Did you know...

Hold your own with any chocolate professional by learning a few terms of the chocolate world. This is just a tiny hint of many of the terms used by great chocolatiers though, you'll find more here.

Chocolate Liquor
The ground up center (nib) of the cocoa bean.

Cocoa Butter
An oily product which is an essential fatty part of the cocoa bean. Cocoa Butter is a natural fat extracted from chocolate liquor under high pressure.

Bittersweet Chocolate
Dark Chocolate that contains a minimum of 35% chocolate liquor Bittersweet and semi-sweet both fall under this definition, however, bittersweet is traditionally the term reserved from chocolate with a minimum of 50% chocolate liquor.

Semi Sweet Cackled
Also known as bittersweet chocolate. Contains a minimum of 35% chocolate liquor.

Cocoa Bean
Seeds from a pod of the Theobroma tree. Native to the tropical Amazon forests. Commercially grown worldwide in tropical rain forests within 20 degrees latitude of the equator.

Milk Chocolate
Chocolate with at least 10% chocolate liquor and 12% mild solids, combined with sugar, cocoa, butter, lecithin and vanilla.

Cocoa Powder
The cocoa solids resulting from pressing the cocoa butter out of chocolate liquor. May be natural or "dutched".

Dutched Process
A treatment used during the making of cocoa powder. Cocoa solids are treated with an alkaline solution to neutralize the natural acidity. This process darkens the cocoa and develops a milder flavor.

Tempering
In order to stabilize chocolate, a heating and cooling process is needed. This stabilized the cocoa butter, avoiding crystallization and giving a good surface gloss.

Conche Process
A machine which is constantly agitating the chocolate, thereby achieving desirable flavors and liquefying the refined chocolate mass.

Compound or Confectionery Coating
A blend of cocoa powder, sugar and vegetable oil. By substituting the vegetable oil for the cocoa butter, melting is easier but the results are not as high in quality.

Did you know...

Chocolate and cocoa may help prevent heart attacks, researchers said on Wednesday, but don't run to the office vending machine yet. So far, available chocolate products are known to contain high levels of flavanol, the substance linked to heart health, they said. Flavanols are naturally occurring compounds in many plants or plant-based foods such as vegetables, fruits, red wine and cocoa. They are thought to have an effect on vascular dilation, or a relaxing of the muscles around blood vessels, which helps keep blood flowing through the vessels.

Research also suggests flavanols enhance nitric oxide, which causes arteries to dilate and increases blood flow, keeping potentially dangerous deposits from adhering to artery walls.And flavanols may have an aspirin-like effect on platelets, reducing blood clotting linked to heart attacks.

Marguerite Engler, professor and vice chair of the Department of Physiological Nursing, University of California at San Francisco, was an investigator in a study that compared the Dove dark chocolate to another dark chocolate bar and to aspirin. The study, presented at the American Heart Association meeting this week in Chicago, was independently funded. In the study, 21 people ate 46 grams -- an average-sized candy bar -- of either chocolate each day for two weeks.The researchers found the subjects who ate the flavanol-rich Dove dark chocolate showed blood vessel dilation two hours after eating the candy, as measured by an ultrasound of a main artery.

"It's a great alternative, but people still need to be aware there are calories in chocolate," Engler said in an interview. "People should realize that you still should be eating healthy and exercising too.

Engler also said that "the response was more robust" when people took a low dose of aspirin instead of chocolate.

Did you know there's a Chocolate Academy?

Yes! Imagine that!

Barry Callebaut, the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate, has opened its first U.S. Chocolate Academy alongside its new North American headquarters in Chicago. The courses, given by Barry Callebaut focus on in-depth theoretical knowledge and putting it into practice. Barry Callebaut has developed a wide selection of courses, ranging from introductory courses for novice craftsmen to advanced courses for experienced confectioners, pastry chefs and chefs de cuisine, with specialized courses for each business segment.

There are 3 levels of expertise to consider when signing up for their courses.

• You may or may not be working as a professional in the food industry and you have little or no experience in the field of chocolate or pastry.

• You are working as a professional in the food industry with a good knowledge about the processes of working chocolate and/or pastry. We won't spend time on theory about tempering and cooling or the basics of pastry.

• You have been working as a professional in the food industry for some time now and have a thorough knowledge of chocolate and/or pastry and want to improve in either field.

