By Mike Selvon
Even though most people today think of chocolate as a quite delicious, albeit a very common, treat, not as many people are aware that there was a time and place when it was considered to be a “food of the gods” or to be a healing remedy. In various ancient civilizations, primarily in Central and South America, chocolates were not for the common man, but were reserved for special uses and special people. (more…)
Chocolate liquor is blended with the cocoa butter in varying quantities to make different types of chocolate or couvertures. The basic blends of ingredients for the various types of chocolate (in order of highest quantity of cocoa liquor first), are as follows:
Usually, an emulsifying agent such as soy lecithin is added, though a few manufacturers prefer to exclude this ingredient for purity reasons and to remain GMO free, sometimes at the cost of a perfectly smooth texture. Some manufacturers are now using PGPR, an artificial emulsifier derived from castor oil that allows them to reduce the amount of cocoa butter while maintaining the same mouthfeel.
The texture is also heavily influenced by processing, specifically conching (see below). The more expensive chocolate tends to be processed longer and thus have a smoother texture and “feel” on the tongue, regardless of whether emulsifying agents are added.
Different manufacturers develop their own “signature” blends based on the above formulas, but varying proportions of the different constituents are used.
The finest, plain dark chocolate couvertures contain at least 70% cocoa (both solids and butter), whereas milk chocolate usually contains up to 50%. High-quality white chocolate couvertures contain only about 33% cocoa.
Producers of high quality, small batch chocolate argue that mass production produces bad quality chocolate.
Some mass-produced chocolate contains much less cocoa (as low as 7% in many cases) and fats other than cocoa butter. Vegetable oils and artificial vanilla flavor are often used in cheaper chocolate to mask poorly fermented and/or roasted beans.
In 2007, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association in the United States, whose members include Hershey, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland, lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to change the legal definition of chocolate to let them substitute partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for cocoa butter in addition to using artificial sweeteners and milk substitutes.
Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow a product to be referred to as “chocolate” if the product contains any of these ingredients.
Article Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate#Types_of_chocolate
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