chocolate
Sign in to savethumb|Chocolate bars in dark, white, and milk variants (top to bottom). Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao). They are usually fermented to develop the flavor, then dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to reveal nibs, which are ground to chocolate liquor (unadulterated chocolate in rough form.) The liquor can be processed to separate its two components, cocoa solids and cocoa butter, or shaped and sold as
AI overview
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be consumed as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or mixed into other foods. Cocoa beans—the processed seeds of the cacao tree—are fermented to develop flavor, then dried, cleaned, roasted, and ground into chocolate liquor, which forms the basis for various chocolate products.
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Article
37 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History
- Types
- Eating chocolate
- Other types
- Cacao
- Processing {{Anchor|Harvesting|Refining|Processing|Chocolate liquor}}
- Cocoa beans
- From nibs to chocolate
- Storage
- Health effects
- Nutrition
- Phytochemicals
- Heavy metals
- Caffeine
- Theobromine and oxalate
- Non-human animals
- Research
- Labeling
- Legal definitions
- Industry
- Manufacturers
- Child labor in cocoa harvesting
- Fair trade
- Usage and consumption
- Eating experience
- Society and culture
- Flavors
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Sources
- Books
- Journal articles
- Webpages
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|Chocolate bars in dark, white, and milk variants (top to bottom). Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao). They are usually fermented to develop the flavor, then dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to reveal nibs, which are ground to chocolate liquor (unadulterated chocolate in rough form.) The liquor can be processed to separate its two components, cocoa solids and cocoa butter, or shaped and sold as unsweetened baking chocolate. By adding sugar, sweetened chocolates are produced, which can be sold simply as dark chocolate, or, with the addition of milk, can be made into milk chocolate. Making milk chocolate with cocoa butter and without cocoa solids produces white chocolate.
Chocolate is one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and many foodstuffs involving chocolate exist, particularly desserts, including ice creams, cakes, mousse, and cookies. Many candies are filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate. Chocolate bars, either made of solid chocolate or other ingredients coated in chocolate, are eaten as snacks. Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes (such as eggs, hearts, and coins) are traditional on certain holidays, including Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Hanukkah and Eid al-Fitr. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages, such as chocolate milk, hot chocolate and chocolate liqueur.