Sue Quinn explains how to handle one of Britain’s best-loved ingredients…

“Chocolate is one of our most remarkable foods.” Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

As an ingredient, chocolate’s personality is unique: it possesses certain quirks that are both loveable and challenging at the same time. For example, chocolate not only delivers flavour and richness to a dish, it can also provide the structure. (Cocoa particles contain starch and fat, so by adding eggs for moisture and setting purposes, it is possible to make a chocolate cake without any flour.) But accidentally splash a tiny amount of water into the chocolate as you melt it and the glossy pool will seize and transform to a gritty mass. Understanding the science will help you work with it in the kitchen.

Chocolate is a poor heat conductor, so for easy melting, chop it into very small pieces first or blitz to a crumb in a food processor. This way, as much of the surface area as possible is exposed to heat. There are several ways to melt chocolate, but whichever method you find most convenient, be sure not to let it get too hot. Heating chocolate to higher than around 45°C (113°F) can destroy the emulsifying agents, commonly lecithin, which manufacturers add to make it flow and melt easily. Overheated chocolate can ‘curdle’ – the cocoa butter will start to separate from the cocoa solids – and turn grainy. Dark chocolate, being just cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar, can be melted and solidified repeatedly. Because milk chocolate contains milk solids, it should be melted more gently.