man's greatest invention. without a doubt.

. . LE CHOCOLAT . .



A short history of chocolate.

Chocolate's Roots in Ancient Mesoamerica
We tend to think of chocolate as a sweet candy created during modern times. But actually, chocolate dates back to the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica who drank chocolate as a bitter beverage.

For these people, chocolate wasn't just a favorite food-it also played an important role in their religious and social lives.

The ancient Maya grew cacao and made it into a beverage.
The first people clearly known to have discovered the secret of cacao were the Classic Period Maya (250-900 C.E. [A.D.]). The Maya and their ancestors in Mesoamerica took the tree from the rainforest and grew it in their own backyards, where they harvested, fermented, roasted, and ground the seeds into a paste.

When mixed with water, chile peppers, cornmeal, and other ingredients, this paste made a frothy, spicy chocolate drink.

The Aztecs adopted cacao.
By 1400, the Aztec empire dominated a sizeable segment of Mesoamerica. The Aztecs traded with Maya and other peoples for cacao and often required that citizens and conquered peoples pay their tribute in cacao seeds—a form of Aztec money.

Like the earlier Maya, the Aztecs also consumed their bitter chocolate drink seasoned with spices—sugar was an agricultural product unavailable to the ancient Mesoamericans.

Drinking chocolate was an important part of Maya and Aztec life.
Many people in Classic Period Maya society could drink chocolate at least on occasion, although it was a particularly favored beverage for royalty. But in Aztec society, primarily rulers, priests, decorated soldiers, and honored merchants could partake of this sacred brew.

Chocolate also played a special role in both Maya and Aztec royal and religious events. Priests presented cacao seeds as offerings to the gods and served chocolate drinks during sacred ceremonies.

. . for this. we thank - i thank - the mighty south americans . .


Chocolate Making Process



Chocolate making begins when cocoa beans arrive from growing countries. It is now up to the chocolate maker or chocolatier to unlock the flavor treasures the beans conceal and create fine chocolate.

Production techniques change as chocolate makers introduce new technology. But the stages of chocolate making remain the same: roasting, grinding and refining, conching and tempering.

The secret to good chocolate is to carry out these tasks with patience, know-how and love. Combined with sublime chocolate recipes the required attention to detail will produce the produce the most refined and most beautiful chocolates.

Roasting
Roasting, like cocoa seed fermentation, is a crucial stage in establishing the final flavor of the chocolate. The ultimate quality of the chocolate depends as much on the correct choice of roasting conditions as it does on the characteristics of the raw cocoa beans.

There are several roasting processes:

- Pre-roasting
The cocoa beans are quickly heated with hot air or infra-red radiant heaters to separate the shells from the 'nibs', or bean meat. The beans are roasted at temperatures between 100°C (212°F) and 150°C (300°F) for between twenty and forty minutes.

- Direct roasting (without pre-roasting)
The beans, still in their shells, are roasted and then shelled all at once. This older and more traditional method allows the flavor to develop properly. As a guide, this type of roasting is carried out at between 150°C and 160°C (300°F-320°F) for forty to fifty minutes.

Both techniques are still used today and each has its advocates. The use of pre-roasting is more productive, but some varieties of beans, when shelled, can be damaged by a too-violent change in temperature during roasting.

Why Roast? Roasting dries and browns the cocoa beans and develops their flavor. This is the first important stage in the manufacturer's 'customization' of the product.

Earlier, fermentation has produced the flavor precursors: reducing sugars, glucose and fructose, and amino-acids. Even though roasting can only reinforce the results of good fermentation, it can only also spoil very high-quality beans if not done correctly.

Shelling
After or during roasting (i.e. following pre-roasting), the beans are shelled. If the aim is quality, as little shell as possible should be left.

Shelling is carried out in several stages: milling, sifting and winnowing. Each of these is important and shelling is complete when there are very few residual shells and grains are regular in size.

The shelled beans can be made into fine, smooth chocolate.

Milling
The roasted, shelled and crushed beans are milled to reduce them to even finer particles. It is important to take care when milling: friction generated heat can cause smoky or burnt off-flavors and some of the already existing flavors can be damaged or lost.

Refining
Refining converts the milled particles into liquid cocoa mass created as the cocoa butter in the beans binds the dry particles.

Conching
Conching involves powerful machines, 'conches', stiring the chocolate in a controlled way.

This is a crucial stage of chocolate making. Even when perfectly milled and partly homogenized, the product that emerges from the mill does not yet deserve to be called chocolate.

Conching is usually done in two stages:

- Dry conching: the chocolate is slowly stirred at a temperature of around 80°C (175°F) to rid it of any residual moisture and add viscosity.
- Liquid conching: follows immediately after dry conching - in the same conch and without stopping the machine - affecting texture and creaminess. (Sometimes it is necessary to add a little cocoa butter.)

Tempering
Tempering is the art of transforming liquid, or semi-liquid, chocolate into a solid. It seems simple but is a very delicate process.

The chocolate is heated to a specific temperature until the cocoa butter crystals have melted completely, and then cooling it at a carefully selected temperature.

Properly tempered chocolate is smooth and glossy, snaps when broken and produces smooth texture in the mouth and delivers flavor and aroma.

When carried out with patience, attention to detail and love, the chocolate making process will produce truly gourmet chocolate.



. . for this. we thank - i thank - the great makers . .


White Chocolate?



Officially white chocolate cannot be called "chocolate" because it does not contain chocolate liquor. Good white chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, vanilla, and lecithin. Make sure when buying white chocolate that it contains cocoa butter as some inferior brands contain vegetable fat.

White chocolate is ivory-colored (white chocolate made with vegetable fat is white-colored) and is rich and creamy. Its sweet and subtle flavor complements other ingredients in baking.

A delicate chocolate that scorches easily, so always melt over very low heat. It sets up softer than dark chocolate because it does not contain chocolate liquor.

. . for this we thank - i thank - delicious ivory . .


Lawful Chocolate



UK food laws are quite specific about what can and cannot be called 'chocolate'. It is any product that is obtained from cocoa nibs, cocoa mass, cocoa, fat-reduced cocoa or any combination of two or more of these ingredients, with or without extracted cocoa butter and sucrose.

Chocolate must contain not less than 35% total dry cocoa solids and not less that 18% cocoa butter. It is the cocoa solids that give the chocolate its rich flavour and the amounts included in the recipe vary with different brands, giving them their own characteristic taste.

Milk chocolate may contain a minimum of 14% milk solids or 20% as in Cadbury Dairy Milk.

According to FDA standards [USA], real chocolate must contain chocolate liquor (the solid that results from finely grinding cocoa bean nibs). Bittersweet chocolate, sometimes called semisweet in America is a dark chocolate, contains at least 35 % chocolate liquor (unsweetened chocolate) according to FDA. In the United States cocoa butter the only fat permitted in chocolates.

. . for this good chocolate. we thank - i thank - the law . .




. . for chocolate. we thank - i thank - god . .