deepstash
Beta
Deepstash brings you key ideas from the most inspiring articles like this one:
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
Everything You Don't Know About Chocolate
9
Key Ideas
Save all ideas
Chocolates
Chocolates are everyone's favorite treat, and there is more to them than we know. Americans spend $21 Billion on chocolates every year, paying up to $55 for a single bar.
...88 SAVES
Creating Chocolate
- Cacao (or Cocoa) beans are the seeds that grow in the cacao tree, which are plucked, roasted and separated.
- The 'nibs' from the beans (part solids and part butter) are ground and made ...
63 SAVES
Bean-To-Bar
Authentic chocolate makers are like fine chefs and are obsessed about the texture, character and ethical origins of their beans.
Mainstream industrial chocolate makers buy all the beans, good...
59 SAVES
Origins of Bean-To-Bar Chocolates
The handcrafted chocolate market was re-ignited after 150 years by Mr. John Scharffenberger, and Robert Steinberg. The only other craft chocolate maker at that time, Guittard, had lost the art of m...
63 SAVES
The Chocolatier
Chocolatiers take pre-made chocolate, melt it and combine it with a host of ingredients, turning it into delicacies.
The best Chocolatiers buy from superb bean-to-bar chocolate makers.
Ch...
66 SAVES
Single Origin Chocolate
Single-Origin chocolate refers to the region or area from where the beans have been sourced, lending them a distinct flavor and taste.
Example: Fine Latin American chocolate tastes diffe...
65 SAVES
Cocoa Percentage
- Cacao (cocoa) percentage is the quantity of ground-up beans that is present in the chocolate bar.
- Milk chocolates have 10 to 30 % cacao, while dark chocolates have 35 to 55 %
- W...
49 SAVES
Buying in Bulk Vs Direct Trade
Cacao farmers, who grow any kind of cacao and sell to industrial chocolate makers, have no incentive to grow quality beans.
Many cacao farmers live below the poverty line.
57 SAVES
Environmental Impact
There is a dark side to chocolate making, with children working in hazardous conditions in cacao farms.
Widespread destruction of forests (deforestation) is also a grave concern.
Big C...
74 SAVES
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
2
Key Ideas
"Healthy: Dark Chocolate
Mars Inc. - the company that has brought us M&M's or Snickers - sponsored 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers starting from the 80s. Mars controlled the research agenda and only funded the posi...
Not really good for your health
The biggest health claim is that cocoa lowers blood pressure, but no study has proven that it reduces the risk of heart disease or attacks. And considering the added sugars it probably does more harm than good.
4
Key Ideas
The Aztec cocoa
- The cocoa we know now is very different from the one that first arrived in Europe from South America (in the 16th century).
- The Aztecs consumed cocoa as a drink and they believed i...
Cocoa comes to Europe
- In 1518, Hernan Cortes, a Spanish soldier and explorer reached the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (in the territory that is now Mexico).
- He and his men drank “chikolatl”, a bitter drink that contained roasted, crushed and then boiled (in water with spices and chilli) cocoa beans.
- They did not like it, but they knew that the king of the Aztecs, Montezuma II, consumed the drink around 50 times a day. So Hernan Cortes understood the potential of cocoa and brought it back to Spain following his conquest.
Chocolate: the taste we know today
- After they reached, Europe cocoa beans were crushed and mixed with honey and sugar, becoming a popular drink among the elites.
- Joseph Fry and Sons made the first chocolate bar in the 19th century, creating what we know as chocolate today.
7
Key Ideas
Replacing protein
Protein is not just found in meat. It is also found in grains and vegetables. And if you are getting enough calories, then you are getting enough protein.
Try to keep the daily mix of wh...
Eat Beans
Beans come in many varieties and are excellent stand-ins for meat in certain recipes.
Cooking the beans yourself provides a better flavor and texture, but canned beans are also a good alternative as convenience food.
High-Protein Grains
Grains have more protein than we think and also contains a host of other vital nutrients, especially when we eat them whole.
Some staple that fills a grain bowl is quinoa, Kamut, teff, millet, wild rice, buckwheat, cornmeal, and even pasta.