Chocolate (pronounced chok-lit (U) chaw-kuh-lit, chok-uh-lit, chawk-lit)
(1)
A preparation of the seeds of cacao, roasted, husked, and ground, often
sweetened and flavored, as with vanilla.
(2)
A beverage made by dissolving such a preparation in milk or water, served hot
or cold.
(3)
A sweet (sweetmeat (archaic), lolly or candy) made from such a preparation or
an individual piece of this sweet.
(4)
In the spectrum of commercially produced or described colors, a moderate to
deep brown color.
Circa
1600: From the Mexican Spanish chocolate,
from the Nahuatl (Aztecan) chocola-tl
(chocolate) or cacahua-tl (chocolate,
chocolate bean); the -tl meaning
"water". It’s thought the
first element might be related to xocalia
(to make something bitter or sour from xococ
(sour; bitter)). It was made with cold
water by the Aztecs, whereas the Conquistadors mixed it with hot, hence the
suggestion the European forms of the word might have been influenced by Yucatec
Maya chocol (hot). It was brought first to Spain in the 1520s
and, predictably, spread quickly to the rest of Europe, gaining great
popularity by the seventeenth century thought originally as drink made by
dissolving chocolate in milk or water, the solid forms now familiar coming
later. The standardization in spelling
must have come later because in an entry in his diary on 24 November 1664,
Samuel Pepys noted “To a Coffee-house, to
drink jocolatte, very good.”
There
are those who contest the orthodox etymology, asserting that the Nahutal words
upon which it depends didn’t exist in the language until the mid-eighteenth
century. The dissenters prefer chicolātl, a survivor in several modern
Nahuatl dialects, as the original form, the chicol-
element referring to the specially shaped wooden stick used to prepare
chocolate.
Semi-solid
forms were on sale by the 1640s in the form of a paste or cake made of ground,
roasted, sweetened cacao seeds, the recognisably modern product, described as
“chocolate candy" and later just “chocolate” widely available in the later
nineteenth century, “chocolate milk” recorded since 1845. Chocolate chips became available in pre-made
form for the consumer market in 1940, having for some time been supplied in
bulk to manufacturers for products such as chocolate chip cookies. Use to describe a color, a dark
reddish-brown, dates from 1771 in the forms “chocolate” and “chocolate-brown”. The adjectival use in the sense of "made
of or flavored with chocolate" is attested from 1723.
Although
chocolatey (made of or resembling chocolate) apparently can’t be found in print
before 1922 and choclatiness seems not to exist although chocolateness is used
in commerce, often by specialised retailers which is a bit more imaginative
than the eighteenth century “chocolate dealer” and it spawned variations such
as chocorama, and chocology. Devotees
are said to be chocophiles while those who cheerfully admit an addiction are
chocoholics. The specialised occupation
of chocolatier (maker of chocolate confections) was noted in French in 1865 and
such jobs still exist.
In
praise of dark chocolate
Made
from cocoa solids, sugar and cocoa butter and without using milk, dark
chocolate is rich, the degree of bitterness determined by the percentage of
cocoa in the mix. There’s no exact
definition of how much cocoa needs to be present for a chocolate to be defined
as dark with products available ranging from 50 to over 90%, the most popular
being in the 70 to 80% range.
Nutritional
content varies greatly because that’s determined by the quantities of cocoa
butter and sugar used. A 70% mix is a
high-fat food, a 20g serving (six small squares in most blocks) contains just
over 8g of fat, of which 5g is saturated and it’s high in sugar, with around 6g
per 20g serving. The off-set is that it’s
a good source of fibre and protein, with approximately 2g of each per 20g
serving. By comparison, an 85% mix is higher
in fat but lower in sugar, the protein and fibre content just a little higher
and the salt content is negligible although there are variations with added
sea-salt.
Lindsay Lohan slicing her chocolate birthday cake.
Although it should never be a high proportion of any diet, dark
chocolate does offer some nutritional benefits, being naturally high in iron,
magnesium, copper and manganese. Iron is
important in the production of red blood cells which carry oxygen around the
body while copper triggers the release of iron to form haemoglobin, the platform
which contains the oxygen. Magnesium
ensures the parathyroid glands work normally to produce hormones important in
bone health and helps create and activate enzymes, including those which break
down food.
A
long known benefit of dark chocolate is as a source of antioxidants and
flavanols, helpful in maintaining vascular endothelium function (the cells that
line the insides of blood vessels) which reduces the risk of cardiovascular
disease. Because of the density, the concentration
of these phytonutrients is actually higher than in blueberries and pomegranates,
fruits recommended as sources of antioxidants.
There may also be some neuro-protective effects, offering some
protection against Alzheimer’s disease but the research is far from conclusive
although there does seem to be a small anti-inflammatory effect which helps those
with digestive conditions such as inflammatory bowel syndrome.
However,
like the much-quoted, but often misunderstood, findings about the health
benefits from drinking red wine, there’s nothing from any research to suggest a
heavy consumption of dark or any other chocolate is anything but bad. All the research seems to say is that if one
is going to eat chocolate, dark is preferable and consumption should be no more
than 20g (typically six small or two large squares, depending on the cut of the
block) no more frequently than daily and only as part of a balanced diet. As a general principle, the darker the better
so a chocolate with 90% cocoa offers more benefits than one with less,
remembering the flavored products (orange, caramel, raspberry et al) will be
higher in sugar.
Ghirardelli Intense Dark 92% Cacao Chocolate.
Making
dark chocolate is a relatively long process. Cacao beans are picked when ripe, cleaned and
left to ferment for two to nine days, using naturally present yeasts or a
yeast-based starter, depending on bean and manufacturer. The beans are then covered by banana leaves or
put in wooden sweating boxes, temperature, humidity and aeration all adding to
the flavor. Once fermented, the beans
are dried and roasted, using a process not greatly different from that used for
coffee, this darkens them to a rich brown, enhancing the depth and complexity
of the flavor and aroma. The roasted
beans are winnowed (removing the bean’s outer shell, or hull) and the inner
bean (or nibs) are then ground or milled at high pressure to produce the cocoa
mass (known also as chocolate liquor) and cocoa butter.
The
cocoa mass and cocoa butter are then mixed with sugar, producing a paste for conching
(a sequence of rolling, kneading, heating and aerating the mixture under heat
until it becomes smooth and creamy). The
longer the conche, the smoother will be the chocolate so some premium products
can be conched for a week whereas dark chocolate for cooking or the industrial
production of food will be processed for only a few hours. Once conched, a stabiliser such as soy
lecithin is added, along with any additional flavors, such as sea salt
or vanilla, after which the mix is tempered, a process in which chocolate is brought
slowly to the necessary temperature before being poured into molds. Once cooled, it’s then in its final form: stable,
solid and edible.
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