WHAT SHOULD QUALITY CHOCOLATE LOOK LIKE? How do you know if the ingredients in it are natural?
How to find out what it's made of chocolate glaze? For example, glazed cheese curds. One manufacturer puts good oil, and the other adds a surrogate. How not to overpay for chocolate, but choose high-quality and tasty? What distinguishes quality chocolate from counterfeit chocolate?

Our pleasure when we taste this product is influenced by the excellent quality of the product, this moment chocolate bar. You take a chocolate bar in your hands, hold it in your hand for a while and begin to slowly unwrap it. You inhale the smell and already mentally taste its slightly bitter taste. After a cup of coffee with such a delicious piece of chocolate that melts on your tongue, your mood rises and positivity flows into your body.

Choosing chocolate. Usually chocolate bars are packed in the best possible way in the manufacturer's branded wrappers. Having unfolded the tile, we carefully inspect the tile. High-quality chocolate has a smooth surface that is pleasing to the eye.

Spots, cracks, discoloration, clouding on the surface of the tile will indicate improper storage of the product (conditions, fluctuations in air temperature, humidity).
A grayish coating (greyish) indicates the “old” age of the chocolate - the expiration date has passed.

Let's try to break off a piece of chocolate from a bar. High-quality chocolate breaks, making a sharp clicking sound, and will not crumble or bend, which indicates low quality and overexposure.

Chocolate has the ability to absorb odors. Therefore, some “small entrepreneurs” with a hidden conscience put the expired product in a closed container (bag) along with a bag of coffee beans and vanilla. When buying chocolate, make sure that it does not emit a strong smell of coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, tea with additives, even when wrapped. Although, usually for such “procedures” the chocolate is removed from the packaging.

The wide range of chocolate is influenced by the food industry itself, which produces many varieties of chocolate.

Dark chocolate (bitter) contains only two main components: cocoa mass and cocoa butter.
Plus three additional components: emulsifier, flavoring, sugar.

Milk chocolate contains three main components: cocoa mass, cocoa butter and milk powder.
Plus three additional components: sugar, emulsifier, flavoring.

If vegetable fat is introduced into the chocolate recipe, then our wonderful product is transferred to the category
"sweet tiles"

White chocolate does not contain cocoa mass.

If the recipe contains vegetable fat, cocoa powder, which is a waste product after the processing of cocoa beans, and in addition with an inflated percentage, for example, over 4%. Naturally, such chocolate will not be classified as natural.

Real chocolate melts in your hand, unnatural chocolate does not.
Throw a piece of chocolate into a cup of milk. High-quality, real chocolate will sink, unnatural chocolate will float.
Let's cool the chocolate bar. Then keep it in a warm place (above the stove). There will be a sharp temperature change. Real chocolate will be covered with sivina - small drops of cocoa butter.

There is a large “fluctuation amplitude” between the quality of chocolate and the price. High-quality chocolate, which contains cocoa butter and cocoa mass in its recipe, is valued much more than chocolate with all sorts of additives and the replacement of cocoa butter with other fats.

Glazed cheese curds are a separate and big issue. I will say one thing: I have never bought industrial cottage cheese products for my children. All delicacies were prepared at home from natural products.

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Dairy products must always be accompanied by a certificate
indicating the ingredients used to make the product and the manufacturer. As for chocolate, the composition of the recipe is indicated on the chocolate wrapper and the release date and expiration date are also indicated there.

In life we ​​often meet fakes variety of products, and chocolate is no exception, as it is in great demand among consumers. It is very difficult to recognize the falsification of chocolate without the help of laboratory tests, so read the wrapper carefully, although unscrupulous manufacturers of the sweet miracle, of course, will not indicate the true composition of their product on it.

The most harmless falsification- this is when one type of chocolate is replaced by another, for example, under the guise of dessert chocolate you will be offered regular chocolate. On the packaging of dessert chocolate bars, the percentage of cocoa is usually indicated directly on the front side.

Or they add nuts, candied fruits, raisins, crushed wafers to chocolate in excessive quantities, or add cream or condensed milk.

Let's consider several options for adulterating chocolate.

Very often, manufacturers replace expensive basic chocolate ingredients - cocoa butter and cocoa powder– to cheaper and more easily accessible ones.

