Seven chocolate secrets that many
"chocolate experts" have missed
In swedish
Hello there! My name is Lars Tufvesson.
Today, I am going to reveal seven chocolate secrets,
that many self-proclaimed "chocolate experts"
do not know about. When you have read this article,
you will know more about chocolate than many resellers
of fine chocolate. Read on!
The seven secrets:
Books about chocolate
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Chocolate secret number one:
When we are talking about fine
chocolate, many people are thinking of dark chocolate,
and they are right: Fine chocolate is dark chocolate.
But many "chocolate experts" choose chocolate
with an as high amount of cacao mass as possible.
Now, I am going to reveal chocolate
secret number one for you:
A high amount of cacao mass
does not automatically mean a tastier chocolate! It
is enough with about 75% of cacao mass. A higher percentage
of cacao mass only gives a more bitter taste.
Chocolate secret number two:
Self-proclaimed "chocolate
experts" concentrate on finding a chocolate with
an as high percentage cacao mass as possible. According
to chocolate secret number one, this is wrong, because
about 75% of cacao mass is enough. The higher-percentage-is-better
strategy is the wrong way to chocolate nirvana in other
ways too. You will understand why, when I have revealed
chocolate secret number two for you:
When you are looking for the best
chocolate, you should not use the percentage cacao as
the primary factor. To find the best chocolate, look
at two other criteria before even thinking about the
percentage of cacao mass: The first criteria is type
of chocolate bean. The second criteria is country of
origin.
A real chocolate expert smells
first, and tastes later: Break the piece of pure chocolate
in two parts and rub the parts against each other. Smell
the delicious scents that are released, and let the
chocolate melt in the mouth immediately afterwards.
Never chew a fine chocolate piece. Let it melt in your
mouth instead, and enjoy!
Tasting chocolate is similar to
tasting wine, but while tasting wine is 85% smell and
15% taste, tasting chocolate is 15% smell and 85% taste.
If you want to taste chocolate
together with wine, do like this for every combination
you want to try:
- Drink water to remove the
taste from the previous round.
- Try the chocolate: Break
it, rub it, smell it and taste it. Let the chocolate
melt in your mouth.
- Try the wine: Smell it and
taste it.
Here is a bonus secret
For quality chocolate, you will
be able to find information about the country of origin.
There are manufacturers (Pierre Marcolini) that writes
the country of origin and percentage of cacao on every
piece of chocolate. This is very useful when tasting
chocolate, because otherwise it can be hard to keep
track of the different pieces of chocolate. Here is
the bonus secret:
The text on Pierre Marcolinis
pieces of pure chocolate is made of real gold pressed
on the chocolate. To be able to attach the gold
on the chocolate, alcohol is used. It is not every day
that you have the opportunity to eat gold!
Back to chocolate secret number
two: How to find the best chocolate. Here are som more
details:
How to find the best chocolate
- criteria number one: Type of chocolate bean.
There are three different types
of chocolate beans:
- Criollo. This is the
best chocolate. Just like in the world of wine,
the resulting chocolate is often called Grand Cru.
This bean guarantees a fine chocolate. Somewhat
sweet, somewhat sour.
- Trinitario. This is
a mix of the two other chocolate beans.
- Forastero. This is
the most common chocolate bean. You will find it
in the cheapest chocolate. The bitter taste dominates.
To conceal the bitter taste, flavors not coming
from the chocolate bean (sugar, for instance) are
usually added.
This means that the first criteria
to use to find the best chocolate is: Choose a chocolate
that is made from the Criollo chocolate bean.
How to find the best chocolate
- criteria number two: Country of origin
Chocolate is grown in many places
around the globe. Chocolate tastes different depending
on where the chocolate bean has been grown, even if
it is the same type of chocolate bean. The reason for
this is that the chocolate bean is affected by its surroundings,
for instance type of soil and what other thins that
is grown in the vicinity.
This means that the second criteria
to use to find the best chocolate is: Check the country
of origin, that is, where the chocolate bean has been
grown.
This second criteria is a little
bit harder to use than the first criteria, because now
we are talking about personal taste. You simply have
to test for yourself, in your hunt for the best chocolate
there is, for what you are going to use it for. Here
are some tips to get you going:
- Chocolate from Ecuador
in South America: A chocolate with a balanced taste,
that does not vary very much with time. Sweetness,
saltness, bitterness and sourness (like raspberry).
