Got Chocolate?

According to the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, Americans consumed 3.3 billion pounds (1.5 billion kg) of chocolate in 2000, about 12 lbs. (5.33 kg) per person. In Europe, Switzerland had the highest chocolate consumption at 22 lbs (10.1 kg) per person in 2000, according to CAOBISCO, the Association of the Chocolate, Biscuit & Confectionery Industries of the European Union.

Chocolate comes from beans harvested from the cocoa tree, Theobroma cacao, which is native to Central America. One of the principal chemicals in chocolate is theobromine, which is in the same class of compounds as caffeine (also present in chocolate). According to the Hershey Foods Web site, "theobromine occurs naturally in cocoa beans and is present in all chocolate products. The amount of theobromine in the finished product depends on the type of chocolate used and the serving size. Milk chocolate contains less theobromine than semi-sweet or dark chocolate."

According to Washington Post food writer Robert Wolke here are some basics about how chocolate is made:

Cacao beans are found inside seed pods attached directly to the trunk or branches of the cacao tree; each pod contains up to 40 seeds (Sciencenews.org). The beans are fermented and dried, then shipped off to the chocolate factory, where they are roasted and ground. The grinding melts the fat, which makes up about 55% of the bean, and is known as cocoa butter. The result is chocolate liquor, which consists of the ground-up solids suspended in melted fat; this is the starting point for all chocolate products.

After cooling, the chocolate liquor solidifies into unsweetened bitter chocolate that are sold in stores for baking. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that this unsweetened chocolate contain between 50% and 58% fat. Semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate contains chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, an emulsifier, and sometimes other flavorings. Because semisweet chocolate may contain only 35% fat it will have different cooking characteristics than the unsweetened chocolate. Milk chocolate contains less chocolate liquor (between 10% and 35%) than dark chocolate (30% to 80%) because the added milk solids reduce the percentage. FDA is the regulatory entity that sets the ingredient standards for the different varieties of chocolate manufactured in the United States.

Before chocolate is ready to be made into bars or for coating (enrobing) assorted fillings, like nuts and cherries, it goes through two processes:

Conching. This is a process that rolls and kneads the chocolate to give it a smoother and richer eating quality. The word comes from the shell-like shape of the rollers in the machine.

Tempering. This process cools the chocolate and stabilizes the fat crystals so they become more uniform in size. The crystals should be very tiny (about 40 millionths of an inch); bigger crystals (as large as 2 thousandths of an inch) would result in grainy chocolate.

Given the many brands of chocolate available what should you taste for when sampling chocolate? According to Lindt USA, appearance, smell, and taste are key when tasting chocolate.

Appearance. What is the texture of the chocolate? How does it break? Does it crumble or does it break cleanly with a snap? Does it begin to melt if you hold it for a few seconds? Is the surface shiny? A grayish appearance means the chocolate has Fat Bloom. Fat Bloom occurs when chocolate is stored at high temperatures or experiences widely fluctuating temperatures; the cocoa butter crystallizes on the surface as grayish streaks. Sugar Bloom occurs when moisture or extremely high humidity causes the sugar to dissolve out of the chocolate, giving it a gritty texture. In either case, the chocolate is probably still edible but the appeal and taste are greatly diminished.

Smell. If you inhale the aroma of the chocolate you are eating, you should be able to detect a milky scent in milk chocolate and a bittersweet one in dark chocolate.

Taste. The fat in chocolate melts at 86 to 97 degrees Fahrenheit, just below body temperature, so if you take a bite, it should literally melt in your mouth. If you taste a granular residue, then there may be too much sugar. If it doesn't melt easily and you still have to chew it, then the chocolate is probably too dry.

A high cocoa content is no guarantee of a chocolate's flavor and quality. The final taste depends more on the blend of beans and how they were processed and used in production.

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