Chocolate University Online Blog
My little niece was baptized on Valentines Day, Feb. 14, 2010 in a small church near Covent Garden in London.
Previously I had been told the English didn’t celebrate Valentines Day much, but that’s not what I experienced. The chocolate shops and patisseries surrounding the church fully embraced the holiday with window displays decked out in red hearts, flower bouquets, and lots and lots of chocolate!
Most of the time I don’t buy chocolate truffles by the box and off the shelf because I don’t know how long ago those truffles were made. I prefer a really fresh, handmade truffle at the corner shop.
 But this day I could not resist the trimmings and trappings so I purchased a box of Thorntons Premium Collection of Truffles, Pralines and light Mousses in Milk, Dark, and White chocolate.
The verdict? Pretty good, and better than I expected! I couldn’t decide if my favorite in the lineup was the dark chocolate covered raspberry truffle or the milk chocolate covered champagne mousse. Both very different, yet both delicious.
According to Thorntons’ website, they have been in the chocolate-making business for nearly 100 years, with their first shop opened in Sheffield by Joseph William Thornton. They go on to say they made a name for themselves by creating “a uniquely rich and chewy ‘special’ toffee.” Later, after World War II, their product line was expanded to include European style soft-centered chocolates.
You can purchase Thorntons chocolates in stores and online. Shipping is from the U.K. If you’re in a different country, international shipping charges are quite high. For example, shipping to the U.S. starts at £26.75. That’ll be above $40 at today’s exchange rate. So put in a big order to make it worthwhile. 
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate shop, chocolate truffles, dark chocolate, holidays, milk chocolate, white chocolate
Cocoa (or Cacao) Nibs are made from cocoa beans after they get separated from their thin shells and roasted. The bulk of nibs produced are ground into chocolate liquor, either used as unsweetened baking chocolate or as the main ingredient of chocolate bars and candies.
Roasted cocoa nibs are not for everyone. They taste rather bitter because they are not sweetened. If you can get past the bitterness, you’ll find they do taste rich and chocolaty and have a crunch similar to nuts. In fact, nibs are often used to replace nuts in cookies and granola recipes.
 Why would a person even eat cocoa nibs? Well, nibs are one of nature’s superfoods. They come packed with generous amounts of anti-oxidants, flavanoids and vitamin E. I can tolerate nibs by themselves, but would rather enjoy them coated in chocolate – DARK chocolate.
Trader Joe’s brand Dark Chocolate Nibs are enrobed in a 65% cacao dark chocolate. I find them delicious and addicting. The first flavor that comes off is an intense chocolate, as you would expect. Then nutty, and subtle fruity notes follow. The finish is a long lasting cocoa taste with a hint of coffee.
The nibs come in a 1 oz. tin. Tiny bits of yum!
Categories: chocolate education, chocolate review
Tags: cocoa beans, dark chocolate, grocery product, nibs
“Could you go for a chocolate digestive and tea?” – my sister asked me shortly after arriving at her flat in London. There is nothing more refreshing than a digestive and tea after a long flight.
 Digestive biscuits are extremely popular in the UK. They are a cross between a cookie and a cracker, slightly on the sweet side. The term ‘digestive’ probably came from the belief that the significant levels of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) used in the recipe aided in digestion.
Although I can choose from different brands of Digestive Biscuits, I do love the number one selling brand of McVitie’s. According to their website, McVities was the first to coat the digestive in chocolate in 1925.
Over 71 million packages of McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives are eaten in the UK each year! 52 biscuits eaten each second. I know I put a significant number away myself!
Chocolate digestive biscuits come coated on one side with milk or dark chocolate. My favorite is dark but I am seldom picky when it comes to digestives. I would never refuse a milk chocolate one.
Since I have to go out of my way to find McVitie Chocolate Digestives back home (I have to travel quite a distance to an import store), I decided to stock up as long as I am in the land of Digestive plenty.
I bought everything they had at my sister’s local Tesco. The clerk was amused and asked me if these were all for me. Yes, I answered, with the exception of maybe one I could give as a gift to someone who would have to really deserve it. Did that sound a bit selfish?
Hey, you try a chocolate digestive and then try to share! Bet you can’t!
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate cookies, grocery product
Recently I was asked about tempered chocolate that fails to keep a good shine and what can be done to fix that? (See comments on how to temper chocolate page.)
That’s a really good question. Concerns about the streaking and the lack of shine make me think about how temperatures, crystal development and the appearance of chocolate are all connected.
