Sunday, April 27, 2014

The Wonderful World Of Chocolate

By Elba Fenwick


A wise person once said, "There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate." Creamy, rich and sweet, chocolate is one of the most popular food items on earth. We enjoy it in sweet and savory dishes, give it out as gifts and make it a part of our celebrations. There are even books and movies and songs about chocolate. Read on and learn a few more interesting tidbits about chocolate.

Dark chocolate has been shown to produce many benefits to our health. Because dark chocolate contains a high concentration of antioxidants, eating a bit of this chocolate each day can lower one's blood pressure, improve your overall heart health and perhaps even ward off Type 2 diabetes. In addition, scientists have shown that a bit of chocolate can be an excellent mood booster and even the scent of chocolate can improve one's mood.

Chocolate in some ways is similar to coffee. This food is produced using the seed of the cacao tree. The seeds by themselves are quite bitter, and they must be fermented in order to develop a richer flavor. After the fermentation process is complete, the beans are dried and roasted. Then the shells are removed and the remaining part is known as a cacao nib. This is the part that is ground up to make cocoa and chocolate.

While the Aztecs and Mayans used chocolate for many thousands of years, it was Europeans who added milk fats and sugar to chocolate and transformed it into a sweet treat. John Cadbury was the first chocolatier to develop a way to emulsify chocolate and create a solid chocolate bar, and today Cadbury still produces millions of chocolate bars and candies each year.

Of the Top Ten chocolate makers out there, four are based in the United States. Mars, Nestle and Mondelez International are all U.S.-based and are the top three chocolate companies, and Hershey is also among the ten top chocolate producers in the world. These companies also produce some of the world's best-selling chocolate bar brands such as Milky Way, Snickers and Kit Kat. While these inexpensive treats are popular, many people prefer a higher quality, gourmet-style chocolate produced by specialty chocolate companies.

If we have whetted your appetite for chocolate, take a look at the gourmet chocolate products created by Chocolate Pizza Company. The staff makes dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate pizzas by hand, as well as unique chocolate items like chocolate-covered pretzels or potato chips, succulent truffles, almond bark, cashew clusters and even Peanut Butter Wings to accompany your chocolate pizza. These special wings are created by blending potato chips with creamy peanut butter which is then dipped either in milk or dark chocolate.




About the Author:



0 comments :

Dí lo que piensas...

 
twitter facebook google plus linkedin rss feed email