CHAPTER 17: COCOA AND CHOCOLATE PRODUCTS Flashcards
One of the most popular food flavors in the Western world.
Chocolate, second only to vanilla.
Unlike vanilla, which is essentially a flavoring, chocolate has been used over the centuries as what?
Food, medicine, aphrodisiac, and money.
Chocolate was part of the ancient religious rituals in what culture?
Mayan
The source of cocoa and chocolate.
Cacao tree
Is the cacao tree a finicky plant?
Yes, that grows in relatively few regions of the world.
What affects the size of annual harvest?
Climate conditions–rainfall in particular–affect the size, as do the spread of fungus infections.
Where have fungus infections been a problem?
Brazil and other parts of South America in recent years.
Where is political instability a threat to the size of the harvest?
Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in western Africa.
Where is the largest cocoa bean supplier in the world?
Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in western Africa.
Cocoas and chocolates vary substantially in what?
Cost and quality.
The first step for selecting cocoa and chocolate is what? What about the other two steps?
Understanding the makeup and functionality of each. Then develop an educated palate by tasting and evaluating a wide range of products. Finally, include the other important criteria–price–in the selection process.
What are cacao (or cocoa) beans?
The seeds or kernels from the fruit pods of the cacao tree.
Are cocoa beans similar to other nuts and seeds?
Yes, just as almonds and sunflower seeds are encased in a protective shell, so, too, are cocoa nibs.
What are cocoa nibs?
The edible part of the cocoa bean that is processed into coca and chocolate.
What is theobroma cacao?
Cacao trees botanical name.
Where do cacao trees grow?
Near the equator on small cocoa plantations or in tropical rain forests.
Most commercial cacao trees grow in ______, but other major growing regions include ______ and ______ America and the islands of ______ and ______ in _____ ______. A minimum number of trees are cultivated in other locales, such as _______.
Africa, South, Central, Indonesia, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, Hawaii
Cocoa pods grow off of the _____ and ____ of cacao trees.
limbs, trunks
Because the trees are fragile, how must cocoa beans be harvested?
By hand. Skilled workers cut down the pods with machetes, selecting only fully ripe ones for best flavor.
Each pod holds how many cocoa beans?
About 20 to 40 surrounded by a thin layer of white fruit pulp.
What happens to cocoa beans after being removed from the shell?
They are removed–white fruit pulp intact–and are piled, covered, and allowed to ferment.
What is the first step in the conversion of raw bean to flavorful chocolate?
Fermentation, which requires two days to one week, depending on the type of bean.
Fermentation involves a complex series of what?
Reactions that occur as microorganisms ferment sugars in the pulp, and the enzymes break down various components in the bean.
Fermentation ______ the bean’s color and changes its _______. It increases the beans _______, decreases its _______ and _______, and generates _____ precursors that are important tho the flavor development later during the roasting and conching.
darkens, flavor, acidity, astringency, bitterness, flavor
When does fruit pulp drain from the beans?
When it warms and liquefies.
What happens after fruit pulp drains from the beans?
Beans are dried, or cured, often directly in the sun, but sometimes over an open fire or with hot air.
During drying, what happens to beans?
Beans lose nearly half their weight and some acidity to evaporation.
If dried improperly or incompletely, what happens to beans?
They pick up off flavors, including smoky or moldy flavors.
Once dried, what happens to beans?
Beans are packed in burlap bags and shipped around the world to the processing plants where they are cleaned, roasted, removed from their shells, and further processed.
Almonds, cocoa nibs, and sunflower seed kernels are all good sources of what?
Dietary fiber and minerals (ash).
As with other sources of tropical fats, such as coconuts and palm kernels, cocoa nibs contain what?
Fat that is naturally saturated and is solid at room temperature.
Although saturated, does cocoa butter appear to raise blood cholesterol levels the way most saturated fats do?
No
Besides containing fat high in saturated fatty acids, cocoa butter also contains small amounts of what?
Lecithin and other natural emulsifiers.
