A little bit about an ingredient used in baking...
Cocoa/Chocolate:
Chocolate was first had in the form of a drink by the Aztecs. They called it xocolatl. The Mayans and Aztecs used the cocoa beans as a type of money. An interesting fact about chocolate is that, in the early days it was not sweet. Later chocolate became popular in Europe. Many chocolate houses which were like restaurants were established. In 1657, the first chocolate house was opened in London, England.
J.S. Fry, an English chocolate maker, invented the first type of chocolate bars.
Milk chocolate: Milk chocolate is mostly cocoa and cocoa butter mixed with milk and sugar.
White chocolate: White chocolate is just made up of cocoa butter and has little or even no cocoa mass. White chocolate also contains sugar, vanilla, and milk. To some people it is not even considered chocolate! Why? Chocolate mostly contains cocoa mass which is like a chocolate liquor. But white chocolate does not have much of it or sometimes it doesn't have any. Also, some people don't think it's chocolate because it's not brown in color!
Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate is sweetened chocolate with a lot of cocoa mass which is how it gets a dark color. Dark chocolate usually doesn't have much milk in it. That is why it is so bitter.
Note: Look for the fair trade sign when you are buying cocoa or chocolate from the store. This helps the farmers to get more money for their hard work.
Cocoa/Chocolate:
Cocoa actually comes from the word cacao. It has a scientific name, Theobroma, which means food of the gods in Latin. It is mostly grown in Africa now but before it used to grown more in the rain-forests of Central America and South America. Cocoa is picked by cacao farmers and it goes through a machine which makes it powdery and smooth. That's when it is sold to the stores as cocoa powder.
Chocolate was first had in the form of a drink by the Aztecs. They called it xocolatl. The Mayans and Aztecs used the cocoa beans as a type of money. An interesting fact about chocolate is that, in the early days it was not sweet. Later chocolate became popular in Europe. Many chocolate houses which were like restaurants were established. In 1657, the first chocolate house was opened in London, England.
J.S. Fry, an English chocolate maker, invented the first type of chocolate bars.
Milk chocolate: Milk chocolate is mostly cocoa and cocoa butter mixed with milk and sugar.
White chocolate: White chocolate is just made up of cocoa butter and has little or even no cocoa mass. White chocolate also contains sugar, vanilla, and milk. To some people it is not even considered chocolate! Why? Chocolate mostly contains cocoa mass which is like a chocolate liquor. But white chocolate does not have much of it or sometimes it doesn't have any. Also, some people don't think it's chocolate because it's not brown in color!
Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate is sweetened chocolate with a lot of cocoa mass which is how it gets a dark color. Dark chocolate usually doesn't have much milk in it. That is why it is so bitter.
Note: Look for the fair trade sign when you are buying cocoa or chocolate from the store. This helps the farmers to get more money for their hard work.
3 comments:
Thanks for sharing the cocoa facts and the difference between the different kinds of chocolate.
Keep posting!
Thanks! I didn't know all that info about chocolate!
I will definitely look for the fair trade symbol. Thank you!
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