Cocoa in chocolate may help the heart
Spanish researchers have found that the cocoa in chocolate appears to be healthy for the heart.
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on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 10:25 pm and is filed under diet and exercise.
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Cocoa in chocolate may help the heart
Spanish researchers have found that the cocoa in chocolate appears to be healthy for the heart.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 10:25 pm and is filed under diet and exercise.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Need advice on how to make chocolate from ready-made cocoa powder at home?
I would like to make my own chocolate as wedding favors but with no idea how? Can I make chocolate with ready-made cocoa powder without needed to go thru the process of grinding the beans etc…at home? Also, any idea where can I get the heart-shaped chocolate tray? Thanks in advance to all for sharing! =)
October 28th, 2009 at 3:27 am
How to Make Chocolate
Roast the cocoa beans. The process is similar to roasting coffee beans, except with gentler requirements: 5-35 minutes at temperatures between 120-163 degrees C (250-325 F). You must generally expose the beans to an initial high temperature, lower the temperature gradually, and stop roasting when the beans start to crack (but not burn). The first image shows the cocoa beans before roasting, and the second image shows the after-result. You can accomplish this in your oven or by using a store-bought roaster.
If roasting in your oven, you will need to do a bit of experimenting because roasting times depend on the type of bean you’re using. Lay the beans in a single layer across a cookie sheet. Start off with an 18 minute roast in a preheated oven at 150 degrees C (300 degrees F). They’ll be ready when they start to crack and when they actually taste like chocolate (let them cool before tasting!).
For roasting larger quantities of cocoa beans, you may want to invest in a drum, which is rotated over a gas grill.
Crack and winnow the beans. After roasting, the beans must be cracked into nibs and winnowed, whereby the husks (chaff) are removed.
You can crack the beans with a hammer and remove the husks (which should be loose after proper roasting) by hand if you are working with a small batch.
For larger batches, you can use a very coarse, Corona type mill or purchase a specialized mill (shown here) to crack the beans into nibs. (In case you were wondering, a meat grinder doesn’t work.)
To winnow the nibs, stir them gently with hands or a spoon as you blow on them with a hair dryer or small shop vac until the husks are blown away.
Grind the nibs into a cocoa liqueur. You will need equipment strong enough to liquefy the nibs and separate the remaining husks. General food processors, Vita-Mix, coffee grinders (burr and blade), meat grinders (manual and electric) mortar and pestles, and most juicers will not work. You may need to experiment to find equipment that gets the job done. Many home chocolatiers find success with a "Champion Juicer" (see Citations below). Feed the nibs into the juicer one handful at a time, being sure to push them in gently (not forcefully) or else the motor may overheat. Cocoa liqueur will come through the screen and a mixture of husks and liqueur will find its way through the spout. Feed this mixture through the juicer again until only the husk comes through the spout.
Conch and refine the chocolate. By definition, conching affects the characteristic taste, smell and texture of the chocolate, while refining reduces the size of the cocoa solids and sugar crystals. Both processes can be applied at the same time with a powerful wet grinder (success has been reported with a 2 L Santha Wet grinder, also called the Stone Chocolate Melanger; see Citations below). How you conch and refine the chocolate will depend on what equipment you use, but here are guidelines for the Santha wet grinder
Melt the chocolate and the cocoa butter in the oven to about 120 F.
Combine with non-fat dry milk powder, sugar, lecithin and a vanilla pod (split and soaked in the cocoa butter 1 hour; this is an optional flavoring).
Pour the chocolate mixture in the grinder, periodically pointing a hair dryer at it for 2-3 minutes to keep the chocolate melted during the first hour (until the friction created by grinding keeps the chocolate liquid without additional heat being needed).
Continue refining for at least 10 hours and no more than 36 hours, until the chocolate tastes smooth and balanced, but be sure not to over-refine (or it will get gummy).
To take a break from refining (e.g. at night while you’re sleeping, see Warnings), turn of the grinder, put the covered bowl into an oven that’s preheated to 150 F but turned off, and leave it there overnight. It shouldn’t solidify but if it does, take the cover off and turn the oven on about 150-175 until the chocolate melts (be careful not to let the bowl itself melt, though).
Temper the chocolate. This is likely the most difficult part of the process, but it is a very vital step. Tempering the chocolate gives it shape and helps the chocolate harden correctly. If you don’t temper the chocolate, it will be soft and mushy, and will melt in your hands. However, the great thing about tempering is you can do it as many times as you like and the chocolate won’t be ruined. However, it is very important that you do not let any moisture in the chocolate, or it will be ruined.
