Beauty Product Must Have: Cocoa Butter
Products made out of cocoa butter, cocoa beans, and cocoa powder has the power to hydrate, rejuvenate, and protect skin. And, not like real actual chocolate, you can indulge without gaining any extra pound. Here, watch this video on why cocoa butter is great as a beauty product.
Categories: chocolate videos Tags: beauty product, cocoa butter, cocoa powder
Cocoa Butter for Stretch Marks
Once the collagen underneath the skin is injured, stretch marks start developing. Stretch marks are usually because of several radical alterations within skin rigidity such as: weight increase, considerable weight deficit or pregnancy.
Among the most typical home treatments for stretch marks is topical treatment of cocoa butter. Is it any good? Watch this video.
Categories: chocolate videos Tags: cocoa butter, stretch mark, stretchmark
DIY Vanilla Cocoa Butter Lip Scrub
Keep your lips soft and protected from the harsh elements in with cocoa butter lip scrubs. You can actually make your own. Oh, it has been years since I started wanting to make one on my own. I think I found the best recipe for it.
Categories: chocolate videos Tags: cocoa butter, cocoa butter lip scrub, Cocoa Butter Scrub
Chocolate Bloom Is Not So Bad
Chocolates are normally smooth and glossy. Nevertheless, there is always a chance that you will have chocolates having white blemishes. These blemishes are known as chocolate bloom. It could actually be an indication that the chocolate was not properly stored.
Chocolate bloom is a sandy white film which is usually seen on chocolate’s surface. They may not look pretty at all, but they are usually not harmful. Bloom is the byproduct of the cocoa butter or sugar that has been drawn out to the surface.
There are two types of chocolate bloom: sugar bloom and fat bloom. Since chocolate has fat contents, a whitish gray substance would form on its surface when it gets exposed to warm temperatures for quite some time. The heat tends to pull out the cocoa butter out of the chocolate, and it causes the white pattern on the surface.
Another reason for it is humidity or cold temperatures. If you store chocolates in places with too much humidity or extremely cold ones like the fridge, and then you suddenly expose them to warm temperatures, a sugar bloom could take place. It happens because the surface of the chocolate will condense due to moisture. Sugar crystals tend to remain of the chocolate’s surface after evaporation of moisture, thus leaving a white coating.
Chocolate blooms aren’t really attractive, but it is still okay to eat it given that it is pure, and it does not contain any filling. A small chocolate bloom would not mess with the chocolaty taste, however the texture would not be as smooth.
More Chocolate Information Articles
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: cocoa butter, cold, usually, white
Chocolate And Wine
Wine is sensational on its own, I know that all too well. But people nowadays find pleasure in pairing it with different foods as wine is said to intensify the taste. It pairs splendidly with a lot of food, even chocolate! When done correctly, it gives an interesting and flavorful blast in the mouth.
The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on an appropriate type of chocolate. Ordinary chocolate bars you’ll find in your fridge aren’t good enough as they don’t contain distinctive flavors. The best choice are gourmet chocolates, be it dark, milk, or white chocolate.
Regarding your wine of choice, you have to find one that is at least as sweet as the chocolate, perhaps even slightly sweeter. One thing you have to keep in mind when creating this pair is to make sure that the distance between the sweetness of the wine and chocolate shouldn’t be far. Otherwise, the sour notes of wine will make the combination horrible since the wine will make it appear hollow if it isn’t sweet enough.
In general, red wines go along better with chocolate compared to white wines. The acidity of sparkling wines and Champagne reacts with chocolate causing a bitter taste, but that’s not to say they can’t go along well together at all. Correct combination is always key.
Another thing to know about this pairing is that elegant flavored light chocolate taste better with lighter-bodied wines. The stronger the flavor of the chocolate, the more full-bodied wine you need for that perfect combination. Quality of wine is of the essence since bad wine only gets worse when paired with chocolate.
Always taste the wine first. Only then should you start enjoying your chocolate. Doing so paves way for proper assessment of the flavor and taste of the wine itself. Otherwise, your mouth and taste buds will be covered with a thin layer of cocoa butter. Since it is already overwhelmed with chocolate, it can prevent you to taste the wine.