Everything in cocoa beans that is solid but is not cocoa butter is collectively referred to as what?
Cocoa solids nonfat.
Cocoa solids nonfat include what?
Large amount of proteins and carbohydrates.
The carbohydrates in cocoa beans consist of what?
Starch, dietary fiber (cellulose and pentosan gums), and dextrins.
What are dextrins?
Starch fragments that are produced when starches are broken down by heat, as when cocoa beans are roasted.
Like starch, do dextrins absorb water?
Yes, but to a lesser degree.
When is too much cocoa solids nonfat a problem? Use Hershey’s syrup.
Has the best flavor when it contains a high amount of cocoa solids nonfat. The problem is, when there is a high amount of cocoa solids nonfat, there is a high amount of starch and gums that thicken the syrup. Over time, the syrup sets up and will not dispense properly from the package.
How do you solve the problem of too many cocoa solids nonfat?
The enzyme amylase is sometimes added to chocolate syrup, to break down the starch so the syrup won’t thicken.
Because many chocolate products contain sugar and other ingredients, they are often labeled with the declaration of what?
A minimum amount of cocoa solids, sometimes simply called percent cocoa or cacao. The European Union requires this by law of all its member countries. Cocoa solids, in this case, are not the same as cocoa solids nonfat. Instead, it represents the combined total of all cocoa ingredients, including ground cocoa nib and added cocoa powder and cocoa butter. In other words, it represents the combined total of cocoa solids nonfat and cocoa butter.
Do label declarations state how much of the cocoa solids are nonfat and how much are from added cocoa butter?
No
Does a higher level of cocoa solids nonfat provide a stronger or weaker chocolate flavor?
Stronger
A higher level of cocoa butter means what when a product is melted?
It will be thinner, which is important when chocolate is used as a coating.
Cocoa solids nonfat also include small amounts of what?
Acids, color, and flavor, vitamins and minerals, and polyphenolic compounds.
Besides providing health benefits, polyphenolic compounds contribute what?
To color and flavor of cocoa beans.
Do cocoa solids nonfat contain caffeine and theobromine? What is theobromine?
Yes, which is a mild caffein-like stimulant. Like caffeine, it has a bitter taste, characteristic of chocolate.
While there are many types of cocoa beans, many fall into these three main categories.
Forastero, criollo, trinitario.
The majority (90% or more) of cocoa beans are which type?
Forasteros, considered basic or bulk beans; they are the work horses of the cocoa industry.
Where did forasteros originate?
South American rain forests, but today are grown throughout the cocoa-growing world, especially in western Africa.
Are forasteros easy to grow? Explain.
Yes, because they withstand changes to the climate and are resistant to fungus and disease.
Describe the flavor and color of forastero beans.
Dark and have a full chocolate flavor, with plenty of middle and base notes. While they provide a chocolate earthiness, they lack the subtle top notes of criollo beans.
Which beans are considered “fine and flavor” beans?
Light-colored criollo beans.
What does “fine and flavor” refer to?
The complex fruity aromatic top notes of these beans.
Criollos are typically low in what two things?
Bitterness and astringency.
Why are criollo beans expensive?
The trees are susceptible to disease and are therefore difficult to grow.
What beans were prized by the ancient Myans?
Criollos
How much of the world cocoa supple is from criollo?
Less than 2%, and the size of the crop is shrinking as criollo tress are replaced with hardier varieties.
What areas are known for their “fine and flavor” beans?
Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Indonesia.
Why do we crave chocolate?
Chocolate contains a mix of substances–theobromine, magnesium, tyrosine, phenylethylamine, anandamide, and N-acylethanolamine–that affect brain chemistry. However, many everyday foods contain these substances, often at higher levels. Yet, it is possible that chocolate contains a special combination of them. Or, it might simply be that the pleasurable sensory characteristics of chocolate–its taste, smell, and mouthfeel–are what we crave.
Single-origin chocolate are also called what?
Grand crus, in tradition of wines.