Like all chocolate from Latin America, this is a
mild chocolate. The taste reminds a little about
mint and tobacco. In Ecuador, chocolate beans are
grown together with bananas, tobacco and citrus
fruits. The chocolate from Ecuador tastes good together
with a mild red wine. On the other hand, chocolate
from Ecuador does not work well together with a
stronger wine like Amarone, because the wine will
dominate and the experience of the fine and good
chocolate will be lost.
- Chocolate from Venezuela
in South America: Smells less than chocolate from
Ecuador. If you want to enjoy fine chocolate, let
it melt slowly in your mouth. If you do this, you
will notice the big difference as compared to chocolate
from Ecuador: Chocolate from Venezuela varies much
more in taste over time: First there is sweetness,
followed by sourness, and ended with bitterness.
You will also experience how the dryness grows with
time. Many experts agree that the worlds finest
chocolate is grown in Venezuela. Chocolate from
Venezuela goes well with a mild red wine. The wine
will increase the taste of saltness, and decrease
the taste of bitterness.
- Chocolate from Madagascar
outside Africa. Chocolate from Africa is stronger
in taste than chocolate from South America. Chocolate
from Madagascar is similar to chocolate from Ecuador.
Chocolate from Madagascar is well balanced, but
tastes more than chocolate from Ecuador, and it
has a dryness that can be experienced at the end.
Works well together with a stronger red wine like
Amarone Massi 98.
- Chocolate from Ghana
in Africa: This chocolate smells less than chocolate
from Madagascar. Chocolate from Ghana is sweet but
not mild. This is the strongest chocolate among
the chocolates mentioned here. At the end, you will
experience the dryness and the bitterness. If you
like Whiskey, try a not too mild Whiskey together
with chocolate from Ghana. Chocolate from Ghana
also goes well together with a strong red wine like
Amarone. Note that the dryness from the Ghana chocolate
will remain after the wine. Not even water will
remove the dryness from the Ghana chocolate. Chocolate
from Ghana do not work well with a mild red wine,
because the chocolate will dominate over the wine.
The dryness of the chocolate reappears after the
wine, and the wine will have more sourness than
we want it to. The chocolate from Ghana is too strong
for the wine.
- Chocolate from Trinidad
(Trinité): The smell from this chocolate
reminds me of mild tobacco. The taste has sourness
and sweetness, and we will also find the bitterness
here. Some people associate the chocolate from Trinidad
with cardamom. This is a chocolate that is good
for cooking (more about this in chocolate secret
number three). This chocolate goes well with a white
wine. The white wine will remove some of the dryness
of the chocolate.
- Chocolate from Java
is sweet and works well with coffee. (All kinds
of chocolate works with coffee, but chocolate from
Java stands out.) Use the chocolate instead of sugar
and milk in the coffee. An even tastier combination
is chocolate from Java and an Espresso.
- Chocolate from Chuao
(a valley in Venezuela) goes well with thé
or coffee. This chocolate has more sourness than
chocolate from Java. Chocolate from Chuao tastes
lemon and lime. When you compare chocolate from
Chuao with chocolate from other parts of Venezuela
(that generally has a dryness), you will find that
chocolate from Chuao has more "fruitness"
in the form of a taste of lime.
Chocolate secret number three:
Let us go directly to chocolate
secret number three:
Grated chocolate works wonderfully
as a taste enhancer in cooking.
The goal is not to get the food
to taste like chocolate. The goal is to enhance the
taste of the food, and make it taste better. Your friends
will not be able to guess that the food is spiced with
chocolate. It will be a surprise when you tell them!
Chocolate from Trinidad works well in food. Here are
some examples on how you can spice food with chocolate:
- Brown sauce. (This is a good
starting point. Little salt, little pepper, and
granted chocolate at the end.)
- Meat in a casserole. (Take
this when you have learnt how to do the brown sauce.)
- Cheese and chili.
- Pasta salad (spice it with
chocolate and parmesan cheese)
You spice the food with grated
chocolate in a similar manner to how you spice it with
pepper, and you use a similar amount. Note that chocolate
is sensible to heat and can not be cooked (the taste-enhancing
effect will disappear). That is why you should spice
your food with chocolate at the end, when the food starts
to become ready.
Chocolate secret number four:
Many people believe that they
will become fat by eating chocolate. They also believe
that they will get pimples. This is partly true for
the chocolate you will find in most shops, because that
chocolate contains other things than pure chocolate,
like sugar and cocos fat. Chocolate secret number four
reveals that despite what everyone think, pure chocolate
is good for your health. (Some chocolate experts
disagree, more about that later.)
