From one of my favorite columnists on one of all our favorite subjects from today's Post.
Food 101
Of Chocolate Proportions
By Robert L. Wolke
Wednesday, October 17, 2001; Page F01
Can I substitute unsweetened chocolate plus sugar for semisweet or bittersweet chocolate in a recipe? If so, what are the proportions?
Idon't usually answer questions about recipes, but you have touched a nerve or, should I say, an addiction, of mine with the magic word "chocolate." I am one of those people known as chocoholics, a designation that has no etymological right to exist, because the suffix "-holic" is meaningless. (The word alcohol evolved inexplicably from the Arabic alchemists' name for antimony sulfide, al kohl. Go figure.)
The word "addiction" is equally problematic. While it means the habitual excessive use of a drug, there are many degrees of addiction. Chocolate does contain several physiologically active chemicals, notably theobromine, which is related to caffeine (also present in chocolate), and phenylethylamine, a stimulant related to adrenaline, which raises the heart rate and blood pressure, heightens sensation and relieves depression, but they are present in small amounts. Thus, calling a habitual craving for chocolate an addiction is in the opinion of many experts a bit of a stretch. Chocolate has aptly been called something more than a food and less than a drug.
Chemicals or no chemicals, many of us (about twice as many women as men) just gotta have our hits of chocolate at least several times a week. The stuff is sensuously smooth, creamy, aromatic and delicious, and except for its fat and sugar calories, I see no reason not to indulge, even when I'm working. (Note to editor: Sorry about the stains on the copy.)
Here's how we obtain our chocolate.
Cacao beans, which are really seeds, are found inside melon-shaped seed pods attached directly to the trunk or thick branches of the tropical cacao tree. The beans are first separated from the pulpy mass inside the pod and allowed to ferment, usually by piling them up in heaps and covering them with leaves. Microbes and enzymes attack the pulp, kill the germs of the seeds (the parts that would germinate), remove some of the bitter flavor and darken the beans' color from off-white to light brown.
The dried beans are then shipped off to Willie Wonka at the chocolate factory, where they are roasted to further improve their flavor and color, separated from their shells, and milled or ground. The frictional heat of grinding melts the beans' substantial content (about 55 percent) of fat, euphemistically known as cocoa (not cacao) butter. The result is a thick, brown, bitter liquid called chocolate liquor, consisting of the ground-up solids suspended in melted fat. This is the starting material for making all chocolate products.
When cooled, chocolate liquor solidifies into the familiar unsweetened bitter chocolate that's sold in one-ounce "squares" for baking. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that this basic, unsweetened chocolate contain between 50 percent and 58 percent fat. The fat and the solids can be separated, however, and mixed in various proportions with sugar and other ingredients to make hundreds of different chocolates with a wide range of flavors and properties.
One of the wonderful things about chocolate is that its fat melts at 86 to 97 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just below body temperature, so that at room temperature it is relatively hard and delightfully crisp, but it literally melts in the mouth, releasing maximum flavor and producing a smooth, velvety sensation.
Semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (it goes by either name) is a prepared mixture of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, an emulsifier and sometimes vanilla flavoring. When melted, it is more fluid than unsweetened chocolate and has a satin gloss; both characteristics make it good for dipping. It is sold in "squares" or bars for cooking, but because it may contain only 35 percent fat (the presence of the sugar reduces the percentage of fat), it will have different cooking characteristics than the fattier unsweetened chocolate.
Thus, you can't substitute unsweetened chocolate plus sugar for semisweet or bittersweet chocolate in a recipe. It would be too fatty. To further complicate things, there are significant variations among brands, and chocolates labeled bittersweet are likely to have a higher ratio of chocolate liquor to sugar than those labeled semisweet. Moving up the sweetness scale, we encounter hundreds of kinds of semisweet and sweet chocolate confections containing at least 15 percent chocolate liquor and often much more. Milk chocolate generally contains less chocolate liquor (between 10 percent and 35 percent) than dark chocolate (between 30 percent and 80 percent) because the added milk solids reduce its percentage. That's why milk chocolate has a milder, less-bitter flavor than dark chocolate. The FDA sets ingredient standards of identity for all the sweet chocolate, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate and milk chocolate manufactured in the United States.
Before any high-quality chocolate product is ready for molding into bars or for enrobing (coating) various objects, it goes through two important processes: conching and tempering. In conching, the chocolate mixture is kneaded in heated tanks at a controlled temperature somewhere between 130 and 190 degrees for as long as five days. This aerates the chocolate and drives off moisture and volatile acids, improving both its flavor and its smoothness. Then it is tempered: kept at a carefully controlled temperature while it cools, so that the fat crystallizes into very tiny crystals (about 40 millionths of an inch), rather than bigger ones (as large as 2 thousandths of an inch), which would give the chocolate a grainy texture.
Today, there are many excellent domestic and imported chocolates available. Their quality depends on many factors, including the blend of beans used (there are about 20 commercial grades); the type and extent of roasting; the degree of conching, tempering and other processing; and of course the amounts of cocoa butter and cocoa solids. The latter is often listed on the wrapper as "percent cocoa."
Find your favorite, but don't pig out. Psychologists warn that because chocolate is thought of as a reward in our society (what do we give to our loved ones on Valentine's Day?), eating too much of it can lead to guilt, especially in people who think of it as a forbidden food because of its many calories and therefore may be prone to binging on it.
Now where did I put that bar of Lindt 70 Percent Cocoa Dark? |
