# hardening chocolate syrup **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948 "2003-02-05T14:50:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/1 "2003-02-05T14:50:58Z")
I have some chocolate sauce to pour on my ice cream. It will harden into a shell. How do they do this? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/2 "2003-02-05T14:59:43Z")
It says right there on the label - Magic. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/3 "2003-02-05T15:02:02Z")
I believe it’s the fats that are (just) liquid at room temperature, but solidify into a waxlike solid when cooled. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/4 "2003-02-05T15:05:27Z")
…as opposed to solidifying into something other than a solid :smack: ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/5 "2003-02-05T15:08:37Z")
so its temperature and not some sort of chemical thing? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/6 "2003-02-05T15:11:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*…as opposed to solidifying into something other than a solid :smack: \*\* Don’t be so hard on yourself. You had to have some word to apply the adjective to - otherwise you’d have just said “solidify into a waxlike”, which is ungrammatical, or “solidify into wax”, which is incorrect. > [@](#): > > **so its temperature and not some sort of chemical thing?** Both, really. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/7 "2003-02-05T15:13:29Z")
I see…:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/8 "2003-02-05T15:16:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vanilla \* > \*\*I see…:dubious: \*\* OK to qualify, it doesn’t change its chemical structure - which is what I’m guessing you mean. If you heat it up again, it’ll go back to being liquid. But it is because of its chemical structure that it has its melting point between room temperature and ice cream temperature. Both, y’see! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/9 "2003-02-05T15:18:56Z")
Yes!! Now I see! Thanks.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/10 "2003-02-05T15:36:24Z")
If you pull off a bit of the hardened sauce and leave it to return to room temperature, I think it will return to liquid state. The sauce is just a confection like ordinary chocolate, it just happens to be made with ingredients that give it a lower melting point. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/11 "2003-02-05T15:37:33Z")
and what ingredients _are_ those? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/12 "2003-02-05T16:23:25Z")
Fat mostly. Which is why it tastes so goooooood. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/13 "2003-02-05T17:54:24Z")
That stuff is scary; when I worked for Baskin-Robbins, the main ingredient was PARAFFIN (yuck!). I won’t touch the stuff myself. Eva Luna, 3rd-generation ice cream professional ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/14 "2003-02-05T18:51:58Z")
No, you can’t get it to harden on your partner’s body parts, not unless you freeze them first! If that wasn’t your plan, then never mind. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/15 "2003-02-05T18:59:48Z")
Well, you could… You’d just have to find a guy (in my case) who would be willing to have Mr. Winky packed in ice beforehand. I haven’t been able to do this yet, but I keep trying to convince DH that it would be a ‘scientific experiment.’ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/16 "2003-02-05T21:59:37Z")
It’s basically flavored margerine. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/17 "2003-02-05T22:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lost4life \* > \*\*No, you can’t get it to harden on your partner’s body parts, not unless you freeze them first! > > If that wasn’t your plan, then never mind. 😃 \*\* Well, considering his SN, I’m guessing they were going to try it on him… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hardening-chocolate-syrup/152948/18 "2003-02-05T23:11:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eva Luna \* > **That stuff is scary; when I worked for Baskin-Robbins, the main ingredient was PARAFFIN (yuck!). I won’t touch the stuff myself.** Is that right? (USA Paraffin = UK ‘wax’, right?). So it’s not just a waxlike solid, it’s actually wax…mmmmm…chocolate wax. So to sum up, it hardens, solidifying into a solid, hardened waxlike solidified waxy hardened solid wax.