ORIGIN AND TYPES OF CHOCOLATE

CHOCOLATE

Essentially a mixture of cocoa and sugar to which milk,honey,dried fruits or other products may be added. The first french chocolate factory was situated in Bayonne, where a guild of chocolates-makers had existed since 1761. The city exported chocolate to spain and paris, and its trade calender of 1822quotes more than 20 prestigious firms. (Cocoa also provided a nutritious food for fishermen of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon)

In 1778 the first hydraulic machine for crushing and mixing the chocolate paste appeared in FRANCE,and in 1819 Pellitier built the first factory to use steam. It was all about this time that the famous family businesses were set up in EUROPE: Van Houten in the Netherlands(1815)------ C.J. VAN HOUTEN discovered a method of solubilization in 1828(now known as 'dutching' in english);Menier in FRANCE(1824); Cadbury and Rowntree in ENGLAND; and Suchard , Nestle, Lindt and Kohler in SWITZERLAND. Docteur Peter, a swiss, was responsible for the invention of Milk Chocolate in 1818.After 1850 the Chocolate industry was developed through out the world.Chocolate is not only used in confectionery but is also an essential ingredient of numerous cakes, pastries and  desserts.

Soon after its introduction into FRANCE, the medical profession considered chocolate to be a panacea for fevers and chest or stomach illness. Cocoa was registered in the codex in 1758 and the confectioners of the 18th and 19th centuriesgladly became apothecaries: Chocolates was believed to have medicinal properties and various types of  medicinal and various types of  medicinal chocolates were sold by Debauve (a former pharmacist of louis XVI)and others of his profession.These included cough mixtures, aids to digestion, aids to put on weight antispasmodics(with orange blossom), antiflammatories (with milk of almonds), tonics and carminatives. The expression 'health chocolate', for the mixture containing only sugar and cocoa, remained common until the beginning of the 20th century.

CHOCOLATE PRODUCTS

Apart from the wide variety of confectionery and chocolate snack products there are also preprations intended for use in cooking.

• COCOA POWDER: This is normally unsweetened. It is strongly flavoured and widely used in cooking ,  particularly in baking, as well as for flavouring drinks.
• DRINKING CHOCOLATE: This is a mixture of sugar and cocoa. It is used in some baking recipes, but its sugar content makes it substitute for cocoa powder; its flavour is also milder.
• CHOCOLATE-FLAVOURED CAKE COVERINGS: These are inexpensive products with a low cocoa butter content and containing a high proportion of vegetable fat.They are manufactured to melt easily and successfully, but they have an inferior flavor and are not recommended for use in good-quality recipes.

TYPES OF CHOCOLATE

• CHOCOLATE COUVERTURE: This is high-quality plain or bitter chocolate for use in cooking and preparing confectionery. It has a high butter content and is suitable for use in gateaux,mousses and chocolate icing (frosting) or sauces.
• PLAIN OR BITTER DESSERT CHOCOLATE(SEMI SWEET OR BITTER SWEET) : This is dark in color and lightly sweetened. There are many types of different quality, some less sweet and more bitter than others.
• MILK CHOCOLATE: This is sweeter and has milk solid added. Again , the types and quality vary.
• WHITE CHOCOLATE: This is available in varying qualities. It is made from sweetened pale cocoa butter. 

SOURCES

Chocolate milk provides protein, fats and carbohydrates, although milk does offer more fulfilling ratios than a lot of other options. Ultimately, the drink does not provide enough protein to act as a primary protein source in any diet, especially one geared towards building lean and healthy muscle mass.

