chocolate~just+to+share

Can you imagine how a chocolate melt in your mouth? Try to recall it~



I am sure now you can imagine the thickening melting chocolate flavors ~ Who don't like chocolate? From the varieties of cocoa (or called cacao) food product, we hardly to find a person dislike it. If do so, he/she must not yet found the entire cocoa product to suit his/her taste buds. Let’s explore of this worldwide acceptable chocolate.

To product chocolate, we need cocoa seed from the Theobroma cacao tree. About 2/3 of the entire world cocoa is produced in Western Africa. But, we also can found the cacao tree mainly on Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Cameron, and Ecuador. Also Malaysia~

The Theobroma cacao tree can be as tall as 12 meters. Its fruit pod is green or red colour when young and turns into yellow or reddish-yellow as it ripe. The cacao pod is shaped like a rugby ball. We can collect about 20-40 seeds of cacao bean(cacao).The cacao is refer to the cacao bean, which is the source of the cacao components of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter and cocoa powder.

After fermentation,the beans are dried,cleaned,roasted and cooled,the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs. The nibs are then ground to thicker paste,called chocolate liquor(pure chocolate in its liquid form).The liquor also may be processed into two components:chocolate solids and chocolate butter.The separation of the two components may be accomplished by the Broma process.

Cocoa solids are the de-fated component of the liquor.When sold as an end product,it maybe also be called cocoa powder.The resulting powder, sold as natural cocoa powder, is more reddish than the traditional "chocolate" color, and relatively low in pH,resulting a sour taste.Cocoa solids are what lends a chocolate bar its characteristic flavor and color and it contains most of the antioxidants associated with chocolate.

While, cocoa butter is the nature fat present in the cocoa bean.It is a pale-yellow, It can melt at body temperature and give the chocolate its unique mouth feel.The cocoa butter is usually deodorized to remove its strong and undesirable taste.

And,there are many types of chocolate,white chocolate,milk chocolate,dark chocolate,bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate.Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, combining cocoa solids, cocoa butter or other fat, and sugar.

Cocoa solids contain alkaloids such as theobromine,which have physiological effects on the body. It has been linked to serotonin levels in the brain. Some research found that chocolate, eaten in moderation, can lower blood pressure.The presence of theobromine renders it toxic to some animals,like cats and dogs.Cocoa or dark chocolate benefits the circulatory system.Other beneficial effects suggested include anticancer, brain stimulator, cough preventor and antidiarrhoeal effects.Besides that,some people believe chocolate is a 'romance' food,by giving an aphrodisiac(a substance that increases sexual desire) effect or the presence of Osytocin(hormone of love).But,once again the 'romance' comes out from chocolate is not be proven.