What are varietal chocolates?
Like varietal wines, are made from one type of bean.
What are single-origin chocolates?
Made from beans grown entirely in a specific region or plantation.
Many specialty chocolate manufacturers sell varietal and single origin chocolates at _______ prices.
premium
Is tasting single-origin chocolates a way of broadening your knowledge of chocolate?
Yes, although some of them are an acquired taste.
Look for chocolates made from the following varietal and single-origin flavor beans.
Chuao, Maracaibo, and Porcelana criollos from Venezuela; Arriba, a criollo from Thrinidad; Nacional, from Ecuador, a fine and flavor bean related to forastero; Careener Superior and Rio Caribe, two trinitario beans from Venezuela, and many more.
Trinitario beans are believed to be what?
A cross between forastero and the criollo, and they have characteristics of each.
Like criollos, trinitarios are considered what?
Fine and flavor beans, although their flavor is less fruity and more earthy.
Like forasteros, trinitario beans are what?
Hardy
When were trinitarios first hybridized?
On the island of Trinidad in 1700s, when trinitario tress were imported to replace criollos destroyed by a major blight.
How much of the world cocoa bean crop is trinitario?
Less than 5%.
Most cocoa and chocolate products are produced from a blend of what?
Beans, with forasteros providing the base notes and the finish, and a small amount of flavor beans providing aromatic, often fruity, top notes.
Cocoa beans are grown in the tropics, but where are they processed?
Where they are consumed, throughout Europe, North America, and other regions of the world.
Cocoa and chocolate products can be categorized as what?
Cocoa products, chocolate products, and confectionary coatings.
Are cocoa products sweetened or unsweetened?
Unsweetened
What is included in cocoa products?
Cocoa nibs, chocolate (cocoa) liquor, cocoa powder, and cocoa butter.
Are chocolate products sweetened or unsweetened?
Sweetened
Are chocolate products highly processed and more refined than cocoa products? Are they expensive?
Yes, and while their prices vary, expect to pay a premium.
Chocolate products include what?
Couvertures, bittersweet dark chocolate, sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate.
What are confectionary coatings?
Low-cost products made from cocoa, vegetable fats other than cocoa butter, and sugar.
Both chocolate products and confectionary coatings can be purchased as ________–often ____ pounds (4.5 or 5 kilograms)–or _____, also called coins or chips.
blocks, 10-11, drops
Why are drops convenient to melt and use?
They’re small.
Although cocoa and chocolate products must meet minimum standards set by law, does it eliminate the large variation in makeup and quality that exist between brands?
These standards clarify differences among products, but they do not eliminate the large variation in makeup and quality that exists between brands. Standards vary from one country to the next.
The definition of milk chocolate changes from ______ _______, to _______, to the _____ _______.
United States, Switzerland, United Kingdom.
Is Switzerland an EU member?
No, it sets its own regulations.
How was chocolate used by the Mayans of Central America?
For several thousand years, it was used as a drink at religious ceremonies, earning its reputation as food of the gods. It was also ground with maize and other seeds and grains, seasoned, and consumed as food. In its most refined form, these beverages were poured from one vessel to another at great heights, creating quantities of foam. One reason beans were roasted was to intensify this foam.
When Christopher Columbus first met Mayan traders in _____, he sensed that cocoa beans were held in high esteem, but he didn’t fully comprehend their significance.
1502
Hernando Cortes, the Spanish conquistador, invaded Mexico in ______. What were they aware of by then?
1519; the importance of cocoa beans to the New World, at least in its role as money.
More than a means of money, cacahuatl was symbolic to the Aztecs of what?
Blood and the human heart. It was there most valued beverage, savored almost exclusively by the nobility, warriors, and elite merchants.
Spanish accounts report Montezuma, emperor of the Aztecs, sipping from what?
Chocolate at a banquet feast from fifty golden goblets.
How was chocolate consumed by the Aztecs?
Cold, colored with red annatto, and flavored with dry chili; it was rejected by Spanish invaders.