If on the package instead grated cocoa written cocoa powder, then you are not holding chocolate in your hands, but a low-quality fake. Cocoa powder is made from the cake that remains after the oil has been squeezed out of the cocoa beans.

Concerning cocoa butter- the most valuable ingredient of real chocolate, then it is replaced with vegetable fats or oil identical to cocoa butter, but even in this case, you will obviously not be getting real chocolate. If the packaging says vegetable fats or hydro fats, you can put it back on the shelf.

The next type of falsification– when manufacturers increase the percentage of water in chocolate, thereby increasing its weight and reducing the weight of valuable components. Since chocolate mass is a fatty medium, water does not dissolve in it. To make this happen, concentrates are added to it.

Another type of fake- This is the addition of soy and protein products to chocolate. This can be easily determined by the appearance of the chocolate bar. If, upon unwrapping a bar of dark chocolate, you see that it is lighter than it should be and, moreover, its surface is matte, and not shiny, as if polished, then soy and protein products. Plus, this chocolate sticks to your teeth.

And the most significant what you should pay attention to when choosing chocolate, is the shelf life indicated on the packaging. Real high-quality chocolate without additives can be stored for no more than 6-8 months. Dessert chocolate and chocolate with filling can be stored for 4 months. Therefore, if the packaging indicates a shelf life of a year or more, it means that antioxidants and preservatives have been added to the chocolate.

From the above we can conclude: what are the signs of real chocolate? and how is it different from a fake?

• real chocolate is made from grated cocoa beans and cocoa butter;
• The shelf life of chocolate does not exceed 6 months;
• the chocolate bar should have a smooth and shiny surface;
• when broken, a characteristic crunch is heard and the dullness of the chocolate is clearly visible;
• real chocolate melts in your mouth and does not smear on your hands.

Irina Shevchenko

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In the age of development of the food industry, which is closely related to the chemical industry, it is probably possible to replace any natural product with its artificial analogue.

Unfortunately, even real chocolate now a rarity. But we can try to protect our consumer rights and find out how to distinguish real chocolate from a fake, that is, from a simple sweet tile.

Composition of real chocolate

• Real chocolate in mandatory must contain cocoa butter. If the wrapper of a chocolate bar does not indicate the presence of cocoa butter among the ingredients, then it is a simple sweet bar, not chocolate at all.
• Often, cocoa butter (it is obtained from cocoa beans) in order to save on costs, manufacturers replace it with equivalents. Cocoa butter equivalents: palm oil ( Coconut oil mixed with grated cocoa) and a synthetic substitute based on lauric acid (chocolate substitute is mixed with cocoa powder) Palm oil melts at a temperature of +30°C, real chocolate melts at +31°C, a substitute based on lauric acid melts at a temperature of +35°C.
• In the composition of real chocolate you should not see components such as substitutes and equivalents.
• Lecithin in chocolate is normal; it reduces the viscosity of the chocolate mass.

But not all chocolate manufacturers are honest and sometimes indicate “cocoa butter” in the composition of chocolate products, when there is no trace of it there.

You can recognize fake chocolate from real chocolate even by its appearance. High-quality real chocolate has a glossy surface and without any bubbles. The matte surface of the chocolate bar indicates the replacement of cocoa butter with its equivalent. At the break point, real chocolate should have a matte color.

Fake chocolate, simply put, a sweet bar, does not melt in your hands and when it (or rather, it) is broken, it crumbles, but real chocolate, when broken, makes a ringing sound, similar to a crunch. Real chocolate is dark and bitter. The melting point of cocoa butter is +32°C, so real chocolate immediately melts in your mouth. Low-quality chocolate does not melt immediately and leaves a characteristic greasy aftertaste.

On the packaging of a chocolate bar, the ingredients included in the composition are listed strictly in descending order, so even without indicating the percentage of components, you can understand what is more in this chocolate - cocoa products or their substitutes and various additives.

Often artificial, counterfeit, fake chocolate is used in the production chocolates or chocolate bars with various fillings: raisins, nuts, dried apricots, nougat, fruit fillings, etc.

The highest quality chocolate is dark, without the addition of milk, oils and fats. This chocolate contains from 60 to 99 percent cocoa beans. This chocolate has very few calories.

