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
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
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
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
 I was recently introduced to of Seattle Reign a coffee from North Star Fine Coffees. This morning I sipped a delicious brew of the coffee and quietly ate my chocolate donut, trying to get some work done.
At one point I was rolling the two around my mouth at the same time, coffee and chocolate, chocolate and coffee… Then I experienced a new flavor emerge as I swallowed.
This got me thinking about chocolate and coffee pairings!
I grabbed the first chocolate I could find in my drawer (we all have a secret stash of chocolate nearby, right?) and pulled out a mostly Ecuadorian blend of 73% cacao dark chocolate. I let my coffee cool down just a bit so that I could better taste its subtle flavors.
First, I enjoyed the aroma of the chocolate, identified some familiar flavors and then took a bite. I allowed the chocolate to coat my mouth and took in the smooth texture.
As the chocolate melted, the flavors really exploded. Ecuadorian chocolate has one of my favorite flavor profiles. It is fruity, with a hint of nut, and the finish is intensely chocolate and astringent on the tongue.
Next, I smelled the coffee and identified as many flavors as I could just before taking a sip. Seattle Reign is a gem of a coffee with rich flavors of roasted chocolate, mixed with mild earthy and nutty notes.
The chocolate and coffee blended very well and introduced me to a new level of flavor complexity. I really enjoyed this pairing.
Since I am not as familiar with the flavor profiles of coffees as I am with chocolates, I will need to do some more research and some more pairings. That means spending more mornings drinking coffee and eating chocolate.
Oh darn.
Categories: chocolate pairings, fine foods & beverages
Tags: chocolate and coffee, coffee, dark chocolate, tasting
Confusion in the world of chocolate?
You might think, “there’s nothing confusing about chocolate — you buy it, you eat it!“ The reality is, the chocolate world has its own lingo, with terms and definitions that apply to the tasting of chocolate, the baking and cooking of chocolate, and the making of chocolate confections.
 To help you keep it all straight, here is a list of some common chocolate vocabulary along with their definitions…
Cocoa bean (or nib):
The cocoa bean is the seed from the pod, or fruit, of the chocolate tree — Theobroma cacao. The cocoa bean has a shell surrounding it. When it is removed, the nib, or the center, is revealed. The nib is typically roasted and then crushed into chocolate liquor.
Baking chocolate (or chocolate liquor):
Baking chocolate is made from finely ground and roasted cocoa beans. There is no sugar in baking chocolate.
Cocoa butter:
The fat present in cocoa beans is called cocoa butter. The term “butter” does not mean that cocoa butter is a dairy product.
Cocoa powder:
Cocoa powder comes from removing the cocoa butter from the nib and then grinding the remaining solids into a powder. The terms cocoa and cocoa powder can be used interchangeably.
Bittersweet (or semi-sweet) chocolate:
Bittersweet chocolate must contain at least 35% chocolate liquor and only cocoa butter as a fat, according to U.S. Standards of Identity. Both bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate terms can be used interchangeably.
Milk chocolate:
The most commonly consumed form of chocolate is milk chocolate. Milk chocolate must contain a minimum of 10% chocolate liquor and at least 12% milk solids. Milk fat and cocoa butter are the only fats that can be used.
White chocolate:
White chocolate is a blend of cocoa butter, milk, and sugar. There are no chocolate solids present, which is why it lacks the typical brown color of chocolate. U.S. regulations requires white chocolate to contain at least 20% (by weight) cocoa butter and at least 14% total milk solids.
Dutch processed chocolate:
This process darkens the color of the chocolate and releases a milder chocolate flavor. The chocolate liquor or cocoa solids are treated with an alkaline solution. The terms “dutched” or “alkalized” are listed on the ingredient statement for products sold in the U.S.
Chocolate flavored coating (or confectionary coating):
Chocolate that is made using a blend of vegetable fats either in addition to or other than cocoa butter. Chocolate flavored coatings are similar in color to “real” chocolate coatings but taste very different and usually do not need to be tempered. These coatings that contain vegetable fats cannot legally be called “chocolate” in the US.
Categories: chocolate education, fun chocolate facts
Tags: chocolate facts, chocolate lessons, cocoa, confectionary coating, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, nibs, white chocolate
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