The Nutritional Facts

Chocolate milk varieties offered in different fat percentages contain similar ingredient ratios, besides the fat content. Containing roughly 160 calories, 20 of those derived from fat, chocolate milk does not provide a low calorie protein source. Saturated fat along with cholesterol and a sodium content of around 150 milligrams also hinders the drink’s ability to stand as a strong primary source for protein. Containing nearly 25 grams of carbohydrates per a one cup serving size, all besides one coming from sugar, chocolate milk has a much higher sugar to protein ratio than most other healthy protein sources.
Drinking milk provides a good whole food source for vitamins and minerals including calcium, (30 percent is included per serving size). However, aside from the high level of essential vitamins and minerals, chocolate milk contains only eight grams of protein per serving. Consuming chocolate milk or any variety of milk as a primary protein source will result in weight gain through fatty tissue, rather than lean muscle fiber.

Chocolate Milk for a Weight Gain Diet

Drinking chocolate milk as part of a healthy protein rich diet does not completely hinder the chance of muscle growth, but can actually stimulate the process. Using chocolate milk as the base of a protein shake, containing a protein powder supplement, provides a low glycemic carbohydrate source which acts as a great dietary choice. Realizing that the amounts of carbohydrates and unhealthy fats contained per serving in chocolate milk will help you choose a better protein source.
The high ratio of sugary carbohydrates versus protein makes milk an inferior primary protein option. Though the drink offers a healthy food source, primarily relying on the drink to provide an adequate protein source serves as a mistake. Several muscle building diets suggest an intake of around one to two grams of protein per pound of body weight. Considering the fact that most healthy primary protein sources such as lean meats, eggs, fish, seafood and protein supplements contain very little sugars, fats and carbohydrates, those choices make sense for the proposed diet plan.
Chocolate milk, however, has a high amount of carbohydrates, a moderate amount of sodium and cholesterol, plus a few grams of unhealthy saturated fats. Using the drink as a primary protein source in the previously mentioned diet plan would not only make sense, but provide more of a weight gain diet than anything. Ultimately, drinking chocolate milk daily poses less of a problem if you realize that the drink does not match up as an adequate protein source. Paired with other foods as part of a nutritionally sound diet, chocolate milk can play a vital role in a healthy lifestyle.

MANUFACTURING AND PROCESSING OF CHOCOLATE

The production of chocolate

Introduction

Chocolate is a key ingredient in many foods such as milk shakes, candy bars, cookies and cereals. It is ranked as one of the most favourite flavours in North America and Europe (Swift, 1998). Despite its popularity, most people do not know the unique origins of this popular treat. Chocolate is a product that requires complex procedures to produce. The process involves harvesting coca, refining coca to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans to the manufacturing factory for cleaning, coaching and grinding. These cocoa beans will then be imported or exported to other countries and be transformed into different type of chocolate products (Allen, 1994).
Top seven cocoa producing countries

ICCO forecasts of production of cocoa beans for the 1997/98 cocoa year

Country	Production forecast for 1997/98: (in thousand tonnes)
Côte d'Ivoire	1150.0
Ghana	370.0
Indonesia	310.0
Brazil	160.0
Nigeria	155.0
Cameroon	125.0
Malaysia	100.0

Reference:
Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, 24 (1), 1997/98
Source: International Cocoa organization, April 1998

Harvesting Cocoa & Cocoa processing

Chocolate production starts with harvesting coca in a forest. Cocoa comes from tropical evergreen Cocoa trees, such as Theobroma Cocoa, which grow in the wet lowland tropics of Central and South America, West Africa and Southeast Asia (within 20 C of the equator) (Walter,1981) . Cocoa needs to be harvested manually in the forest. The seed pods of coca will first be collected; the beans will be selected and placed in piles. These cocoa beans will then be ready to be shipped to the manufacturer for mass production.

Step #1: Plucking and opening the Pods

Cocoa beans grow in pods that sprout off of the trunk and branches of cocoa trees. The pods are about the size of a football. The pods start out green and turn orange when they're ripe. When the pods are ripe, harvesters travel through the cocoa orchards with machetes and hack the pods gently off of the trees.

Cocoa Pods and harvesting

Machines could damage the tree or the clusters of flowers and pods that grow from the trunk, so workers must be harvest the pods by hand, using short, hooked blades mounted on long poles to reach the highest fruit.

