Chocolate as Hantaran or Hamper

Selecting Chocolate

Characteristics of Quality Chocolate

Determining whether chocolate is of high quality involves all the senses.

Glossy shine indicates that it has been properly stored. When chocolate melts and resolidifies, the cocoa butter rises to the top, causing "bloom." It may look off, but changes the taste and texture only slightly.

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Aroma

Texture: When talking about food in your mouth, texture is referred to as "mouth feel." The mouth feel of good chocolate should be smooth, not grainy, not waxy. It should melt in your mouth, literally.

Taste: In the end, this is what will determine for you which chocolate is right. Every manufacturers' chocolate is different based on a combination of many factors including where the cacao beans come from, how they are roasted, and the balance of cocoa butter, sugar, and pure chocolate.

Brief about Chocolates

Chocolate..............

Could any one ingredient be more glorious? Doubtful. Chocolate inspires nearly everyone, from the youngest child to the oldest grandfather. You'll undoubtedly be using this most Fabulous Food often in your cooking. Here's what you need to know to get the most from the chocolate experience.

Chocolate comes in many forms: unsweetened, semi-sweet, bittersweet, milk chocolate and white chocolate (which technically isn't chocolate at all, but does have similarities so we'll include it here as well). Chocolate is unique among vegetables in that its fat (cocoa butter) is solid at room temperature. Since this fat melts at mouth temperature, chocolate is an excellent flavor conductor. Cocoa powder is made by separating most of the cocoa butter out of the liquor.

Similar to coffee, cacao beans are dried and roasted before being hulled. "Chocolate liquor", made from the roasted, ground cocoa bean nibs (the meat of the cacao bean) is what makes chocolate chocolate. Thus, unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor and about 50% cocoa butter. Bittersweet chocolate blends at least 35% liquor with as much as 50% with cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla. Semisweet chocolate has the same ingredients as bittersweet with the addition of more sugar. Milk chocolate, which contains about 10% chocolate liquor, takes the process a step further by adding about 12% milk solids.

White chocolate is made from cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar and vanilla. When buying white chocolate, look for a brand that contains cocoa butter. There are cheaper versions (which by law cannot be called chocolate) that don't contain any cocoa butter, but their flavor is inferior to those that do.

Storage

Store chocolate in a cool, dry place in its original wrapping or wrapped in foil. Avoid storing chocolate in the refrigerator. Milk and white chocolates will keep this way for about a year. The darker varieties will keep for several years.

Sometimes chocolate will develop white or gray "clouds" or "blooms" on its surface. This just means that the cocoa butter has separated.