It was once taboo, but pairing wine with chocolate is now becoming commonplace that some people have this particular pair as their comfort food!
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Categories: chocolate articles Tags: CHOCOLATE, cocoa butter, Wine
Heat-resistant Chocolate
We have all tried buying chocolate on a hot day, only to pull it out of your bag later and find it melted. This problem could now be a thing of the past, at least for some parts of the world.
After almost 10 years of meticulous research, the manufacturers of Cadbury and Toblerone chocolates are claiming they are now nearing launching of a heat-resistant chocolate to the world.
The top chocolate, biscuit and candy company, Mondelez International told Reuters that the product they will be introducing in the near future is able to endure temperatures as high as 104F and not melt.
This heat-resistant chocolate is particularly intended for places that have hot/humid climate such as India, Brazil, and Africa, where food products end up falling victim to the scorching heat of the sun.
They weren’t letting people in on the details about ingredients and taste just yet. However, according to a company executive for the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, the products will be launched very soon.
Other brands within the Mondelez International portfolio include Cote d’Or, Milka, Green & Black’s chocolates, Trident and Dentyne gum and Nabisco.
While it may seem new to many, it’s actually not the first attempt at creating a more durable chocolate product. Premium Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut launched the Volcano before, the chocolate that has a higher melting point – 98.6F. This is because of a lower cocoa butter content.
The natural melting point for chocolate is between 86F and 93.2F, lower than human body temperature.
Will there be a difference in taste? Well, coming up with a heat-resitant chocolate that can endure up to 40 degrees celius sans melting has reportedly entailed putting in combinations of cocoa butter, milk, sugar and vegetable oils. That said, yup, there will be a noticeable change in taste.
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: butter, chocolate novelty, cocoa butter, heat-resistant chocolate, modern chocolate, Mondelez International, world
Enjoy Your Chocolate Experience With These Tips
You can be more mindful if you go for for high-quality chocolate and see the label before buying. You can quickly get an idea with regard to the sweetness or bitterness of chocolate by understanding the chocolate to sugar ratio.
“If you buy chocolate with a higher cocoa content, it will be less sweet,” said Stephen Durfee, a pastry chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in St. Helena, California. “You will get more of the natural flavor of chocolate.”
That being said, how will you know this immediately by checking the label? Nowadays, most quality chocolates have the percent of chocolate or cacao listed on the label. Considering it’s a percent, you can think of it as parts per 100. The sum of all ingredients could not go beyond 100.
That would only imply that if you look at a 72% dark chocolate bar, that sugar cannot go beyond 28%. While an 80% dark bar can have no more than 20% sugar. More bitter, less sweet.
Milk chocolate bars have to pave way for milk as an ingredient, but typically the amount of chocolate is sacrificed, not the sugar.
The origins of your chocolate has a big influence on the final flavor. “As with wine, chocolate made from beans grown in select regions of the world reflect the ‘terroir’ or sense of place of that region,” Durfee said.
“Soil conditions, climate, the lay of the land as it meets the sun — all influence subtle differences in flavor.” Soils of acidic nature produce a noticeable citrus flavor. More to these, such type of soil yields as lighter color to the chocolate.
To be able to completely enjoy your high-quality chocolate, you must let it melt in your mouth first before chewing on it. High-quality chocolate has cocoa butter in it, and this melts at body temperature, which will give you a ‘melt in the mouth’ feel.
“Let chocolate melt on your tongue for a few seconds before you start to chew,” Durfee suggests. “As the warmth of your mouth softens the chocolate, you will notice a real explosion of flavor.”
If you go on a chocolate-tasting spree, you should have some crackers and water with you. They will help cleanse your palate between tastings. At all times, use your every sense when eating your high-quality chocolate. Check the color, smell its alluring aroma, observe the taste and texture, and listen to the sound it makes while chewing on it.
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: cannot, chocolate eating, chocolate experience, chocolate tasting, cocoa, cocoa butter, sense, sweet