How did chocolate make its way to the Spanish court?
Some say by Cortes himself.
How did the Spanish use chocolate?
They heated it, sweetened it with cane sugar, and flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. Part medicine, part invigorating beverage, chocolate spread throughout western Europe, even as the Spanish kept its process a secret for years.
As the 1600s progressed, what became a trendy, healthful drink throughout Europe (for those who could afford it)?
Hot chocolate.
At one time, did the chocolate industry consist of skilled craftsmen running small operations?
Yes
Today, what transforms the bulk of the world’s cocoa beans into cocoa and chocolate products?
Large manufacturers.
What are two ways manufacturers maintain consistency?
By blending beans from around the world. Another way is through are scale computer-controlled manufacturing processes.
At the same time most of the chocolate industry has consolidated to a few large scale manufacturers, artisan chocolate producers have begun what?
Producing small quantities of specialty products. They also tend to use more traditional methods of processing the beans, and they are likely to create specialty chocolates made from varietal or single-origin beans.
The first step in converting cocoa beans–single-origin or otherwise–into cocoa and chocolate products is what?
To clean and roast the bean.
Regulations on cocoa in US and Canada.
10% minimum, 22% maximum
Regulations for high-fat cocoa in United States.
22% minimum
Regulations for EU cocoa.
20% minimum (calculated on a dry weight basis)
Regulations on fat-free cocoa for US and Canada.
0.5% maximum
Regulations on low-fat cocoa in US and Canada.
10% max
Regulations on fat-reduced cocoa in EU.
8-20% (calculated on a dry weight basis)
Chocolate never would’ve risen in quality and popularity in quite the same way without what?
Technology
What made chocolate affordable and appealing to the common man?
The steam engine, a product of the Industrial Revolution, and the invention of the cocoa press in 1828.
Who developed a means of refining the flavor and mouthfeel of chocolate through conching?
Ralph Lindt, a Swiss manufacturer, in the 1800s.
Who created the first milk chocolate? How?
Another Swiss, Daniel Peter, by incorporating Henri Nestle’s newly invented condensed milk into chocolate.
An important step in transforming the bean to cocoa and chocolate.
Roasting
How long does roasting take? What temps?
Several minutes to an hour or more, at temperatures that range from about 200-400ºF (95º-200ºC).
Roasting conditions depend on what?
Size and variety of bean, and on the end result desired.
Why are criollo beans often roasted for shorter times than forasteros?
So valuable top notes aren’t lost to evaporation.
What does roasting do?
Loosens the shell for easy removal, reduces the amount of moisture and destroys microorganisms and other undesirable pests, darkens the color, and changes the flavor.
Why does the flavor change when roasting?
The flavor changes as heat evaporates acids and other volatile flavor molecules. Heat also initiates complex chemical reactions, including Maillard reactions, which involve the breakdown of sugars and other carbohydrates in the presence of proteins. As roasting continues, Maillard reactions produce deep, earthy middle and base notes and darkly colored compounds.
What is the traditional way of roasting beans? What about newer methods?
Dry-roast whole beans, newer roasting methods involve pretreating beans with the steam or infrared heat.
What does pretreatment do for beans?
Allows shells to be removed before roasting.
What happens once shells are removed?
Nibs are broken into particles of uniform size. Alternatively, the nibs are reduced into a paste, which is roasted as a thin film.
As with coffee, people have personal preferences for the degree of ______ that they prefer in their chocolate.
roast
Can small bits of roasted nibs be purchased?
Yes, as a speciality ingredient.
Just as cocoa beans can be thought of as nuts, cocoa nibs can be thought of as what?
Chopped nuts.
Do nibs contain everything that is found in the cocoa bean?
Yes, including a large amount of cocoa butter and an almost equal amount of cocoa solids nonfat.
Because they are unsweetened, cocoa nibs have a strong ______ chocolate taste.
bitter
How is chocolate liquor produced?
By finely grinding chocolate nibs through a series of rollers.
