Outline of chocolate

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chocolate:

What is chocolate?

What type of thing is chocolate?

Chocolate is a type of:

  • Food – substance to provide nutritional support for the body, ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells in an effort to produce energy, maintain life, and/or stimulate growth.
    • Confectionery – the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well.
      • Candy – confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavourings and colourants are added. Candies come in numerous colours and varieties and have a long history in popular culture.
    • Ingredient – substance that forms part of a mixture (in a general sense). For example, in cooking, recipes specify which ingredients are used to prepare a specific dish. Chocolate is often used as an ingredient in dessert items, such as cakes and cookies.

What is chocolate made of?

A cacao tree with fruit pods in various stages of ripening. Chocolate is created from the cacao bean.

Necessary ingredients

  • Cacao bean – Fatty seed of Theobroma cacao which is the basis of chocolate
    • Chocolate liquor, also known as chocolate mass – Pure cocoa mass in solid or semi-solid form
    • Cocoa butter – Pale-yellow, edible fat extracted from the cocoa bean
    • Cocoa solids – Mixture remaining after cocoa butter is extracted from cocoa beans
Substances found in cacao
Source of the cocoa bean

Optional ingredients

  • Caramel – Confectionery product made by heating sugars
  • Lecithin – Generic term for amphiphilic substances of plant and animal origin
  • Milk – White liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals
  • Peanuts – Legume cultivated as a grain and oil crop
  • Sugar – Sweet-tasting, water-soluble carbohydrates
  • Vanilla – Spice extracted from orchids of the genus Vanilla

Ingredients of white chocolate

  • White chocolate – Confection made from cocoa butter without cocoa solids

Types

Types of chocolate – Classification of different chocolate types

  • Bittersweet chocolate – Term for dark chocolate used in the United States to indicate the amount of added sugar
  • Cocoa powder – Mixture remaining after cocoa butter is extracted from cocoa beans
  • Compound chocolate – Combination of cocoa, vegetable fat and sweeteners
  • Couverture – Chocolate with more cocoa butter
  • Dark chocolate – Chocolate with high cocoa solid content
  • Dutch process cocoa – Cocoa that has been treated with an alkalizing agent
  • Milk chocolate – Solid chocolate containing added milk
  • Scho-Ka-Kola – German chocolate brand containing coffee and kola nut – a chocolate brand containing coffee and cola nut
  • Semisweet chocolate – Term for dark chocolate used in the United States to indicate the amount of added sugar
  • Unsweetened chocolate – pure chocolate liquor mixed with fat to produce a solid substance; also known as "bitter", "baking chocolate" and "cooking chocolate"[6]
  • White chocolate – Confection made from cocoa butter without cocoa solids

Production methods

Producers and trade organizations

Brands

Edibles

Drinks

A mug of hot chocolate. Chocolate was first drunk rather than eaten.[6]

History

Effects on health

Health effects of chocolate – Food produced from cacao seeds

References

  1. "Theobroma cacao". Hort.purdue.edu. 9 January 1998. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
  2. Yang HY, Neff NH (November 1973). "Beta-phenylethylamine: a specific substrate for type B monoamine oxidase of brain". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 187 (2): 365–71. ISSN 0022-3565. PMID 4748552.
  3. Suzuki O, Katsumata Y, Oya M (March 1981). "Oxidation of beta-phenylethylamine by both types of monoamine oxidase: examination of enzymes in brain and liver mitochondria of eight species". Journal of Neurochemistry. 36 (3): 1298–301. doi:10.1111/j.1471-4159.1981.tb01734.x. ISSN 0022-3042. PMID 7205271. S2CID 36099388.
  4. Malisoff, William Marias (1943). Dictionary of Bio-Chemistry and Related Subjects. Philosophical Library. pp. 311, 530, 573. ASIN B0006AQ0NU.
  5. Bennett, Alan Weinberg; Bonnie K. Bealer (2002). The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug. Routledge, New York. ISBN 0-415-92723-4.
  6. "History". Archived from the original on 17 March 2009.
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