Tag Archive: dutched cocoa

Chocolate Facts You Want To Know

Always be choosy with the chocolate you eat. Chocolate is known to be packed with nutrients, but to be able to get its substantial benefits, we must know what we're eating.

Chocolates that have at least 70% cocoa are the best ones, considering the higher the cocoa content, the more nutritious. Your chocolate is also better off non- or lightly alkalized or non-dutched. While milk and white chocolate are head-tilting good, they don’t offer as much healthy flavanols as dark chocolate does.

If you’re not a fan of dark chocolate, fret not. It's actually an acquired taste, and you can develop it by slowly increasing percentage of cocoa in the chocolates you eat. As a matter of fact, there are milk chocolates with 50 percent cocoa or more available in the market now.
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Dutch-Process vs Natural Cocoa Powder

There are a lot of variations of cocoa powder. Two of the most prominent types around the world are the Dutch-processed cocoa powder and natural cocoa powder.

Dutch-processed cocoa powder is made from cocoa beans that have been treated with a potassium solution.  That neutralizes the acidity of the cocoa beans.

On the other hand, natural cocoa powder is derived from the cocoa beans that have been simply roasted and then reduced and pulverized into a fine powder.
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Breyers All Natural Chocolate Ice Cream

I noticed something interested the other day while grocery shopping.  Breyers has changed its chocolate ice cream.  It says so right there on the package, “Now with 33% more real Dutch Cocoa!”

I was intrigued.  My scientific self pondered what kind of formulation adjustments had to be made to compensate for the increase in pH from the cocoa (“dutch” means processed with alkali).  Don’t laugh, my brain works differently.

I have mentioned in past blog posts why it is necessary to add a Dutch-Processed or Alkalized Processed cocoa powder to dairy products like ice cream and milk.  Dutch cocoa is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids.  Acidity has a negative effect on diary – it causes it to curdle. 
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Chocolate Cheerios

It has been a while since I had Cheerios for breakfast.  For me, Cheerios was the cereal I fed my toddler to keep him quiet in church, not something I was interested in eating for breakfast.  What got my attention recently is the new Chocolate Cheerios.

According to the Cheerios website, Chocolate Cheerios is “a perfect balance of whole grain goodness and a delicious touch of chocolate taste in every bite.” 

I am a fan of whole grain goodness, but I am even more a fan of chocolate! 
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