Properly tempered chocolate is shiny and uniform in color. When chocolate has streaks and does not shine, it indicates that at some point in the production process, the chocolate solidified without being in a properly tempered state.
I am sorry to have to get technical here, but see if you can follow this. Cocoa butter has to solidify or form crystals within a narrow range of temperatures. Tempering means all crystals become as identical in size and shape as possible and we can do this by controlling the temperatures.
There are essentially 3 major stages in the making of chocolates that you have to be particularly careful to achieve the right temperature:
Stage 1 – The Starting Product
If you make your own chocolate candy center, like toffee or ganache, make sure it is absolutely at room temperature before you dip in chocolate. If you don’t let it cool down enough, the heat will eventually push through your coating and cause it to lose its temper – either entirely or partially. On the flip side, if you let the center get too cold, you essentially “shock” the chocolate. This causes really BIG crystals to grow and the coating appears very dull, a flat finish.
If you mold your chocolates, use the molds at room temperature. This could be another source of unintended heat or cold introduced as the chocolate is solidifying.
Stage 2 – The Tempering Process
This is the most likely stage to produce streaking.
Agitating or stirring the chocolate during the tempering process is crucial to prevent streaking. Imagine adding red food coloring to white frosting to make it pink. If you stir in the coloring using only a few strokes, you will see streaks of red among the white. Continually stir and the frosting will eventually turn pink. Something similar happens when you temper chocolate without a thorough mixing. Temperatures along the bottom and sides of the tempering pan will be several degrees different than its center. Each temperature gradient grows different crystals at different rates. This causes light to bounce and bend irregularly and we see alternating streaks of light and dark chocolate after it dries.
Too much stirring will cause air bubbles to form and get trapped within the coating. Air bubbles cause crystals to form unevenly which gives the chocolate a grainy appearance on the surface.
If you use a tempering machine it may have separate milk, dark, and white chocolate settings. If not, you’ll need to set up the temperature and mixing parameters differently for each type of chocolate that you use. Milk chocolates temper at a lower temperature range than dark chocolates. Milk chocolates are tricky because there are different percentages of milk in any given brand or formulation of milk chocolate coating. The higher amount of milk (milk fat), the lower the temperature. White chocolates can be even more sensitive to temperature than milk chocolates.
Stage 3 – The Cooling Process
This is the most likely stage to produce dull looking product with no shine. The ideal temperature for cooling chocolate is between 65 and 68 F. The relative humidity should be 50% or less. I use a fan on a medium setting pointed right at my chocolates. The fan will lift the humidity out of the air surrounding them. Make sure the cooling tray is elevated off the counter top enough to let air circulate underneath and take away excess heat from the bottoms. A refrigerator hovers around 40 F and a freezer around 30 F – these temps are too low to encourage a nice shine. Rooms that heat up during the summer spell disaster for chocolate. Anything over 78 F is too warm and makes the chocolate soft and slightly sticky.
One obvious sign that the cooling process was unsuccessful is the formation of bloom. Bloom is a gray dusty film that covers the surface of chocolate. It can happen within hours, or days, after tempering and cooling.
To summarize, this particular tempering problem description appears to be a temperature issue at one of more stages of the process.
Categories: chocolate education
Tags: chocolate lessons, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, tempering chocolate, white chocolate, working with chocolate
Green and Black’s Organic Chocolate. Have you seen these chocolate bars in the stores and pharmacies of your neighborhood? Green and Black’s is definitely all over London! G&B is an English chocolate company started in 1991. The founders “set out to bring to the masses the world’s first organic chocolate.” You can visit them at www.greenandblacks.com.
 The Green and Black’s 70% Organic Dark Chocolate was the first on the scene. Since then, the product line has expanded to include more varieties of chocolate bars, baking chocolate, hot chocolate, and ice cream.
Yes – Ice Cream!
I just finished a bowl of Green and Black’s Organic Chocolate Ice Cream with bittersweet dark chocolate made with fresh cream. They do not use cocoa powder, they use real dark chocolate. The intense chocolate flavor notes come off at the beginning and last through out the entire mouthful.
There is a short melt in the mouth and that means the chocolate is quick to finish. I wish it wouldn’t. The texture is fluffy and light and perhaps that is what slightly disappoints me. The airiness of the chocolate makes the flavor dissipate too quickly. Overall the flavor is simply delicious and decadent, but over too fast.