There are also Academies worldwide hosting approximately
500 chocolatiers, confectioners and chefs each week. In total there
are 12 Academies located around the world. Locations include: Wieze,
Belgium; Meulan, France; Lodz, Poland; St. Hyacinthe, Quebec;
Singapore; Zurich, Switzerland; Banbury, United Kingdom; Suzhou,
China; Mumbai, India; Zundert, Netherlands; Chekhov, Russia.

Chocolate, Heels and Handbags

I'm not going to write this blog and tell you all about different kinds of chocolate, the health benefits of chocolate or give you recipes containing chocolate. This blog is for all those women, (sorry guys, you'll have to do your own blog), who adore chocolate in any shape, size, color or form. Who love chocolate so much that any mishap in your day can easily be forgotten and any catastrophe can at least be smoothed a little. Now, add a great pair of heels, (or 2 or 4 or 6) and you're getting closer to the edge. Now if you have a great shopping day and can also add a handbag that you've been watching for a few weeks that finally went on sale, well...we're getting pretty damned close to the best substitute for ANY man ANY day.

Chocolate Myths

Myth: Chocolate and other sweets are a major cause of tooth decay.

Truth: Tooth decay is primarily the result of poor oral hygiene. Cavities are caused by any foods containing fermentable carbohydrates that are left on the teeth for too long. In fact, there are ingredients found in chocolate products that may retard the tooth decaying process.

Myth: Chocolate is high in caffeine.

Truth: The amount of caffeine in a piece of chocolate candy is significantly lower than that in coffee, tea or cola drinks. For instance, a 5 oz cup of instant coffee has between 40 and 108 mg of caffeine, while a 1 oz milk chocolate bar contains only 6 mg and many confectionery items have no caffeine at all.

Myth: Chocolate has a high fat content and will lead to weight gain.

Truth: Candy, in moderation, can be part of low-fat eating. In fact, an occasional sweet treat helps you stick to a healthy eating plan. (ANYthing in moderation, right?)

Myth: Chocolate causes acne.

Over the past two decades, clinical studies have exonerated chocolate as a cause or exacerbating factor in the development or persistence of acne. In fact, many dermatologists doubt that diet plays any significant role in acne. (But let me drink a can of soda and BAM! -zit.)

Myth: I'm allergic to chocolate.

It is possible for a person to be allergic to any food, including chocolate. But recent evidence suggests that allergy to chocolate may be relatively rare. The actual incidence of allergic sensitivity to chocolate is far less common than positive reactions to skin scratch tests would seem to indicate. In at least one double-blind study to determine the correlation positive skin tests for chocolate allergy and the manifestation of clinically observable symptoms, researchers could find only one patient out of a possible 500 who showed both a positive response to the skin test and an objective clinical reaction after eating chocolate.

And that's all the facts you'll see here. Just a little info to get started, just in case you've been afraid to eat it, have stayed away from it because of your diet or won't let your kids eat it (but I wouldn't do that, because there won't be enough for you!), or didn't want a zit for that special date...Just Do It!


Here are a few more facts and FYI's.

Did you know that you would have to eat more then a dozen chocolate bars to get the same amount of caffeine from a cup of coffee? There are about 5 - 10 mg's of caffeine in one ounce of bitter chocolate, 5 mgs in milk chocolate, and 10mgs in a six-ounce cup of cocoa.

Chocolate is actually a valuable energy source. A single chocolate chip can provide enough energy for an adult human to walk 150 ft.

Chocolate has great health benefits. It helps with depression, high blood pressure, Tumors and PMS.

One ounce of baking chocolate or cocoa contains 10% of the daily recommended intake of iron.

Chocolate can be deadly for dogs. Chocolate contains an ingredient called "Theobromine" which can be toxic to a dogs central nervous system and cardiac muscles. (I truly think this is a myth, because I have 3 dogs, 12, 5 and 2 and they eat chocolate, always have and they are fine)

People spend more than $7 billion dollars a year on chocolate.

The per capita consumption of chocolate indicates that each person consumes 12 pounds of chocolate each year. (I think it's more!)

Milk Chocolate is the most preferred type of chocolate, however dark chocolate is especially popular among men.
In Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Psycho" chocolate syrup was used to indicate blood in the famous shower scene.

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