CHEM181 - Topic 8.pdf - CHEM181 Topic 8 chocolate and weight control Chocolate known as the food of the Gods study from the Confectionary association of

CHEM181 Topic 8 : chocolate and weight control Chocolate - known as the food of the Gods - study : from the Confectionary association of Canada -> they asked people if they preferred sex or chocolate ? - in 1995, 30% of men and 35% of women preferred chocolate to sex - Quebec : 74% preferred chocolate to sex - Nova Scotia : 20% preferred chocolate to sex - what is it that we like in chocolate : more than 500 chemicals ; maybe more the texture that the taste -> melting point is 36 degree C => starts melting as soon as we put in our mouth and it is believed that it is that sensation that people like - when a Swedish botanist encountered the fruit of the cocoa tress, he called it theobroma cacao (Theo comes from the Greeks, means God) Chocolate history - the Aztec used cocoa to satisfy the gods , and they would offer it in gold goblets which could supposedly only be used once - cocoa is very difficult to dissolve - very bitter (the Aztec term for chocolate is Xocoatl which means bitter) - was very valuable -> the natives used cocoa as a currency - the Spaniards believed that cocoa has aphrodisiac properties - became very popular in Europe as a beverage -> was mixed with a lot of sugar, vanilla and cinnamon - for most of its history, cocoa was not eaten but rather drunk , but today most of the chocolate is eaten - in 2004, the statistics found that in Canada people eat ~4kg per person per year Production of chocolate - cocoa flower : same family as the orchid, grows on cocoa trees, gets converted into cocoa pods which grow throughout the tree and the branches - the cocoa pods grow throughout the year, there is no season - different types : Forastero, Criollo (best one), Trinitero - when the cocoa pod has reached maturity , it is picked up and is split open -> cocoa nibs surrounded by white coating => left open, and the seeds start fermenting => the sugar gets converted into alcohol then acetic acid and finally to esters => this fermentation process adds flavour to the chocolate - cocoa seeds are then left to dry in the sun, and are then roasted which yields enhanced flavour to the cocoa (reaction is known as the Maillard reaction -> involves the combination between amino acids and proteins and various sugar => gives taste ; the Maillard reaction can also occur in beer, steaks, bread…) - the beans have to be shelled => we get cocoa nibs which can be crushed in special machines => we get the chocolate liquor (no alcohol present, but it is the basis for the making of chocolate) - the closest in taste of chocolate liquor is baking chocolate Chocolate producers - top cocoa producer : Ivory coast with 1.51 million metric tons 1

- Gahna : 1.03 million metric tons ; Indonesia : 0.44 million metric tons Social aspects - in the Ivory coast, they use a lot of child labour => the whole history of chocolate production is a pretty sad story - book written by Carol Off called Bitter Chocolate -> tells about all the under-sides of chocolate production - we can buy fair trade cocoa Chocolate contemporary history - very bitter, high fat content - in the early 19th century , the Van Houten family looked into this and tried to improve the