More to Chocolate Than Meets the Taste Buds 2022
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Originally Published April 7, 2020. Updated on October 28, 2022.
There are multiple days throughout the year to celebrate chocolate-ly goodness.
October 28th is National Chocolate Day. It’s right before Halloween which is essentially another day to celebrate chocolate in candy form. But there are many other ways to enjoy chocolate.
Today, we will look at some general chocolate information and several chocolate recipes.
Chocolate Love
Most people have a favorite chocolate flavor and never go beyond what is familiar. However, there are many varieties and the process of developing these is interesting. You might be surprised to find that there’s more to chocolate than meets the taste buds.
The cacao beans are found inside the fruit of the Theobroma cacao tree. Once removed, they are fermented, dried, roasted, and ground into cocoa butter and chocolate liquor. It is in the combination of different quantities of cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, and sugar that produces the different types of chocolate available and enjoyed today.
Types of Chocolate
Cocoa powder is made from chocolate liquor which has been partially defatted, dried and ground. Natural cocoa powder is lighter in color than that which has gone through the Dutch-process.
Unsweetened chocolate is made from pure chocolate liquor and is also called ‘bitter’ or ‘baking’ chocolate. This is best used in recipes that call for sugar. This form of chocolate is used to create other varieties of chocolate except for white chocolate.
Dark chocolate contains chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, vanilla, sugar and lecithin, which is an emulsifier. This type of chocolate can range from 30% to 80% cocoa solids. The higher percentage of cocoa solids will determine how sweet or bitter chocolate will be.
Bittersweet chocolate has at least 35% cocoa solids but can have up toward 80% chocolate liquor. There is no requirement to the amount of sugar in bittersweet chocolate so the taste will vary depending upon the manufacturer.
Semi-sweet chocolate has at least 35% cocoa solids. It’s used primarily in the United States to make chocolate chips.
Milk chocolate includes cocoa butter, chocolate liquor and either dry milk solids or condensed milk. It must contain 10% chocolate liquor, 12% milk solids, and at least 3.39% butterfat. It is much sweeter than semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate.
White chocolate does not contain chocolate liquor but must contain at least 20% cocoa butter, 14% milk solids and no more than 55% sugar. Be sure to purchase white chocolate with the cocoa butter and milk solids or you won’t be getting real white chocolate.
These aren’t all the different varieties of chocolate, but they’re the ones most people are familiar with. Even comparing these seven types of chocolate, you can see that there’s more to chocolate than meets the taste buds.
Let’s Celebrate with Some Chocolate
Loving Life — The Reboot!
Dominique
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