The liquor refers to what?
The liquid state of chocolate when it is warm; it does not indicate the presence of alcohol.
If chocolate nibs are thought of as chopped nuts, chocolate liquor can be thought of as what?
Nut butter (nuts ground to a smooth paste).
How is cocoa liquor unlike almond butter or peanut butter? What happens to it when cooled?
Chocolate/cocoa liquor hardens into solid blocks when cooled, because cocoa butter is solid at room temperature.
What is cocoa liquor called when sold as solid blocks?
Unsweetened chocolate, cocoa mass (cacaomasse), bitter chocolate, or baking chocolate.
Like nibs, unsweetened chocolate is high in what?
Cocoa butter.
By law, unsweetened chocolate must contain a minimum of ___% cocoa butter (and, in the US, a maximum of ___%).
50, 60
Why is unsweetened chocolate expensive? Is it worth it?
Because it is high in valuable cocoa butter. It’s worth it because cocoa butter contributes to the full flavor of unsweetened chocolate.
Ingredient of choice for the richest chocolate flavor in baked good.
Unsweetened chocolate
Besides containing cocoa butter and very small amounts of moisture, unsweetened chocolate contains what?
Cocoa solids nonfat. Since it is made from pure nib, this is generally all that is in unsweetened chocolate.
By law, unsweetened chocolate can contain what?
Small amounts of added milk fat, ground nuts, flavorings, and alkali.
Do cocoa solids nonfat contain acid?
Yes
What is available in unsweetened chocolate to react with baking soda?
Acid
How is natural cocoa powder made?
When chocolate liquor is squeezed and pressed under high pressure, heat builds and melts cocoa butter, some of which drains from the chocolate. The remaining presoak is finely ground and sold as cocoa powder.
Does the natural color of cocoa powder range?
Yes, from light yellowish-brown–tan–to dark yellowish-brown, depending on the source of bean and amount of roasting.
Why is cocoa powder less expensive than unsweetened chocolate?
Because valuable cocoa butter is removed and sold separately.
As with chocolate liquor, natural cocoa powder is _______, having a pH between __ and __.
acidic, 5, 6
Do the acids in natural cocoa powder react with baking soda?
Yes
Does cocoa powder contain added sugar?
No
Are there sweetened cocoa powders on the market? What are they called? Are they good for baking?
Yes, they are called hot cocoa mixes and not used in baking?
At the start of the 1700s, was hot chocolate too expensive for the common man?
Yes
Who was the first to mechanize and mass produce the grinding of cocoa beans?
Joseph Fry, and English physician who counseled his patients on the medical qualities of chocolate.
Before Joseph Fry, how was chocolate ground?
Manually ground as it had been for thousands of years, between a stone rolling pin and a stone surface (mano and metate).
Mass production reduced the price of chocolate and improved its ______.
fineness
Even after Joseph Fry, what was the problem with hot chocolate?
It would still form an unattractive slick of melted cocoa butter on the surface.
How was the unattractive slick of melted cocoa butter fixed?
When C.J. Van Houten from Netherlands developed a process in 1828 for pressing excess cocoa butter from chocolate, cocoa powder was produced and the problem was solved.
For a few years after cocoa powder was invented, nobody knew what to do with the leftover cocoa butter. How was this addressed? What was this the catalyst for?
Finally, in the mid 1800s, Fry and Sons combined cocoa butter and sugar with chocolate, creating the first popular chocolate candy bar. Because there was now a market for cocoa butter, the price of cocoa dropped, making hot cocoa available to the masses.
What is one way to classify cocoa butter?
By the amount of cocoa butter it contains.
Regular medium fat cocoa powder, is often simply called what? Where is it used?
Cocoa, which is used in North America for baking.
Cocoa has a minimum of how much cocoa butter by law?
10% and it generally ranges around 10-12%. In fact, manufacturers often designate regular cocoa as 10/12 cocoa.
Low-fat cocoa in North America has how much cocoa butter?
Less than 10%
