I bought a bunch of strawberries at the store. I decided I wanted to have some chocolate to dip them in but I didn't have any chocolate in a jar. I took some Hershey kisses out of the freezer and put them in the microwave to melt. The chocolate didn't melt and just clumped together. Its crunchy chocolate and tastes terrible.

What went wrong?

Usually, chocolate is melted at home using a double boiler, which cannot heat the choclate over 212°F. I suspect that you cooked the chocolate, which could have produced the effect you describe.

An article about melting chocolate

These are just my guesses there is too much stuff on the web about Hershey kisses to sort through:
1. Freezing of the kisses may have damaged them. Freezer burn.
2. Kisses are more challenging to melt. They probably have additives that hold the form more than just plain old chocolate in bar form.
3. You probably didn't melt them with the right amount of heat... clumpiness suggests that you had too much heat.
4. You may have needed to add a little lard or vegetable oil to the pot to get the chocolate to go into suspension. Some of the recipes I saw online suggested Crisco to make it easier to melt the chocolate and get a creamy consistency.
5. Finally... make sure you take the foil wrappers off next time

I think you should try again and use a double boiler and fresh chocolate and it should be alright. I've even managed to do it so it can't be terribly hard.

I suspect that Ami is right; it was probably the foil wrapping that did Clare in.

EASY Chocolate Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

24 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1-1/4 C. evaporated milk
1/4 C. sugar
2 t. vanilla extract
1 T. fruit flavored liqueur
Dippers: cubed poundcake, fruit, pretzels, cookies, marshmallows
PREPARATION:

Place ingredients (except dippers) into a crockpot. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes. Stir well. Cook 1 more hour on low. Use skewers or small tongs to dip into the chocolate.

My sons love this!

For chocolate coatings its 1 tablespoon of grease (shortening, peanut or vegetable oil) to 6 - 8 ounces of solid chocolate and melt them together.

Do not use butter because it contains water.

Double Boiler: Fill a saucepan with water up to the point that the double boiler bowl would rest its bottom in the water when put in place. Bring the water to a full boil and turn off the heat. Place the double boiler bowl filled with chocolate (and grease if you're making chocolate candy coating) on top of the boiled water. Do what you have to do and come back after 25 minutes and carefully stir the chocolate. If it still has a way to go, turn the burner on warm or low to help it along. When the chocolate has melted, carefully remove the bowl of chocolate and wipe off the bottom of it with a dishtowel

Your chocolate mixture shouldn’t boil not even tiny bubbles – instead it should slowly melt together.

Dip or brush on the coating (If you brush it on it will take a few coats Chill in refrigerator for 4-6 hours (to solidify the chocolate) Or eat immediately (That is the method we prefer around here ).

An alternative to a double boiler (if you don’t have one) would be a large pot with a smaller pot inside – with spoons to hold the bottom of the smaller pot of the bottom of the larger pot – you want to heat the large pot, heating water which in turn heats the smaller pot. Direct heat leads to uneven heating on the bottom of pots – the water distributes the heat evenly in this case the stored heat is being released over a period of time causing a slow melt of the chocolate.

Add NO WATER to chocolate – water, even a single drop can ruin the chocolate - causing it to turn grayish colored, causing it to clump. Shortening is suggested because it doesn’t contain water. Even a hot humid day can present problems.

Microwaves have their place (heating water for tea) however for confections, baked goods, good home cooked meals they are basically useless. In the case of chocolate there isn’t any water in a bar of chocolate to heat up rapidly and evenly enough – so in this case what happened is that you cooked/scorched the chocolate well before it actually “melted”. The nasty flavor was burnt chocolate ;-)

Thank you all for your input. It made sense at the time.

I think I'm going to just get the chocolate in a jar and warm it in a pot on the stove. No foil wrappers to worry about.

Professional restaurants/caterers use the microwave to melt chocolate all the time. It's easy and quick.

For brownies, use baking chocolate and add water, cover the container.

For dipping, use "dipping chips", and again cover the container. They will be lumpy when you remove then, but a quick stir will finish the melting process.

Claire, your technique was right, your chocolate choice was wrong.

NC

*Sparkle*

You spelled my name wrong! I'm depressed now. I may have to get some chocolate today. Strawberries and chocolate. Mmmmmmmmm

Thanks for the advice. Its nice to see you again.