Chocolate. We all love it, and more of us are buying it in even larger quantities than normal with Valentine's Day right around the corner. Perhaps that's why it was the perfect time for a chocolate scientist to swing by Reddit and answer reader questions for a particularly sweet AMA.
The chocolate scientist lending his expertise is Rich Hartel, professor of food engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Right off the bat he took a moment to officially define chocolate for readers.
"Real chocolate, that meets the US Standard of Identity, can only contain certain ingredients, as laid out in the Code of Federal Regulations," Hartel writes. "Any product that falls outside the Standard of Identity is usually called compound coating. The main difference between chocolate and coating is the fat - chocolate can only contain cocoa butter and milk fat whereas coatings typically have palm kernel oil, a cheaper fat."
From there he went on to answer a whole host of questions, questions like what exactly is the difference between more expensive chocolate (like the kind you are buying for Valentine's day) and regular old Hershey bar chocolate?
"Better chocolates typically contain more chocolate liquor, the ground up mass that comes from cocoa beans. But not all cocoa beans are the same either - the quality/flavor of the beans varies widely, for numerous reasons. For example, climate conditions and process conditions (fermentation, roasting, etc.) influence bean chemistry and thus, chocolate flavor. Quality and form of milk ingredients also significantly affect milk chocolate quality and flavor."
He also offered some helpful tips for those experimenting with making their own chocolate by offering three important things to remember: water and chocolate are not friends, don't heat the chocolate too much and be sure to practice tempering your chocolate, which he says is the key.
One might think a chocolate scientist would be a cocoa connoisseur. Turns out that isn't the case -- Hartel says he isn't a qualified chocolate taste expert. As for his favorite type of chocolate? He doesn't even have one.
"I don't really have a chocolate favorite - like others, I'll eat any chocolate in front of me, as long as I have the calories to spare for the day. When I do eat chocolate, it's usually as a coating on fruit - chocolate covered raisins or malted milk balls are two favorites."
Sadly, Hartel didn't care to elaborate on one of the most important questions of our time, "is white chocolate actually chocolate?" The world may never know.
Image Credit: John Loo via Flickr (Cropped)
