Guide to Buying Chocolate What Everybody Ought to Know
Buying chocolate is an adventure because of all the different types of chocolate available. Learn what makes up bittersweet, sweet, white, semi-sweet, dark, and milk chocolate and the health benefits of each type.
History
Buying chocolate, whether for yourself or especially as a gift for a special someone, creates a feeling like no other. Just the thought of chocolate makes us feel good! This sensation has been documented as far back as 1100 BC. Even the Aztecs were aware of it and made a beverage meaning “bitter water” which was used to fight fatigue. Using chocolate as a beverage has been popular throughout history, often as a luxury for royalty.
Types, Shapes and Sizes
There are so many types, shapes, and sizes of chocolate that you could never buy or see all of them nor the spectacular designs in various contests and events that have been presented over time.
What Type Do You Choose?
Attempt to find out what the recipient prefers because most people do have their favorite. If you do not know, you are probably safest with an assortment of both milk and dark chocolate. The more expensive chocolates are processed longer and have a smoother texture. Be aware of some very inexpensive chocolates that can contain as low as 7% cocoa and use vegetable oils and artificial vanilla flavoring.
Unsweetened and Sweet Chocolate
Pure unsweetened chocolate is cocoa solids and cocoa butter. It is pure chocolate liquor and is known as baking or bitter chocolate. Sweet chocolate adds sugar.
White Chocolate
White chocolate has cocoa butter, milk, vanilla, and sugar, but no cocoa solids. It has only approximately 35% cocoa. An interesting fact is that without those cocoa solids, white chocolate is the only one that is not harmful to animals. Any other chocolate can be very toxic to your pet.
Milk Chocolate
Milk chocolate is the most popular with the general public and has milk or milk powder added to its cocoa butter, cocoa liquor sugar, and vanilla. It generally has up to 50% cocoa. HERSHEYS uses whole milk since Milton Hershey’s original recipe in 1900.
Semi-sweet Chocolate
Semi-sweet chocolate has a low amount of sugar added to dark chocolate.
Bittersweet Chocolate
Bittersweet has additional cocoa butter plus vanilla but less sugar than semi-sweet. Both are popular in baking.
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate has a minimum of 15% chocolate liquor, a high varying cocoa content, sugar, and sometimes vanilla. The finest dark chocolates have at least 70% cocoa and many on today’s market have even more. Eating a small amount of dark chocolate every day is thought to reduce the risk of heart attacks because of its flavonoids that can promote heart health. Other benefits include aiding the circulatory system, preventing coughs, helping prevent diarrhea, guarding against some cancers, providing antioxidants, and stimulating the brain. Even dieters are therefore encouraged to enjoy this delight on a daily basis because of all the health benefits.
Watch Out For the Calories and Fat
The reason just a small amount of dark chocolate is recommended daily is because raw chocolate has a quantity of cocoa butter. This is removed during chocolate refining but then added back in different proportions depending on the type of chocolate. You have also seen that there are varying amounts of sugar added into the chocolate depending on which chocolate is being manufactured.
Even though one-third of the fat in chocolate is a saturated fat (stearic acid) and a monounsaturated fat (oleic acid), fortunately stearic acid does not raise levels of LDL cholesterol in our blood streams.
A study at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute and reported in the “Journal of Internal Medicine” in September, 2009, states that heart attack survivors who ate chocolate a minimum of two or three times a week reduced their death risk up to three times more than survivors who did not consume chocolate!
Conclusion
Do rush out and buy some chocolate today using this guide to buying chocolate with tips for choosing the best chocolate. A BBC study showed that melting chocolate in your mouth promotes an increase in heart rate and brain activity that is more intense than passionate kissing and lasts four times as long!