Delicious, nutritious and very useful product, able to improve mood, increase performance and even banish depression. not great. In all this kaleidoscope of attractive qualities there is one “but” - they are found only in real chocolate, which today can be considered in short supply.

The high demand for this product and the same price for its main ingredient have provoked many unscrupulous manufacturers to produce its imitations. Well, how, one wonders, can one find, among all the variety of bars presented on the shelves, called “chocolate”?

Chocolate and chocolates

Modern manufacturers divide chocolate into types, according to taste characteristics and composition features. If we close our eyes to the fact that real chocolate should consist only of cocoa ingredients and a very small proportion of additives, such as granulated sugar, vanillin and lecithin, then among the products of this type we are offered:

• Confectionery bar containing fats along with cocoa butter
• White chocolate without traditional dark cocoa liquor
• Regular chocolate with a little bitterness
• Dessert chocolate with a bittersweet delicate taste that quickly melts in the mouth.

So which one is or, and which one is not so good? In fact, it’s not difficult to figure it out, and chocolate deserves the title of real chocolate if it meets the GOST standard. And it says that such chocolate should contain a maximum of cocoa products and a minimum of any additives.

Cheap substitutes for expensive ingredients

Expensive ones include cocoa butter and cocoa liquor. The first is very often replaced by oil identical to cocoa butter, vegetable or hydro fats (the most common are shea butter, palm or coconut oil).

And instead of the second, they use cocoa powder, which is nothing more than the remains of cocoa beans from which the oil has been squeezed out. To determine whether chocolate is real or not, you need to carefully study its composition, which, by the way, should be indicated on the packaging.

The mass fraction of cocoa liquor in this product is at least 60%, and the permissible rate of substitute oils should not exceed 5%. It is not uncommon for manufacturers to indicate that chocolate contains cocoa butter equivalents- This is also not real chocolate.

Another option for counterfeiting is the presence of protein or soy preservatives in chocolate. If they are, then he will tell you about this by his appearance, namely, by a lighter matte surface. In real chocolate it is dark and shiny. Soy chocolate, among other things, will stick to your teeth.

And here real chocolate contains preservatives calcium sorbate, sorbitol and lecithin (E322). The latter, by the way, is even good for health. The only thing you need to pay attention to is the mass fraction of these substances in the product. It should be no more than 5% of the mass fraction of chocolate.

Choosing real chocolate - what to look for

When buying chocolate, you should pay attention to:

1. Sugar and cocoa content. The product label will tell you this. Traditionally, the one that has the most amount in chocolate comes first. In a quality product, COCOA will be listed first, not sugar!
2. Color and taste. Quality chocolate is dark or bitter chocolate. The former usually contains less cocoa products than the latter. This means that dark chocolate is healthier than dark chocolate. If both names are written on the label, then most likely it is less healthy dark chocolate.
3. Percentage of cocoa products. In high-quality chocolate, two numbers should be indicated, the first of which will indicate the content of cocoa solids in the product, and the second - the amount of cocoa butter in it. The higher the first number, the better the chocolate. It will roughly look like this: 75-80% (ideal), but maybe 55%-33%, etc.
4. External indicators. Everything is simple here - the right chocolate has a brown-red color (not black), a smooth shiny surface, and matte when broken. When breaking real chocolate makes a loud crunch.
5. GOST indicators. A high-quality product is manufactured in accordance with GOST 6534, which imposes very serious requirements on its composition. If the wrapper of the purchased tile does not indicate GOST, but TU, then, most likely, the manufacturer saved on the main expensive ingredients.
6. Price. Cocoa butter and cocoa mass are not cheap ingredients, so high-quality chocolate is not cheap (about 150 rubles per 100 grams).

Real chocolate is a very healthy product. And, of course, very tasty if it is REAL! Learn to choose the right chocolate and place it in your home - then there will always be a magic cure for depression, bad mood and fatigue!

Myths and legends about the most ancient sweets in the world.

Miracles happen not only under New Year! They say there is only one day a year when all the sweet-toothed people in the world can eat as much chocolate as they want without gaining any extra calories. It's World Chocolate Day.
World Chocolate Day was invented by the French. In 1995, they decided that it would be dishonest to deprive everyone of their favorite delicacy and came up with their own holiday for it, which has since been celebrated in all countries at the height of summer - July 11th.

