Chocolate Facts
Chocolate facts from around the internet:
Chocolate Facts Of Origin
Chocolate, or the cocoa bean, was "discovered" by Columbus and brought back to Spain although
it had been used by the Aztecs since the year 400. Chocolate as a drink was quite popular in Europe
in the mid 1600's, but chocolate as a solid wasn't introduced until 1847.
Thirty years later, milk was added to create milk chocolate and candy bars have been enjoyed world wide ever since!
Making Chocolate
The chocolate facts of making chocolate are simple, but each maker has his own secret recipes.
First off, the cocoa beans are roasted and ground up. Next you add sugar and the other ingredients
(milk if you are making milk chocolate). Each maker will have a different list of ingredients.
The ingredients are blended together through a method called conching which uses a special machine.
Finally, the chocolate is tempered -heated up and then cooled again for the final result.
Chocolate Facts - Nutrition
Good quality chocolate is actually rather nutritious!
It contains vitamins and minerals including calcium and magnesium.
It also contains anti-oxidants that help to prevent cancer and heart disease.
These benefits are found mostly in dark chocolate and only in high quality chocolates that use 60%
or more cocoa solids. Cheap chocolate is mostly fat and sugar and has little nutritional value.
Chocolate Facts – Storing
You should store chocolate in a cool, dry place.
It does absorb flavors so make sure you wrap it tight. You can freeze it for up to 6 months.
Chocolate stays good for up to a year.
Other chocolate facts and definitions:
Chocolate is made from beans, the Nib is the heart of the bean or what remains after they are roasted and shelled.
Ground nibs are called liquor they are unsweetened and liquid when warm but solid when cooled.
The fat of the bean is Cocoa butter and when pressed out, the powdery stuff left is cocoa powder.
That white stuff you see sometimes on milk chocolate is called fat bloom, it doesn't affect the taste and you can
still eat chocolate that has it!
Chocolate was considered an aphrodisiac by the Aztecs
White chocolate isn't really chocolate at all since it contains no chocolate liquor!
It still tastes pretty good, though doesn't it?
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