flavor reactions involve the chocolate’s fat; some lipids (fats are a type of lipid) undergo oxidation and change their flavor. 

Both of these reactions occur simultaneously in the chocolate. Other flavor reactions that also occur involve the fat present in the chocolate. Some of the fats undergo oxidation, etc., and change their flavor. 

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sous vide caramelized white chocolate

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This is an easy way to caramelize white chocolate and create that aromatic, irresistible flavor. Sous vide provides a controlled temperature environment to carefully do this without destroying the chocolate. Make a big batch and use it in all your recipes. 

You can scale this method as needed. Canning and old jam jars work great here because they can withstand increased air pressure and temperature. If you have a sous vide cooking container, by all means, use that.

Ingredients

1 cup/180 g white chocolate

Instructions

  1. Place the chocolate chips in a heat-proof jar, seal with a lid, and place it in a wide and deep enough heat-proof container or Dutch oven. Fill the pot with enough water to ensure that the water is slightly above the chocolate chips. Seal the mouth of the container of the Dutch oven tightly with cling wrap to form a seal. Set the sous vide to 200F/93C for 4 hours. The chocolate will turn a toffee brown color, remove the jar from the water, cool before using. The chocolate will stay in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

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