So what determines a good quality chocolate? It all amounts to a hill of beans...cocoa beans, that is.
The cocoa beans from the cacao tree are ground into a paste called chocolate liquor, which is then used to make either cocoa or solid chocolate.
Aztecs and Spanish explorers were drinking chocolate back in the 1500's. The first US chocolate factory opened for business in Massachusetts in 1765, but it was the Swiss who perfected milk chocolate over a century later.
Chocolate contains caffeine and a close relative called theobromine, which are both stimulants. In fact Hersheys first extracted theobromine in the 1940's and sold it to Coca-Cola.
If you've ever wondered why dogs get their own blend of chocolates, it's because their bodies metabolise these chemicals very slowly. Fido may have a heart attack if you give him a human chocolate!
Chocolate has antioxidants and phenols, which are good for the heart but, as we all know, chocolate is high in saturated fat and eating too much will put weight on. A bar of milk chocolate will deliver protein, riboflavin (vitamin B2) calcium and iron. Some studies show that chocolate mimics opioids in the brain and that makes us feel nice after a session.
In addition to cocoa bean quality, good chocolate contains cocoa butter as a major ingredient. It's the natural fat from the bean and you'll also find it in soaps and cosmetics listed as theobroma oil
Many European countries take great pride in using quality ingredients and consider chocolate from the UK to be inferior because vegetable fat is used instead of real cocoa butter.
The top quality tip is to see where cocoa butter appears on the ingredients list. Makers usually list in most-to-least order. Price is generally a good indicator of quality, as cocoa butter is not cheap.
By the way, white chocolate is not chocolate at all - it is cocoa butter, milk and sugar.
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