Survey on Chocolate Essay Example for Free

Survey on Chocolate Essay A delicate tree, cacao is only grown in rain forests in the tropics, usually on large plantations, where it must be protected from wind and intense sunlight. The tree is harvested twice a year. Milk chocolate was invented in 1876 by a Swiss chocolatier, Daniel Peter (1836-1919) of Vevey, Geneva. Daniel Peter successfully combined chocolate with powdered milk to produce the first milk chocolate. Today, the finest chocolate is still made in Switzerland, and the consumption of milk chocolate far outweighs that of plain chocolate. Chocolate was introduced to the United States in 1765 when John Hanan brought cocoa beans from the West Indies into Dorchester, Massachusetts, to refine them with the help of Dr. James Baker. The first chocolate factory in the country was established there. †¢ Chocolate Glossary Unsweetened Chocolate: It is also called baking, plain or bitter chocolate. Since no sugar has been added to the chocolate it has a strong, bitter taste that is used in cooking and baking but is never eaten out of hand. Bittersweet Chocolate: Still dark, but a little sweeter than unsweetened. It is unsweetened chocolate to which sugar, more cocoa butter, lecithin, and vanilla has been added. It has less sugar and more liquor than semisweet chocolate but the two are interchangeable in baking. Bittersweet has become the sophisticated choice of chefs. It contains a high percentage (up to 75%) of cocoa solids, and little (or no) added sugar. Semisweet Chocolate: Slightly sweetened during processing, and most often used in frostings, sauces, fillings, and mousses. They are interchangeable in most recipes. The favorite of most home bakers. It contains a high percentage (up to 75%) of cocoa solids, and little (or no) added sugar. German Chocolate: Dark, but sweeter than semisweet. German chocolate is the predecessor to bittersweet. It has no connection to Germany; it was developed by a man named German. Milk Chocolate or Sweet Chocolate: Candy bar chocolate. Chocolate to which whole and/or skim milk powder has been added. Rarely used in cooking because the protein in the added milk solids interferes with the texture of the baked products. It contains approximately 20 percent cocoa solids. White Chocolate: Many people might argue that white chocolate is not really chocolate. It is made from sweetened cocoa butter mixed with milk solids, sometimes with vanilla added. Since cocoa butter is derived from the cocoa bean, then we can only conclude that real white chocolate is indeed chocolate. Conveture: A term generally used to describe high-quality chocolate used by professional bakers in confectionery and baked products. The word means to cover or to coat. It has more cocoa butter than regular chocolate. Its specially formulated for dipping and coating things like truffles. Chocolate of this quality is often compared to tasting fine wine because subtleties in taste are often apparent, especially when you taste a variety of semisweet and bittersweet couvertures with different percentages of sugar and chocolate liquor. †¢ How Chocolate Is Made Cacao trees are often interplanted with tall shade trees to protect them from direct sunlight. Pods grow on the trunks and larger branches of the trees and take five to six months to ripen. Fruit on the higher branches are harvested with blades on long handles and lower branches are cut with machetes. The pods are cut open with machetes to reveal between 20 to 40 beans each, surrounded by a mass of stickly, white pulp. Traditionally, this was done immediately after harvest; today, pods are sometimes first stored whole for a few days to prime them for fermentation. Fermenting begins when the beans come into contact with the air. Here, a workrt uses a stick to gauge the depth of the mass in a vara, or measuring box, to determine the wage of the harvester, before transferring it to the fermentation bin. During fermentation, the pulp disintegrates, producing steamy heat and a pervasive, yeasty, sour smell. It is at this point that the beans first develop thier complex characteristics. Drying of the beans after fermentation is done on slatted wooden trays in the open air. The beans are spread out evenly and raked periodically so that they dry uniformly. As the beans dry, their colors deepen, turning them into a carpet of sepia, umber, and mocha. Aeration of the dried beans during storage is important to prevent the formation of mold. A worker tosses beans with a shovel to expose them evenly to the air. Grading of the beans is done mechanically at the larger farms; smaller producers do it by hand. From baskets, the dried beans are transferred to burlap bags and transported to local selling stations, where they may be bought by large companies for export. Arriving at the chocolate mills, the beans undergo a thorough cleaning, followed by the roasting which brings out the particular flavor of each variety. Throughout this process, a constant and exact temperature must be maintained. Correct roasting is exceedingly important since under-roasting leaves a raw taste and over-roasting results in a high pungent or even burnt flavor. Now comes the cooling, shelling, and winnowing, from which the cocoa beans emerge cleaned and ready for blending. This important process requires expert knowledge and skill. Not only must the beans be selected which will produce the best chocolate flavor, but uniformity of blend must be preserved year in and year out. After the blending, the cocoa beans are milled or slowly ground between great heated millstones. Under heat and tremendous pressure, the cocoa butter melts and mixes with other parts of the beans forming the ruddy chocolate liquor. The fragrant chocolate odor is now noticeable. The liquor is then treated according to the product to be made. For unsweetened chocolate, the liquor is poured into molds and cooled rapidly in refrigerating rooms. Then the cacao emeres in familiar form, as bars of chocolate, ready to be wrapped and sold. †¢ Storing Chocolate Keep the chocolate in a cool, dry place. Chocolate is best kept at around 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of a pantry or dark cabinet. It has a shelf life of approximately one year. The normal air conditioned room provides adequate protection. Freezing chocolate is not recommended; when you freeze it and then thaw it out, it will have a greater tendency to bloom. NOTE: Bloom is the white, filmy reside that can develop on chocolate. This usually happens when the chocolate is stored in a warm place, but can happen when you freeze it. Chapter-IV: Research Methodology A)PRIMERY DATA :- As we are doing the Survey of Chocolate we have found that there many people don’t like to eat Chocolate due to various reasone and there are many people who don’t want to shift to another brand of Chocolate due to there taste. There are also some type of people who has interested in chocolate but they can not effort if bcoz of high price for it but some people for this survey they have suggested to 1. To reduce some price of chocolate 2. To make diet chocolate 3. To make spicy chocolate B)SECONDERY DATA:- Adventages :- †¢ IT makes Refreshment †¢ IT reduces calostrol by eating it 2_3 times a week †¢ IT is often classified as a non –healthy food or normally calledtunk food †¢ Dark chocolate is beneifits to the body by medical and scientific reasearcher †¢ dark chocolate may help to avoid heart disease due to presencer of antioxidants Disadventages. †¢ Chocolate is a calorie rich food with a high sugar and fat content, so regular consumption of chocolate requires reducing the caloric intake of other foods. †¢ Chocolate contains a variety of substances, some of which have addictive properties e. g sugar, theobromine and caffeine which are stimulating and mood elevating and phenethylamine which can cause endorphin releases in the brain †¢ chocolate has been linked to nervous tension as well as migraine headaches because it contains compounds known as vasoactive amines that can dilate brain vessels triggering headaches in susceptible individuals. †¢ It has high levels of arginine which is required in the replication of the herpes virus. Chocolate should be avoided by those with active or recurring herpes infections.