Several myths about the dangers of chocolate

Myth number one: chocolate

provokes caries

This is not true - cocoa butter contains substances that have an antiseptic effect. They destroy bacteria that destroy enamel and cause carious changes. However, chocolate also contains sugar, which in excessive quantities destroys our teeth.

Myth number two: chocolate is bad for your skin.

Again, this is not true: although, like any other fatty and sweet product, chocolate enhances the activity of the sebaceous glands, even daily consumption of a small (up to 40 grams per day) amount of real chocolate will not affect the skin in any way. In addition, chocolate contains flavonoids that inactivate free radicals, which are main reason cell aging. It has been proven that chocolate is superior in its “protective” qualities to green apples, red wine and green tea- foods that have long been considered the best food antioxidants. And chocolate wraps, which are gaining immense popularity among urban fashionistas, are generally the most effective means for improvement appearance skin.

Myth three - chocolate damages the cardiovascular system

Wrong! Moreover, chocolate, in small doses (about 20-40 grams per day), not only does not destroy the system, but also strengthens it, reducing cholesterol levels in the body. The thing is that chocolate contains a high content of vitamin F, which lowers cholesterol levels in the blood, and therefore reduces the likelihood of developing heart attacks and strokes. In addition, it has been found that the polyphenols contained in cocoa beans have a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, promoting more efficient blood flow, thereby reducing the load on the heart. And if you eat chocolate regularly, for example, three times a month, you will extend your life by one year.

Myth four - chocolate is harmful to nervous system

And this is not true. The myth arose due to the fact that many people consume chocolate only for various disorders and depression - they “eat up” them. In fact, chocolate, on the contrary, helps to cope with such conditions - it provokes an increase in the blood of the hormone of happiness - endorphin, the sources of which are only sports, love and chocolate, and the hormone serotonin, the lack of which causes depression and stress. Chocolate is also one of the most powerful aphrodisiacs.

Myth five - milk chocolate is the most harmful

Nothing happened! Scientists have proven that this particular chocolate is the healthiest for... children and athletes. It is lighter in structure than dark chocolate and less caloric than white, it contains milk powder and sugar, which allows you to reduce the amount of cocoa butter and cocoa mass, which have a stimulating effect on the child’s nervous system. But the combination of carbohydrates and proteins in milk chocolate turned out to be the most useful and beneficial for athletes’ muscle recovery. It contributes to the formation muscle mass, and also allows the body to quickly and effectively “refuel” the muscles with useful substances, including potassium, calcium and magnesium, which are found in abundance in milk and are necessary for athletes after strenuous physical activity.

A spoon of tar

We must not forget that for all its advantages, chocolate also has negative sides. And the main one is, of course, calorie content. One bar contains from 400 to 700 kcal, and in white chocolate energy value more, and in bitter - less than in other types.

Chocolate should melt in your hands!

And finally: don’t give in to advertising and don’t follow fashion trends - real chocolate should melt already at a temperature of +32°C - that is, in your hands! If it doesn’t melt, it means it’s not real and contains refractory fats, which will disintegrate just as “hard” in the stomach. But in order to understand whether chocolate is real or not, you need to look at the packaging. If the composition contains cocoa mass and cocoa butter, you are holding the “correct” bar. Feel free to break off a piece - such a delicacy, in moderation, will only bring you benefits!

Happy Chocolate Day, fellow sweet tooths!

It is known that dark varieties of chocolate stimulate the release of endorphins - happiness hormones that affect the pleasure center, improve mood and maintain body tone.

Black (bitter) chocolate is made from cocoa mass, powdered sugar and cocoa butter. By changing the ratio between powdered sugar and cocoa mass, you can change the taste characteristics of the resulting chocolate - from bitter to sweet. The more cocoa mass in chocolate, the more bitter the taste and the brighter the aroma of the chocolate and the more valued it is.

Milk chocolate with additions are made from cocoa mass, cocoa butter, powdered sugar and milk powder, most often film powder milk with a fat content of 25% or dry cream is used. The aroma of milk chocolate is given by cocoa, the taste is made up of powdered sugar and milk powder.

White chocolate prepared from cocoa butter, sugar, film powdered milk and vanillin without adding cocoa powder, so it is creamy in color (white) and does not contain theobromine. White chocolate gets its unique taste from special milk powder that has a caramel flavor.