There are few people who do not like chocolate, maybe because now we have so many variants and types that it is complicated that we do not find some that does not suit our tastes. Black, white, with milk, with nuts, with fruit, with jelly beans (yes, there is), with Lacasitos (chocolate with chocolate, yum!), With jellies of flavors inside …

The raw material from which chocolate comes, we must not forget that it is a product and not a food, is cacao. We talk today about the making of chocolate and which is the one that brings us more benefits and is healthier.

Making chocolate

The whole process begins with the collection of the cocoa beans in the collection areas. Once harvested these beans are sent to the plants where they begin to be treated: they are subjected to a washing and toasting process to pass later to the main process, which is the roasting of the cocoa beans. Through this process when they are already roasted, the moisture and acidity of the beans is removed and the aromas are enhanced.

Thereafter, the various cocoa beans are mixed together and passed to the milled and milled milks at a temperature of between 60 and 80 degrees. In this process is when the two main parts derived from cocoa are separated: on the one hand cocoa butter (which is basically vegetable fat and is also called theobroma oil) and on the other the cocoa paste (with a reduced percentage of fat).

From here, only the cocoa is mixed with the other ingredients, usually sugar or milk (or both) in the proportion that is considered adequate to find the perfect taste.

The different types of chocolate

What part of the cocoa is used to make each type of chocolate? Because it is not the same to use the fatter part (the cocoa butter) than the one that less fat and more properties gives us (the cocoa paste). Let’s take a look at the different types of chocolate to know what each one contains.

• Black chocolate: For a chocolate tablet to be considered as “dark chocolate” it must contain at least 43% cocoa in its ingredients (cocoa paste and butter). The other ingredients are usually sugar (the highest percentage of cocoa, less sugar in its list of ingredients, but more bitter will know, evidently), natural aromas and some emulgents. A dark chocolate with a high concentration of cocoa (there are up to 99%) will be the healthiest option when consuming this product.
• Milk chocolate: The preferred choice of most people, being less bitter than dark chocolate. Generally in milk chocolate tablets we find as the first ingredient the sugar and second as the cocoa butter, ie a vegetable oil. Behind them comes cocoa, which can be present in different proportions, but always below 40%, and milk or milk derivatives (milk powder or whey).
• White chocolate: We can call it “white chocolate” but the truth is that it is not chocolate, since it does not contain cocoa paste and therefore lacks the beneficial properties that can bring us cacao. It is a mixture of sugar (lots of sugar), cocoa butter and milk.

From here we can add nuts, fruits, cookies … And thus to make a chocolate almost to the taste of each consumer.

The best option will always be a dark chocolate with high concentration of cocoa, which gives us a good amount of flavonoids. Even being black, chocolate continues to provide a lot of calories, so it is necessary to moderate consumption.

What is your favorite type of chocolate?