All About Chocolate, Part II
The Making of Chocolate and the Different Types
I once remember saying that I could live on diet colas, cigarettes, cheese, and chocolate. Well today, the cigarettes are gone; I drink a lot of water instead of sodas; lowfat cheese is not as much fun, but there's still chocolate! I haven't met a woman yet; who doesn't crave chocolate at least once a month. It's part of our chemical make up. I don't know many men who would turn down a decadent chocolate confection. This week's feature is the continuation of the history of chocolate, from Part I. Read how this popular drink became an even more popular edible delicacy. Also, find out about the different types. Are you ready to salivate?
Enjoy!
It took nearly a century to develop edible milk chocolate candies. In the late 1700's, a steam engine was built by an Englishman to crush and mix the chocolate paste. In the early, 1900's a Dutchman invented the cocoa press, which is used to press the cocoa butter out of the roasted cocoa beans. This led the way for the development of cocoa powder. The first chocolate bar was made by mixing cocoa butter and chocolate liquor with sugar. It was a Swiss man who perfected a means of condensing milk and sold the process to Henri Nestle who produced the first milk chocolate bar. Rodolphe Lindt developed a process called "conching" which further refines the chocolate. The process for making filled candies was created by Jules Suchaud.
COCOA is the powder that comes from hydraulic (steam) pressing of the unsweetened chocolate. It is the strongest in flavor with the least amount of fat.
COCOA BUTTER is the natural vegetable fat of the cacao plant.
CHOCOLATE CHIPS are mostly made from semi-sweet dark chocolate. When they are baked, they retain their shape.
CHOCOLATE LIQUOR is the dark brown liquid from grinding the roasted cocoa beans.
DARK CHOCOLATE can be bittersweet, semi-sweet or sweet dark chocolate. It just depends on the sugar content.
SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE is different amounts of sugar, vanilla combined with chocolate liquor.
UNSWEET CHOCOLATE or BAKING CHOCOLATE is pure chocolate liquor. Most of this chocolate is found in squares, but there is one type that is pre-melted and is sealed in pouches.
WHITE CHOCOLATE is chocolate without cocoa solids, and so, actually, it is not really a chocolate.
