How to Choose Chocolate that’s High Quality and Tastes Good
Chocolate seems to be everywhere—in supermarkets, bookstores, convenience stores, hotels, at the airport, in salons and spas. You can find milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate with nuts, chocolate with fruit, and gourmet chocolate with superfoods such as acai, goji berries, and cacao nibs. Science has established that chocolate is full of antioxidants, flavonoids that can lower cholesterol levels and may prevent cell damage, and tannins which prevent tooth decay. Raw organic cacao (unsweetened chocolate) is the best way to consume chocolate, but many people have yet to incorporate this into their diets. Candy bars are much more appealing.
Before you rush to the store for a chocolate fix, there are certain things to know and look for. The drawback with buying prepackaged products is that you can’t see what you’re getting. Start with the ingredient list, then try out several different brands. In time you’ll find the right one.
Ingredients – The better the chocolate, the higher the chocolate content. Look for 50-70 percent cocoa solids in the ingredient list. Avoid vegetable fat and artificial flavors. Look for cocoa butter instead. A high percentage of sugar is an indicator of lower quality. The preferred sugars are unprocessed crystallized cane sugar, fructose, and agave syrup.
Appearance – Good chocolate should have an even color. Look for a dark or mahogany brown without streaks, blemishes, cracks, or air holes.
Touch – If you hold a piece of chocolate between your fingers, it should begin to melt in a few seconds. The more cocoa butter (fat content) the chocolate contains, the faster it will melt.
Aroma – The smell of good chocolate is amazing. Ask any woman (you can ignore those few who don’t drool over chocolate). Good chocolate has a wonderful aroma that’s well-balanced. You don’t want it to be overly sweet and there should be nothing that smells sour or off. Look for rich, heady, something that feels extravagant. These are signs of good quality.
Feel – You can tell a lot about chocolate by the way it feels when you break off a piece. A clean snap shows a high quantity of cocoa butter. If vegetable fats or other fats have been used, the chocolate will tend to crumble or splinter.
Texture – How chocolate feels in your mouth is one of the keys to its success in the food industry. People love that melting experience which is due to the fact that cocoa butter has the same melting point as our own body temperature. What you’re looking for is a smooth melting along with an explosion of flavor. Avoid anything that’s grainy, waxy, or powdery. Look for rich creamy chocolate with a buttery feel and complex flavors.
Finding good chocolate takes trial and error. Two bars with the same percentage of cocoa may taste worlds apart. Be patient and have fun. Help support small farmers and the ecology by buying organic and fair trade chocolate. Look for these words on the label. Remember that dark chocolate is healthier than milk chocolate. The amount of cocoa (or chocolate liquor) in these bars can range from 50-85 percent. The higher the number, the more bittersweet the chocolate.
Written by Nanette
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Choc TacticsChocolate Recipes to Scare your Body into Submission
Who doesn’t love chocolate? Whether we’re talking a sumptuous chocolate cake for a celebration, batches of muffins for the kids or a silky chocolate sauce, it’s much easier than you may think to use chocolate recipes in your cooking. And you mustn’t feel guilty about enjoying this universal pleasure: chocolate is a good source of iron and antioxidants called flavenoids which may help to protect against heart disease and cancer.
A few tips to start with – Many people suggest melting chocolate in a microwave, but in fact this will cook the chocolate as well as melting it (although it’s fine for the world’s speediest chocolate pud, below!). You can do it, but it’s much gentler on the ingredient to heat it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t come into contact with the water.
Experiment with different brands to give variations for simple chocolate recipes. Like wine, chocolate differs hugely depending on where the beans were grown, how they were roasted and their quality in general.
Make easy chocolate curls for decorating desserts. Just melt chocolate then spread it thinly over a piece of baking parchment, lining a baking tray. Put it in the fridge to harden, then carefully ease it off with a knife. Your cakes and puddings will have a very professional touch!
Magical muffins – Buy a chocolate muffin in a shop and you’ll pay quite a bit for something that’s probably quite ordinary. Instead, why not make your own for a fraction of the price? Using oil in muffins gives a lovely light result and is ideal for vegans or those avoiding animal fats. With this recipe you simply add 175g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 150g caster sugar and 2 tbsp cocoa to a mixing bowl. Make a well then add 150ml each oil and milk and 2 beaten eggs. Whisk it all together by hand or using a whisk, then pour the batter into 12 muffin cases, or 16 cake cases. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes or until springy to the touch.
The speediest chocolate pud recipe in the world! – Every child I know (and adults too) love this speedy choccie pud. Put the kettle on and, while it boils, mix together 4 tbsp self-raising flour, 4 tbsp caster sugar and 4 tbsp cocoa in a large microwaveproof mug or jug. Add 1 egg then mix again. Pour in 3 tbsp milk and 3 tbsp vegetable oil and mix again, adding a handful of chocolate drops if you like. Microwave on HIGH for 2.5 minutes. What could be easier…and hardly any washing up! Top with cream, chopped nuts or summer berries, or eat as it is.
A quick and impressive dessert chocolate recipe in summer is to take a range of fresh fruit – strawberries, physalis (Cape gooseberries), pineapple, mango and banana and dip them into melted chocolate – a good way of getting some of their 5 a day into your children, while giving them a choccie treat at the same time.
Find more interesting and delicious chocolate recipes from the website Delia Online.
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: antioxidants, Delia Online, HIGH
