By Cheri
Sicard
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. While it doesn't look pretty, the chocolate is still
perfectly fine to use and if you plan on melting it, no one will
ever know the difference.
How To Melt/Temper Chocolate
Care must be taken when melting chocolate or you can easily end up
with a grainy mess. The lighter the chocolate, the higher the
chances of this happening. The most important thing to remember is
that chocolate melts better and faster at lower temperatures. Never
let your chocolate get above 115° F.
The best method is using a double boiler (one pot that holds the
chocolate that fits over another which contains about an inch of
simmering water). If you don't have a double boiler, you can use a
heat proof bowl which is large enough to be suspended over a pot
without its bottom touching the simmering water. Simmer the water
over low heat and stir the chocolate often. Remove from the heat as
soon as the chocolate is melted and stir until smooth.
Be extremely careful not to get any water (not even a drop) into
the chocolate. Water will turn the chocolate into a grainy, lumpy
mess. If this happens, you can add a little vegetable oil in order
to make it smooth again, but this will affect the flavor.
What if your recipe calls for melting chocolate along with water
or some other type of liquid? That's fine, as long as the liquid is
mixed with the chocolate from the beginning of the melting process,
it won't get grainy on you, (but adding even a drop in mid-melting
will cause this problem).
Alternatively, you can melt chocolate in a dry oven. Place
grated chocolate in a metal bowl and place it in an oven set at
110° F (if your oven doesn't go that low, use the lowest
temperature and keep the door ajar). Your chocolate will melt in
about an hour.
