Chocolate. It has multiple shapes, sizes, intensities, and flavors. We cook with it. Drink it. Give it as gifts. It melts on our fingers and brings us joy when we eat it. But what is it?
This article discusses what chocolate is, why we crave it, and what chocolate means to the world.
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What is chocolate?
Chocolate is a natural product made from the cacao tree within the 20/20 region. This means that the cacao tree grows from 20° above the equator to 20° below the equator. Chocolate comes from large, coffee-like beans that grow in yellow, red, or purple pods along the trunk and branches of the Criollo, Forestero, and Trinitario cacao trees. A single pod holds 20 to 60 beans and requires six months to grow.
When ripe, cacao harvesters pick the pod from the tree, open it with a machete, and scoop out the beans. Next, they ferment the beans in large boxes for several days, then dry them. At this point, they are sent out to companies for processing into either cocoa powder or bean-to-bar creations.
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It takes about 40 cocoa beans to make a two-ounce chocolate bar. Each cocoa bean is about the size of a butter bean or kidney bean. First, the beans are roasted, then shelled and ground into a cocoa liquor paste. When the beans reach paste, add sugar and milk if you want. At that point, temper the chocolate and put it in molds. Once cooled and set, your chocolate is ready to eat.
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What is the difference between dark, milk, and white chocolate?
We often pair chocolate with wine, cheese, movies, and holidays. We use it as toppings, ingredients for cooking, decorative side pieces, or by itself. We enjoy multiple qualities and varieties. But what is the difference in percentage?
Dark chocolate
This dark delight consists of cocoa, cocoa butter, and sugar. As categories, bittersweet chocolate is considered 35% cacao and above, and dark chocolate is 65%-80% cocoa. We often use both in cooking, but many people enjoy dark chocolate as a plain, bittersweet treat. Here’s the interesting part. The U.S. doesn’t have a minimum percentage of chocolate required to call themselves dark chocolate, but in Europe, it must have a minimum of 35% cocoa content.
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Milk chocolate
In the U.S., milk chocolate must contain at least 10% pure chocolate and at least 12% milk product. It should have a smooth, silky texture and a warm, brown color. European milk chocolate must have 25% cocoa, and in the U.K. 20% is the minimum cocoa percentage.
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White chocolate
The ingredients in white chocolate include cocoa butter, milk powder, and sugar. This chocolate has no cocoa solids mixed in but is still considered a form of chocolate because cocoa butter is part of the cocoa plant. For white chocolate, Europe and the U.S. require a minimum of 14% milk solids and 20% cocoa butter.
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Why do we crave chocolate?
Chocolate, or Theobroma cacao, is a mild stimulant, antidepressant, and in its purest form, a health food loaded with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. It even fights the aging process. So while chocolate may hold all the answers to our health issues, that’s not the only reason we crave it.
We load our chocolate with sugar. Chocolate is one of the most addictive substances on the planet, primarily because of the added processed sugar. The more we eat, the more we want.
What does chocolate mean to us?
Chocolate is simply a sweet treat for many of us, a quick fix to a sugar craving with a creamy, delectable flavor that infuses our veins with a mild stimulant. But that’s not all.
Chocolate is a massive, $103 billion industry fraught with espionage, corruption, and slave labor. Recipes are kept locked away, processes protected, and non-disclosure agreements signed.
Children are bought, stolen, or tricked into slavery on cacao farms, where they toil for years in dreadful conditions that we pray our children never suffer.
That’s why buying fair trade becomes more important every day. Paying a little more for better chocolate ensures living wages for families to provide for their children. In addition, fair trade gives children in third-world countries the opportunity for regular meals, clothing, and education.
To find out what’s fair trade and what’s not, go to F.E.P.’s Chocolate List – Food Empowerment Project (foodispower.org). Check the list often as it grows more every day. They continually contact companies worldwide, so you know where your money goes.
Learn more about fair trade here.
Sources
Does Chocolate Have Milk In It? | U.S. Dairy (usdairy.com)
Chocolate – Recipes and Techniques From the Ferrandi School of Culinary Arts. Flammarion, Ferrani, 2019.
F.E.P.’s Chocolate List – Food Empowerment Project (foodispower.org)