Pure chocolate...
- is vitalizing
- enhances your ability to
concentrate
- works against stress
- works against depression
- decreases the risk for blood-clot
- will help your love life
Pure chocolate is harmless for
your body. Pure chocolate contains many good things:
- Anti-oxidants
- A piece of chocolate contains
more calcium, protein and riboflavin than the corresponding
amount of banana or orange.
You will not gain weight by eating
pure chocolate. On the contrary, pure chocolate can
help you loose weight, because your hunger will be satisfied
and chocolate stimulates your body to burn energy faster.
Chocolate secret number five:
Pure chocolate contains about
75% cacao mass and 25% cacao butter.
25% fat may sound much, but here
we are talking about polyunsaturated fat, the same kind
of good fat that is found in fish liver oil. On the
other hand, it might be good to avoid cocos fat, because
that kind of fat is not good for your health.
There are many famous chocolate
manufacturers in Brussels (Belgium). Many consumers
think that all chocolate from Brussels is fine chocolate.
Here is chocolate secret number five:
There is chocolate made in
Brussels that is not made of the finest and best raw
material. Take chocolate from Godiva as an example.
They use the chocolate bean called Forastero, even though
the chocolate bean Criollo is better. If you want the
best chocolate, you should primarily focus on what chocolate
bean that has been used. The same manufacturer use cocos
fat instead of cacao fat. This makes their chocolate
less good for your health than it could have been.
Chocolate secret number six:
Let us move straight to chocolate
secret number six: How chocolate is made.
Chocolate comes from a tree that
grows close to the equator. The chocolate trees have
fruits, that contains beans. The beans look like almonds
and contains around 50% cacao fat.
The beans are fermented in two
weeks, before they are roasted. The roasted beans are
grinded and the skin is peeled off. The mass is heated
to make it possible to separate the bitter cacao mass
from the sweet cacao butter. After that, an appropriate
amount of cacao butter is added to the cacao mass, to
get a good tasting chocolate. The surplus cacao butter
is used for cosmetics and medicine.
Chocolate secret number seven:
A chocolate cream can be mixed
in many ways.
- There are chocolate creams
based on 82% cacao mass that are delicious together
with coffee.
- There are chocolate creams
made of strong chocolate from Madagascar that works
well with strong red wines.
- There are chocolate creams
with citrus peel inside, made of 86% cacao mass
that works well with sweet wines from Madeira.
- The chocolate cream becomes
more white if milk, vanilla and sugar is used. The
bitterness disappears, and is replaced by a strong
sweetness.
- A chocolate cream created
with chocolate from Madagascar with sugar and butter
tastes good with coffee and a strong red wine like
Amarone.
You do not need to use cream in
a chocolate cream. A chocolate cream can remain fresh
for a month.
Now it is time for chocolate secret
number seven:
A truffle is made of a special
receipt containing cream. A truffle remains fresh
only for a couple of days, because it is fermenting.
A Whiskey truffle works well together with Whiskey or
coffee.
That was the last chocolate secret.
Now you know more about chocolate than most people selling
chocolate. Hope you will enjoy your new knowledge. Now,
it is time to enjoy life. A piece of chocolate, maybe?
Lars Tufvesson runs www.bizzbook.com
and can be reached by email: lars@bizzbook.com.
Here are some books about chocolate,
if you want to learn more about chocolate:
After publishing this article
on the Net, a chocolate expert wrote to me, because
he disagreed on some of the points made in the article
about how good chocolate is for your health. If you
are interested, you will find the details below.
Claim: Chocolate increases your
ability to concentrate
This claim was originally made
by a chocolate expert. Another chocolate expert said
that it is not true. I checked some chocolate books
for evidence supporting the claim that chocolate increases
your ability to concentrate, and I found the following:
Page 27 in the swedish translation
of the book "Why women need chocolate" by
Debra Waterhouse:
"Chocolate contains a substance
(in swedish called "teobromin") that is similar
to caffeine, and that affects our brain functionality
in a positive way by making us more alert and more concentrated,
and it also makes us think faster."
Chocolate expert number two replied:
"Teobromin" is a weak
substance, caffeine is "better" for increasing
your ability to concentrate. This is a subjective experience,
and examinations have revealed that you become nervous
after long use.
Who should I trust? Does chocolate
increase my ability to concentrate?