I learned that the name Green and Black’s comes from the company’s commitment to both the tradition of great chocolate and the support of responsible farming, thus Green for the environment and Black (or almost black) for the rich color of chocolate.
If you can’t find the ice cream, indulge yourself with a Green and Black’s chocolate bar. You’ll be doing yourself and the planet a favor.
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate bars, dark chocolate, grocery product, ice cream, organic chocolate
Tonight I find myself sitting in my sister’s flat in London, England eating Jaffa Cakes and sipping Frangelico flavored coffee. I am visiting my sister and my brand new niece, only 2 days old.
What is Jaffa Cake?
The Jaffa Cake is a British favorite. The cake is a three layered treat about the size of a cookie. It is made with a bottom layer of sponge cake, a middle layer of orange flavored jelly, and a top layer of rich milk chocolate coating.
I am a fan of orange and chocolate pairings so it is easy to fall in love with Jaffa Cakes.
 There are many different brands of Jaffa Cakes. Tonight I am enjoying Cadbury brand. I expected the coating to stand out since Cadbury IS chocolate around here! I am not disappointed.
At first, the chocolate has a low impact and the orange completely dominates in flavor. By the time everything blends and mixes in my mouth, the two flavors of orange and chocolate are balanced out and provide a nice combination. The finish is lingering with a milky aftertaste from the chocolate. The sponge cake is simply a flavor delivery mechanism and rather neutral in the whole experience.
Oh so Good!
The Jaffa Cake was introduced in 1927 by McVitie and Price and named after the Jaffa Orange. The Jaffa Orange, originally grown in the Jaffa region of Palestine, before Isreal became a state, is similar to Valencia oranges in taste, only sweeter.
Finding Jaffa Cakes in the states may not be as easy as finding it here in the UK, but it can be done. Once, I came across a box at my local US Aldi store.
Go ahead and give Jaffa Cakes a try! Finding them is worth the effort.
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate covered fruit, grocery product, milk chocolate
 No one knows for sure how St. Valentines Day became synonymous with romantic love. There are a number of theories, but that is not really important. Once the tradition got started, all kinds of things naturally presented themselves as part of the language of love…
Like chocolate, for instance.
Chocolate and romance go together.
Throughout history, people have believed chocolate to be an aphrodisiac. It is said that Montezuma drank chocolate to increase his amorous energy and stamina. From ancient Mexico to Europe and then to America, this legend spread across the globe and survived the centuries as a powerful love potion.
Chocolate is a complex food and scientists try to unlock its secrets. When eaten, it changes human behavior, especially in women. Chocolate contains two substances called Phenylethylamine and Seratonin. These are responsible for lifting one’s mood and making us experience feelings of well being, love and happiness.
When Phenylethylamine and Seratonin are released into the body, they can produce arousing effects and give us instant energy. No wonder chocolate has gained a reputation as an aphrodisiac. Women are more susceptible to the effects of Phenylethylamine and Seratonin than men.
Still, the debate continues as to whether or not there is scientific evidence proving chocolate as an aphrodisiac. Sure, there are chemicals in chocolate that makes us “feel good” but so does the act of eating the chocolate because it TASTES good. And I, for one, feel good when I receive chocolate as a gift. It gives me feelings of being loved.
There is no doubt about one thing – chocolate and romance do go together.
Enjoy some chocolate this Valentines Day!
Categories: chocolate education, fun chocolate facts
Tags: chocolate facts, chocolate history, holidays
The bright purple wrapper of Trader Joe’s Organic Super Dark Chocolate and the equally bright pink packaging of Trader Joe’s Swiss Milk Chocolate certainly catch the attention of shoppers lining up in the check out lane. But what really got MY attention were the claims on the label.
The organic, 73% super dark chocolate bar reads “this bar is not for the faint of heart.” The Swiss milk says “incomparable flavor!”
Hmmm. Sounds like challenges I can’t ignore!
In order to collect as much data as possible, I took the bars to the office and shared the tasting experience with my work mates.
In a unanimous outcome, 4 out of 4 agreed that the organic dark was DELICIOUS. I tasted a good percentage of Ecuadorian in the formula and since that is one my favorite flavor profiles I gave the thumbs up as well. This chocolate starts out with strong roasted cocoa and fruity notes and finishes with a small bitter kick. It leaves a lasting impression of overall smoothness and well-balanced character.
3 out of 4 voted the milk chocolate was GOOD but on the edge of being too intensely milky and creamy. It should taste milky and creamy because it has 23% milk solids. This is almost double the amount of milk that would be required to call it milk chocolate in the United States.
