‘A balanced diet is chocolate in both hands’ quotes an ardent chocolate lover. Indeed! Who does not crave for chocolates? Only the ones hit by the desire to lose the extra calories gained from sweet chocolates refuse to have them. And, nine out ten people love chocolates and the tenth one actually lies!
There are different types of chocolates based on different proportions of ingredients:
Milk Chocolate– almost 85% of solid chocolate is used with milk compounds.
Dark Chocolate– no milk or very less percentage of milk is used with cocoa and sugar, hence also called black chocolate or plain chocolate.
White Chocolate– is based on sugar, milk and cocoa butter without the cocoa solids.
Organic Chocolate– they are certified organic chocolates.
Raw Chocolate– it is the form of chocolate which has not been processed.
Unsweetened Chocolate– which is pure chocolate liquor mixed with some form of fat to produce a solid substance.
Bittersweet Chocolate– is chocolate liquor to which some sugar, less than a third, more cocoa butter, vanilla flavouring and sometimes less then that is added.
Semi-sweet Chocolate- does not contain milk solids. ‘Converture’ is a term used for chocolates rich in cocoa butter.
Compound Chocolate– is a confection combined with cocoa and vegetable fat. It is often used for candy bar coating.
Modelling Chocolate– is a chocolate paste made by melting chocolate and combining it with corn syrup, glucose syrup or golden syrup which is mostly used for decoration of cakes and pastries.
Nowadays chocolate has dozens of flavours changing with the taste of the chocolate lovers. Mint, vanilla, coffee, orange, strawberry, mixed fruits, etc flavours are used along with ingredients such as peanuts, raisins, almonds, caramel, oreo, etc making a luxe composition of sweet savoury delighting everyone who consumes it.
Chocolates’ got goodness:
Chocolate has always been a delicacy but only in the recent past it has been recognized as a significant source of phytochemicals with healthful effects. Cocoa beans contain flavonoids which are found in fruits, vegetables, tea and wine. Flavonoids help in reducing the risk to heart diseases. Chocolates contain anti-oxidants which gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease and other ailments like cancer. Chocolate has an aspirin like effect that reduces platelet activity. Dilation of arteries improves blood flow and heart functioning which makes it suitable for people with high blood pressure. Levels of cardiovascular risky pro-inflammatory substances are reduced by the flavonoids present in the cocoa beans.
Chocolates can be evil:
An ounce of chocolate contains roughly 145 calories and 8-10 grams of fat. If this is what people add to their diet daily, a fire ticket to the fat farm will be inevitable then. Good quality chocolate should be substituted for other less healthy treats such as donuts, muffins and candy. Also, all the promising health benefits from chocolate have used dark chocolate and not the overly processed milk chocolates full of sugar that are mostly available in the market. People opt for sweetened chocolates with high levels of sugar because of the overpowering taste of dark chocolate which actually contains flavonoids. Choose dark chocolate to enjoy the benefits of chocolate!
Chocolates can be the cure for a bad day and also a secret to healthy immune system.
Image credits: www.rd.com
Radhika Boruah