Melt your chocolate carefully. You can accomplish this in the oven if you are using larger quantities of chocolate, or you can you a double broiler on the stove. It’s your choice, just make sure that the chocolate does not burn and you melt more than 1.5 pounds of chocolate. Any less and tempering could prove difficult. When the chocolate is melted to a temperature of around 110 or 120 degrees F, transfer it to a dry, cool bowl and stir until the chocolate temperature drops to about 100 degrees F. Use a candy thermometer to gauge the temperature.
Pour about one third of the contents of the bowl onto a hard, non-porous counter top or other surface (granite or marble works best). Spread the chocolate out with the spatula, and then bring it all back together.
Continue doing this until the chocolate is about 85 degrees F. By the time the chocolate cools down to that point, the chocolate should be a thick, gooey mass.
Add some of the 100 degree chocolate from the bowl to get the chocolate workable again. Gently work the chocolate around.
Return the chocolate out of the bowl back into the bowl with the 100 degree chocolate. Stir it gently, and try not to create bubbles
Check the chocolate’s temperature. You want it around 90 degrees F, but never over 92 degrees. Anything higher than this and you may need to temper the chocolate again.
Mold the chocolate while it is still at about 90 degrees. Pour the chocolate into the molds, careful not to spill. Some people find it effective to use a large syringe to place chocolate in the mold, but it is all about personal preference. When all of the chocolate has been added to the molds, you may either freeze, refrigerate, or let them harden at room temperature. Again, it’s all about personal preference, and there is no right way to do it.
Remove the chocolate from the molds when the chocolate is hardened. The molded chocolate should have a glossy appearance and should snap cleanly in two under pressure. If you are unsatisfied with your outcome, you may re-temper the chocolate as long as the chocolate remains dry and you haven’t burned it
Enjoy!
Tips
Making chocolate is a learning process. Don’t expect your very first batch to be absolutely perfect. If you make chocolate several times, you’ll find what works for you and what doesn’t. You might even consider adding ingredients of your own, or using your own methods of roasting or tempering that work well for you. Do research about different techniques and see what you can find, and experiment with your own.
Don’t skip the roasting. The beans need to be roasted in order to sterilize them and reduce the risk of infection, as well as trigger the chemical reactions that make chocolate taste like chocolate.
It is possible to use a grinder or food processor to refine the chocolate, but this is very discouraged as it doesn’t work nearly as well as an actual refiner.
It is likely that a mess will be made when you grind the cocoa.
An example of a coacher/refinerThere are many different chocolate-making tools, it may just take some searching. Look around in different stores and online. You might be surprised what you find!
References :
October 28th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Cocoa powder makes excellent hot chocolate, fudge, brownies, cakes, etc., but I don’t find it very good to use for molded chocolate candies. What I prefer to use for the molded candies, and dipped candy bonbons is what they call melting or dipping chocolate, or "melts". It’s already sweetened and you just melt it and pour it into the mold or dip the prerolled candy center into it. It’s what’s used in chocolate fountains.
You can buy it in the baking department of most grocery stores. It’s sold in blocks and discs. It comes in milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and dark chocolate.
Craft stores like Hobby Lobby Michaels sell the molds like the heart shaped trays. Or, you can buy them online. Here’s a good site:
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/department.cfm?id=59D1D265-475A-BAC0-5623C5530021ACB8&fid=59D1D275-475A-BAC0-5149305508ED4C0F
They sell the chocolate melts, too.
References :
October 28th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Cocoa powder is not chocolate.
Chocolate beans contain cocoa butter and cocoa powder. Chocolate from the supermarket contains cocoa butter, cocoa powder, milk powder and sugar.
When making ready-made cocoa powder all cocoa butter is removed from the chocolate in a long process while the cocoa powder used in chocolates retains quite a large amount of cocoa butter. In order to make chocolate out of your powder you would have to add cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder. This is not very practical, as getting it to mix correctly is very difficult. Inform yourself how good chocolate is made and you’ll understand just how impossible your intention is.
If you are determined to make your own chocolates it is better to buy chocolate melts ready made from the shop and use these. Add marcepain, nougat, brandy, fruits, etc. Or bake a chocolate cake instead.
References :