After the cocoa pods are collected into baskets ,the pods are taken to a processing house. Here they are split open and the cocoa beans are removed. Pods can contain upwards of 50 cocoa beans each. Fresh cocoa beans are not brown at all, they do not taste at all like the sweet chocolate they will eventually produce.

Step #2: Fermenting the cocoa seeds

Now the beans undergo the fermentation processing. They are either placed in large, shallow, heated trays or covered with large banana leaves. If the climate is right, they may be simply heated by the sun. Workers come along periodically and stir them up so that all of the beans come out equally fermented. During fermentation is when the beans turn brown. This process may take five or eight days.

The fermentation of Cocoa beans

Step #3: Drying the cocoa seeds

After fermentation, the cocoa seeds must be dried before they can be scooped into sacks and shipped to chocolate manufacturers. Farmers simply spread the fermented seeds on trays and leave them in the sun to dry. The drying process usually takes about a week and results in seeds that are about half of their original weight.

The dried and roasted Cocoa beans

Manufacturing Chocolate

Once the cocoa beans have reached the machinery of chocolate factories, they are ready to be refined into chocolate. Generally, manufacturing processes differ slightly due to the different species of cocoa trees, but most factories use similar machines to break down the cocoa beans into cocoa butter and chocolate (International Cocoa Organization, 1998). Firstly, fermented and dried cocoa beans will be refined to a roasted nib by winnowing and roasting. Then, they will be heated and will melt into chocolate liquor. Lastly, manufacturers blend chocolate liquor with sugar and milk to add flavour. After the blending process, the liquid chocolate will be stored or delivered to the molding factory in tanks and will be poured into moulds for sale. Finally, wrapping and packaging machines will pack the chocolates and then they will be ready to transport.

Step #1: Roasting and Winnowing the Cocoa

The first thing that chocolate manufacturers do with cocoa beans is roast them. This develops the colour and flavour of the beans into what our modern palates expect from fine chocolate. The outer shell of the beans is removed, and the inner cocoa bean meat is broken into small pieces called "cocoa nibs."

The roasting process makes the shells of the cocoa brittle, and cocoa nibs pass through a series of sieves, which strain and sort the nibs according to size in a process called "winnowing".

Step #2: Grinding the Cocoa Nibs

Grinding is the process by which cocoa nibs are ground into " cocoa liquor", which is also known as unsweetened chocolate or cocoa mass. The grinding process generates heat and the dry granular consistency of the cocoa nib is then turned into a liquid as the high amount of fat contained in the nib melts. The cocoa liquor is mixed with cocoa butter and sugar. In the case of milk chocolate, fresh, sweetened condensed or roller-dry low-heat powdered whole milk is added, depending on the individual manufacturer's formula and manufacturing methods.

Step #3: Blending Cocoa liquor and molding Chocolate

After the mixing process, the blend is further refined to bring the particle size of the added milk and sugar down to the desired fineness. The Cocoa powder or 'mass' is blended back with the butter and liquor in varying quantities to make different types of chocolate or couverture. The basic blends with ingredients roughly in order of highest quantity first are as follows:

Milk Chocolate - sugar, milk or milk powder, cocoa powder, cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, Lethicin and Vanilla.
White Chocolate- sugar, milk or milk powder, cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, Lethicin and Vanilla.
Plain Dark Chocolate - cocoa powder, cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, Lethicin and Vanilla.

After blending is complete, molding is the final procedure for chocolate processing. This step allows cocoa liquor to cool and harden into different shapes depending on the mold. Finally the chocolate is packaged and distributed around the world.

TEMPERING OF CHOCOLATE

The different fats in cocoa butter melt at different temperatures. To achieve a smooth, glossy result, some types of chocolate with a high cocoa butter content have to be tempered before use. This involves heating and cooling to specific temperatures, then working the chocolate with a palate knife or spatula to ensure that the fats are thoroughly combined. Chocolate couverture has to be tempered before use.