Claim: Chocolate works against
stress
This claim originally came from
a chocolate expert. Another chocolate expert said that
it is not true. I checked some chocolate books for evidence
supporting the claim that chocolate works against stress,
and I found the following:
Page 26 in the swedish translation
of the book "Why women need chocolate" by
Debra Waterhouse:
"About half of the calories
that come from chocolate is sugar, and this increases
the level of serotonine in the brain. The other major
source of calories in chocolate is fat. That is why
chocolate also increases the level of endorfines in
the brain, and the result is effective: A positive mood
and new energy.
Chocolate expert number two replied:
You can find fat and sugar in
all candy. Fat and sugar is nothing to strive for, except
in certain situations of crisis.
Who should I trust? Does chocolate
work against stress?
Claim: Chocolate works against
blood-clot
This claim originally came from
a chocolate expert. Another chocolate expert said that
it is not true. I searched chocolate books for information
supporting the claim that chocolate works against blood-clot,
and found the following:
Pages 151-152 in the swedish book
"Choklad" av Claus Meyer Nielsen:
"Tests have been done on
mice where their food was differentiated. Each mouse
was give 0%, 10%, 20% or 30% cacao butter. The cholesterol
level was measured on the first, 30th, 60th and 90th
day. Those animals that were not given any cacao butter
ended up with a cholesterol level of 150, while those
animals that were given 30% cacao butter only had a
cholesterol level of 100. The reason is that even if
cacao butter contains both unsaturated and saturated
fat, the saturated fat is transformed into unsaturated
fat in the organism. The conclusion is that cacao butter
(and chocolate) lowers the cholesterol level in the
blood."
Chocolate expert number two replied
that there are a lot of fat that is healthier than the
types of fat most frequent in chocolate.
Who should I trust? Does chocolate
work against blood-clot?
Claim: Chocolate helps your love
life
This claim originated from a chocolate
expert. Another chocolate expert said that it is not
true. I took a quick look in some chocolate books for
information supporting the claim that chocolate helps
your love life, and I found the following:
Page 15 in the swedish translation
of the book "A small book about chocolate"
by Jennie Reekie:
"Still, people are debating
if chocolate is a love potion or not. There is though
a connection between eating chocolate and being in love,
or to be more exact: To not be in love. Chocolate contains
a substance that in swedish is called fenyletylamin,
that is also found in the human brain. This substance
is a natural version of amfetamine, that is activated
when people fall in love, and it causes the sensation
of happiness. When you are not in love and feel down
and depressed, it is common to take a chocolate cake
as a consolation. Maybe this is a natural reaction to
replace the missing substance."
Chocolate expert number two replied:
Someone has calculated that for the fenyletylamin in
chocolate to have some effect on the human body, you
have to eat about 14 kilos of chocolate.
Who should I trust? Does chocolate
help my love life?
Claim: Chocolate contains anti-oxidants
This claim originated from a chocolate
expert. Another chocolate expert said that it is not
true. I quickly searched some books for information
supporting the claim that chocolate contains anti-oxidants,
and I found the following:
From the swedish evening paper
Aftonbladet 2003-09-23, referring to BBC:
"Dark chocolate gives a lot
of anti-oxidants.
Good news for all who love dark
chocolate. Recently performed examinations in Scotland
show that dark chocolate increases the level of anti-oxidants
in the blood. Anti-oxidants is considered to protect
against heart deceases. Milk chocolate or dark chocolate
together with milk does not give the same effect. The
researchers are uncertain why, but they think that milk
can affect the ability to absorb anti-oxidants. (BBC)"
Chocolate expert number two replied
that all fruit contain anti-oxidants. This is nothing
special for chocolate.
Who should I trust? Is chocolate
healthy because it contains anti-oxidants?
Claim: Chocolate is healthy
This claim originated from a chocolate
expert. Another chocolate expert said that it is not
true.
Chocolate expert number two finished
with:
"Everything you talk about
can be naturally found in almost all food in different
concentrations without someone making a fuzz about it.
You do not need to come up with strained explanations
about healthiness just because something is good and
do good. That is what we humans always have done, especially
when it comes to eating something not completely healthy.
I believe more in the placebo effect: If you believe
in it, it works."
Who should I trust? Is chocolate
healthy? (Or is the disagreement caused by chocolate
expert number one talking about pure chocolate, while
chocolate expert number two is talking about the chocolate
most of us buy, that is, chocolate mixed with other
substances, not coming from the chocolate bean?)
Tell me what you think! Send an
email to lars@bizzbook.com
.
More about chocolate?
Copyright © 2006 Lars Tufvesson,
All rights reserved.
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