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Chocolate Lovers Guide
By Lee Dobbins, Fri Dec 9th
Chocolate, or the cocoa bean to be more exact was used by theAztecs as early as the year 400 but it was Columbus who firstintroduced it to the new world when he brought it back to Spain.Chocolate as a drink was quite popular in Europe in the mid1600's, but chocolate as a solid wasn't introduced until 1847.Thirty years later, milk was added to create milk chocolate andcandy bars have been enjoyed world wide ever since! Making Chocolate It is actually quite simple to make chocolate, but each makerhas his own secret recipes. First off, the cocoa beans areroasted and ground up. Next you add sugar and the otheringredients (milk if you are making milk chocolate). Each makerwill have a different list of ingredients. The ingredients areblended together through a method called conching which uses aspecial machine. Finally, the chocolate is tempered -heated upand then cooled again for the final result.
Chocolate Nutrition Good quality chocolate is actually rather nutritious! Itcontains vitamins and minerals including calcium and magnesium.It also contains anti-oxidants that help to prevent cancer andheart disease. These benefits are found mostly in dark chocolateand only in high quality chocolates that use 60% or more cocoasolids. Cheap chocolate is mostly fat and sugar and has littlenutritional value. Storing Chocolate You should store chocolate in a cool, dry place. It does absorbflavors so make sure you wrap it tight. You can freeze it for upto 6 months. Chocolate stays good for up to a year. Health Benefits Of Chocolate Good high quality chocolates contain vitamins,
minerals andantioxidants that can help your health. Now I'm not talkingabout the cheap candy bar stuff - but high quality gourmetchocolate with 60% or more cocoa solids. This chocolate containscontains calcium, iron, potassium and the vitamins A, B1, C, Dand E. Along with vitamins, high quality chocolate containsthe highest amounts of magnesium among natural foods. Magnesiumdeficiency has been linked to diabetes, joint problems,hypertension and PMS. One of the additional health benefits ofchocolate is that it has been found to contain catechins - someof the same antioxidants found in green tea. The catechinsattack free radicals which damage cells and are thought to leadto cancer and heart disease. So eating chocolate, may help toprevent and cancer!Chocolate Trivia - Chocolate is made from beans, the Nib is the heart of the beanor what remains after they are roasted and shelled. Ground nibsare called liquor they are unsweetened and liquid when warm butsolid when cooled. The fat of the bean is Cocoa butter and whenpressed out, the powdery stuff left is cocoa powder. - That white stuff you see sometimes on milk chocolate is calledfat bloom, it doesn't affect the taste and you can still eatchocolate that has it! - Chocolate was considered an aphrodisiac by the Aztecs - White chocolate isn't really chocolate at all since itcontains no chocolate liquor! It still tastes pretty good,though doesn't it?
About the author:Lee Dobbins is a writer for OnlineGourmet Foods where you can find out more about gourmetfoods and chocolate.
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