rect shape.

[Illustration: CHOCOLATE SHAKING TABLE.]

The most important factor in obtaining a good appearance is the
temperature, and chocolate is frequently passed through a machine
(called a tempering machine) merely to give it the desired temperature.
A suitable temperature for moulding, according to Zipperer, varies from
28 deg. C. on a hot summer's day to 32 deg. C. on a winter's day. As the melting
point of cacao butter is about 32 deg. C, it will be realized that the
butter is super-cooled and is ready to crystallize on the slightest
provocation. Each mould has to contain the same quantity of chocolate.
Weighing by hand has been abandoned in favour of a machine which
automatically deposits a definite weight, such as a quarter or half a
pound, of the chocolate paste on each mould. The chocolate stands up
like a lump of dough and has to be persuaded to lie down and fill the
mould. This can be most effectively accomplished by banging the mould up
and down on a table. In the factory the method used is to place the
moulds on rocking tables which rise gradually and fall with a bump. The
diagram will make clear how these vibrating tables are worked by means
of ratchet wheels. Rocking tables are made which are silent in action,
but the moulds jerkily dancing about on the table make a very lively
clatter, such a noise as might be produced by a regiment of mad cavalry
crossing a courtyard. During the shaking-up the chocolate fills every
crevice of the mould, and any bubbles, which if left in would spoil the
appearance of the chocolate, rise to the top. The chocolate then passes
on to an endless band which conducts the mould through a chamber in
which cold air is moving. As the chocolate cools, it solidifies and
contracts so that it comes out of the mould clean and bright. In this
way are produced the familiar sticks and cakes of chocolate. A similar
method is used in producing "Croquettes" and the small tablets known as
"Neapolitans." Other forms require more elaborate moulds; thus the
chocolate eggs, which fill the confectioners' windows just before
Easter, are generally hollow, unless they are very small, and are made
in two halves by pressing chocolate in egg-shaped moulds and then
uniting the two halves. Chocolate cremes, caramels, almonds and, in
fact, fancy "chocolates" generally, are produced in quite a different
manner. For these _chocolats de fantaisie_ a rather liquid chocolate is
required known as covering ch