One person did not favor the lingering milky aftertaste stating that it left her with “unpleasant milk breath.”
I would have appreciated more toffee-like notes instead of milky notes. The longer a milk chocolate is cooked and mixed (a process called “conched”) the more caramel or toffee flavor comes out.
We enjoyed both chocolate bars but the 73% dark won the day. I guess we are not faint of heart afterall!
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate bars, dark chocolate, grocery product, milk chocolate, organic chocolate
Have you ever cut corners while cooking? Ever used short cuts that the original recipe had you make from scratch?
 I have. And why not? Most often those “changes” don’t affect the final product and it saves lots of time. Yes, sometimes I even buy frosting in a can (shhh, don’t tell my kids!).
One thing I have learned from my experience working with chocolate is that there are some short cuts that work and some that don’t.
Let’s consider the making of chocolate-covered strawberries. Can you cheat at making chocolate covered strawberries without anyone noticing?
Yes, but………
The real timesaver when making chocolate-covered strawberries would be to figure out how to quickly temper, or harden, the chocolate coating. Normally, the tempering process takes time and certain amount of skill gained by practice. Although there are ways to speed up the solidification of chocolate, there is no good way to fake a tempered chocolate.
There are many recipes you can get your hands on that tell you how to make chocolate-covered strawberries. And almost all of those tell you to melt the chocolate, dip the strawberries, and then put into them in the refrigerator to harden. Voila, done!
That method is indeed fast and easy but it only works if you eat the strawberries within seconds of taking them out of the fridge. If you want to put those remarkably delicious works of art out on a plate for your guests to admire before eating, the quality of the experience will certainly be diminished if you took the easy way out.
The chocolate coating should be tempered. This is not a step I recommend you skip. An un-tempered coating will start to melt in your hand almost immediately. It will bend when you bite it – giving you a soft and pasty feel in the mouth. The chocolate will melt quickly on your tongue and the flavor will be gone before you can savor it.
A tempered chocolate will give a crisp snap when you bite and won’t get all gooey on your fingers while you hold it. The chocolate will melt slowly in your mouth and allow a full blast of chocolate flavor to come through.
If the strawberries with un-tempered chocolate sit long enough, they may start to bloom. This means they will develop a white dust over the surface and look very unappetizing.
Try dipping strawberries in tempered chocolate and notice the difference. If needed, refer to my earlier blogs on how to temper chocolate. It will be worth the effort.
Categories: chocolate education
Tags: chocolate covered fruit, chocolate lessons, working with chocolate
According to the USDA website, www.usda.gov, chocolate and cocoa powder contain “hefty quantities of natural antioxidants called flavonoids…..antioxidants are thought to be effective in helping to prevent cancer, heart disease, and stroke.”
How do anti-oxidants help us? “Anti”-oxidants counteract the negative effects of oxidation on our bodies. Oxidation damages cells and tissues. What is oxidation, you ask?
 Here’s a simple example that you’re familiar with. Think of a slice of apple turning brown shortly after you cut it. This is discoloring demonstrates the damage that oxidation causes on the cells of the apple. If instead of leaving the slice out in the open air, you dip immediately in some lemon juice, the brown oxidative damage slows w-a-y down. In this case the lemon juice is the antioxidant.
Our bodies are naturally good at fighting oxidation but it becomes more difficult as we grow older. Eating foods high in antioxidants can give our aging bodies a boost. Research has shown that red and purple colored fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, but chocolate and cocoa are among the highest in antioxidant power!
Researchers measure the effectiveness of foods containing antioxidants. Here is a handy chart of the top five foods packing a punch.
| Foods High in Antioxidants |
ORAC Score* |
| Unprocessed Cacao Bean |
26,000 |
| Goji Berries |
25,300 |
| Acai Berries |
18,000 |
| Dark Chocolate |
13,120 |
| Black Raspberries |
7,700 |
* Note that numbers will vary based on sample and other factors, but generally the order remains the same.
By the way, milk chocolate comes in a little lower, with an ORAC score of 6,740.
Some studies suggest that we should eat between 3,000 to 5,000 ORAC units a day, while the average person only takes in about 1,200 ORAC units per day.
You know what that means, don’t you? EAT MORE CHOCOLATE. You don’t have to tell me twice!
Categories: chocolate education
Tags: antioxidants, cocoa, dark chocolate, healthy chocolate, milk chocolate, research
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