Chocolate Lesson 11/22/14
Intro
Today’s Chef Special is CHOCOLATE. Food of the Gods!!!
So let me tell you the Story of Chocolate.
People have been consuming Chocolate for more than 4,000 years. Monkeys and birds and other critters have eaten the cocoa seeds for many, many years before that. The Olmecs, Mayan, and Aztecs of Central America were the first known consumers.
Back then they would pick the football shaped pos of the Cacao Tree, crack it open, ferment the seeds, the roast them. Actually we still do all of that today. But then they would grind the seeds, and boil them in water to create a drink. So no chocolate as we know it, just a beverage. To this beverage they would add cornmeal, a variety of spices, vanilla, honey and hot chili peppers. Remember, sugar had not yet come to America. Legend has it that the Great Aztec King, Montezuma believed that it had special super powers said that a soldier could march all day long with just one cup or this cocoa drink. The scientific name is Theobroma Cacao, which means Food of the Gods!!!
Farming
The Cacao tree only grows between 20* north and 20* south of the equator. It is generally grown on very small family farms. There are over 5,000,000 of these farms in the world. 70% of them in West Africa. The vast majority of cacao comes from West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. Hawaii has some wonderful cacao farms, but compared to the rest of the world produce only a very small amount of chocolate.
Production
Each Cacao Pod is handpicked. Then cracked open to reveal the seeds. There are 50 – 60 seeds per pod. And it takes 400 seeds to make 1# of chocolate. The seeds are fermented for a couple of days then dried and put into large burlap sacks. At this point they are shipped all over the world to the Chocolate Factories.
In the factories the beans are roasted, just like coffee. Then they are cracked into Nibs. Nibs are sold and used in baking and cooking applications. Later I’ll share a recipe for a Spice Rub for Roasted Beef Ribs that used Cacao Nibs as one of the key ingredients.
The nibs are ground, and ground until a thick paste is formed. It gets pasty because the beans have a very high fat content. This fat is the Cacao Butter. At this point the paste is pressed to squeeze out most of the Cacao Butter. The dark, thick low fat paste that remains is called Chocolate Liquor.
• 3 ,000,000 Tons of Cacao Beans are turned into Chocolate each year.
Chocolate as a Superfood!!!
Scientific Studies show that dark chocolate or cocoa is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and eating it can improve the cardiovascular system’s function, make platelets less prone to form clots, and lower blood pressure.
• Did you know: 40 to 50 million people depend on cocoa for their livelihood. So buy some Chocolate today to help the world economy!!!
• It’s a $5.1 Billion Industry.
Let’s Build Some Chocolate:
The Components to build Chocolate are: Cocoa Mass, Additional Cocoa Butter, Sugar Milk, Vanilla or other flavors, Soy Lecithin as an emulsifier, and maybe fruits or nuts for specialty chocolates.
The Chocolate liquor is conched with the coca butter for as many as 80 hours to create a silky smooth texture. Then the other ingredients are added. Then it is poured into molds and cooled.
Varieties – Tasting
So enough with all of this talk, let’s taste some chocolate.
This is one of my very favorite Chocolates Companies: Guittard! Made in America!!!
Lightest to Darkest – Like a wine tasting.
1. Look at the chocolate – Shiny, Smooth, color.
2. Smell it: the aroma depends on the variety of bean used, the roasting temperature , and the flavor used; like real or fake vanilla
3. Now taste a little bit and let it melt on your tongue. Now eat some more and chew it. Notice how creamy it feels. It melts at a temperature that is lower than your body temperature. Can you feel the flavors swirl on your palate and in your brain?
Cleanse your palate with a little green apple and a sip of water.
White Chocolate: No Chocolate Liquor. Just Cocoa Butter, Sugar, Milk, Lecithin, Flavor
Milk Chocolate: (Minimum of 10% Cocoa Mass) 35%Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Sugar, Milk, Lecithin, Flavor
Semisweet or Bittersweet: (Minimum 35%) 56% Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Sugar, Lecithin, Flavor
Dark Chocolate: 72% Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Sugar, Lecithin, Flavor
So if you want to learn more about chocolate – You should visit Lincoln Culinary Institute.