How Chocolate is made
The Geography of Chocolate
Chocolate Economy
Coffee, Tea, Wine and Chocolate
Chocolate Health
Dark, Milk and White Chocolates
Fair Trade Chocolate
Chocolate--The Best Food on Earth
There might be some who would argue that chocolate isn't the finest, most delicious, nutritious and exciting food on the planet, but that argumentative type is one unlikely to visit this site! And if he or she did, we'd have one more argument to make, for chocolate (as the rest of us know) also sweetens the mood, mellows the mind and brings loving feelings to humankind. Part of it's chemistry; --the surge of serotonin into the brain that feels a lot like love, and part of it's just good, old-fashioned taste. We love the way chocolate tastes----but what does that really mean?
Scientists will tell you that the majority of what goes on when we taste a chocolate chip cookie or a delectably fluffy mousse is really about smell. Our sense of smell, the intake of air from our mouths, through the nose and into the olfactory centers of the brain, deciphers the cookie the salty-sweetness of the butter, the dark, semi-bitter scent of brown sugar and the fruity, roasted, nutty aroma of fine chocolate meld together in a symphony of scents. Sure, our taste buds take part in the party, but not as large a part as one would think: in fact, when people lose their sense of smell, the sense of taste follows on its heels. So, the next time you bite down on a fresh, chocolate covered strawberry, thank your nose for doing such a good job of informing you about the flavor dance going on inside your mouth!
But it's not just the flavor of our favorite bean that makes chocolate the best food on Earth. Chocolate has amazing nutritional powers-it packs a lot of power for its size and weight. Polar explorers took pounds of chocolate to the Artic and Antarctic because it's a super-food. The average chocolate contains around half cocoa solids (which is where the flavor comes from, along with all the nutritional benefits) and about half cocoa butter, a natural and healthy fat. Especially when you're involved in exertion such as sports, hiking or working in cold weather, chocolate candy, being 50-75% chocolate, with the rest being sugar or sugar and milk solids, provides quick energy with enough nutritional power to help you power through. Not only that, but you can get a lot of nutrition in a relatively small package. Chocolate is easy to transport, which has made it popular not only with outdoors types and sportsman, but resulted in its long inclusion in military rations.
Taking a chocolate bar along with you is a terrific idea --as long as the weather stays on the cool side! One of the reasons chocolate tastes so marvelous is actually a matter of the way it feels in the mouth. Dark chocolate melts at just below body temperature--around 97 F. or 37 C. When you put it in your mouth, it starts out crisp, with a smooth, nearly cool, feeling, but it soon warms to the temperature of your mouth. The cocoa butter melts, carrying the cocoa solids and that marvelous taste, which excites the taste buds. The excitation of the taste buds unleashes a burst of endorphins, which flood the brain with good feelings, and the smoothness of the warmed chocolate, flowing over the tongue, adds the sensation of physical pleasure to the delight being generated in the brain, for an allover thrill.
Even when you're dieting, chocolate makes an ideal snack. Some diet books recommend that weight watchers eat one ounce of high quality chocolate every day. Calorie for calorie, an ounce of 70% (or higher) pure chocolate satisfies hunger and adds important polyphenols to the body while stimulating the brain to release neurotransmitters that help reduce depression--and food cravings. A little bit of chocolate packs a powerful wallop in any weight loss program.
In one recent report, a hundred grams of chocolate was found to have the following nutritional analysis:
| CARBOHYDRATES including FIBRE | 58 G (6G FIBRES) |
| PROTEIN | 6 G |
| LIPIDES | 30 G |
| CHOLESTEROL | 1 MG |
| VITAMIN A | 0.02 MG |
| VITAMIN B | 0.07 MG |
| VITAMIN B2 | 0.24 MG |
| VITAMIN PP | 1.1 MG |
| IRON | 2.9 G |
| MINERAL SALTS | 4 G |
| POTASSIUM | 400 MG |
| MAGNESIUM | 115 MG |
| CALCIUM | 50 MG |
| PHOSPHORUS | 375 MG |
| SODIUM | 12 MG |
| FLUORINE | TRACES |
| CALORIES | 500 |
And if you're worried about caffeine, a 1.5 ounce bar of dark (around 60%) chocolate contains about 30 mg of caffeine--one third to one fourth of that found in a cup of coffee!
And according to Barry Callebaut, one of the finest chocolate companies in the world, 100 grams of dark chocolate can contain 60% of your RDA (U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance) for copper and magnesium; 35% of the RDA for iron and phosphorus and 100% of your RDA for manganese. Dark chocolate may contain up to 17% of your RDA for zinc. Although some people have reported that chocolate is high in potassium, a report by the Chocolate Manufacturers' Association states that one serving of dark chocolate contains only 3.3% of the RDA for potassium.
Dark chocolate doesn't contain significant amounts of calcium, but milk chocolate, and white chocolate do, since milk solids are added to the chocolate mass to create the candy. However, it's not a great idea to eat milk or white chocolate for the calcium, since you're also getting a big dose of sugar in every bite. If you love chocolate but must avoid sugar because of diabetes or other health problems, there are some wonderful sugar-free chocolates on the market that will deliver all the taste with none of the sugar.
Chocolate Desserts
If you've been keeping up with the news on chocolate, you probably know that the darker the chocolate is, the greater the health benefits. Fine;let's all eat deep, rich chocolate, 75% -85% chocolate, for our health (okay, and because some of us adore it). But let's not forget the delight of a chocolate cake covered in Lindt milk chocolate, a box of assorted Valentine's chocolates or the fantastic flavor of soft, malty Ovaltine, served hot in a mug with a slice of gingerbread on the side. Chocolate isn't just for your health: it's a darned delicious gourmet food, the perfect addition to mole sauces, meat rubs, cocoa-spiced roasted nuts and ooh--just a sprinkling of bitter cocoa powder on the top of a tira misu. And for the pure, innocent taste of chocolate wickedness, check out this recipe for homemade chocolate liqueur.
Sugar syrup, made by boiling 1 Cup water with 1 cup sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved.
1/2 Cup cocoa powder.
A tiny pinch of salt.
1 Vanilla bean, or 2 tsps vanilla extract.
1 Cup Vodka (cheap is fine: you're going to make it magical!)
Stir a little of the hot sugar syrup into the cocoa powder to dissolve it and make a smooth paste. Once the cocoa is completely dissolved, add all the sugar syrup, and the salt. Put the vanilla bean into the bottle to be used for the liqueur (or add the extract to the liquid cocoa). Let the cocoa syrup cool, then strain the liquid through a cheesecloth. Add the vodka and seal the bottle.
You can use this chocolate liqueur for choco-tinis, (rim the glass with a mixture of cocoa powder and granulated sugar, add the liqueur and an ice cube, serve); as an addition to chocolate desserts, or as a lovely nightcap.
Chocolate--Just for People, Please!
Don't give your cats or dogs chocolate! Chocolate contains theobromine, which humans like just fine, but this chemical will make pets sick, and if they get enough of it, it can kill them.