Chocotionary
Bitter Chocolate
Also known as unsweetened chocolate, although it often contains a small amount of sweetening. It is the chocolate best suited to baking and cooking and is valued by chocolate connoisseurs as its high cocoa solid percentage means a purer and better quality of chocolate.
Cacao Beans
The beans from which chocolate is derived.
Cacao Tree
The fruit of the cacao tree are large pods that contain 30 to 40 beans. This evergreen tree was first discovered in South America.
Chocoholic
A choccy addict – a title most of us can lay claim to!
Chocolate Liqueur
The cold alcoholic version of a hot chocolate drink. Does it get any better?
Chocolatier
The French term for the best sort of people – those who make and sell chocolate.
Cocoa Butter
The yellow-white vegetable fat that comes from the cacao bean. It is removed from chocolate liquid during a refining process at high pressure. As well as being a chocolate product it is also used in cosmetics and moisturizers and is supposed to be great for reducing stretch marks caused by pregnancy.
Cocoa Powder
What remains when cocoa butter is removed from chocolate liquid, cocoa powder is what is used in making a hot drink of the same time.
Conching
The process that turns raw chocolate into the smooth stuff we adore. The chocolate is heated and rolled by granite conch-shaped rollers – hence the name.
Couveture Chocolate
A chocolate containing extra cocoa butter for pouring and dipping purposes. Also known as coating chocolate as it is primarily used by luxury chocolatiers to form a very thin shell of chocolate for truffles.
Dark Chocolate
Made by mixing chocolate liquid with varying amounts of sweetening and cocoa butter.
Drinking Chocolate
Unlike the cocoa drink, this should be made with real, solid chocolate mixed with sugar, milk and cream. It is extremely rich and thick.
Fondants or Creams
Sugar-based centers for chocolate that can be flavored.
Milk Chocolate
Milk or cream is added to a mixture of chocolate liquid, cocoa butter, vanilla and sweetening.
Praline
Made with finely ground nuts and chocolate or caramel. A common filling in Belgian chocolates.
Truffles
A fluffy chocolate, cream and butter mixture, these sweets were named after the expensive French mushroom that they were thought to resemble.
White Chocoalte
Contains no cocoa powder and so is not considered a “true” chocolate by choco-snobs. A combination of vanilla, milk solids, cocoa butter and sugar, white chocolate is made with vegetable fat instead of cocao butter.
Chocolate is the most popular token in affairs of the heart, beating both flowers and perfume. It has become a traditional part of Western courtship rituals.
Fact: a romantic meal just isn’t complete without a rich chocolate dessert.
Italian lovers exchange “baci” or “kisses”, which are wrapped chocolates that contain a romantic message on the inside of the wrapper.
Chocolate is not only thought of as a romantic pleasure but a sensual and sexual one too. A favorite image of the early movies was the blonde, beautiful leading lady in a luxurious bed, sensuously chomping her way through a box of chocs. Sex has been used to sell chocolate for years – the idea of melted chocolate smeared on a naked body and licked off by a lover’s tongue is the hidden undertone of most chocolate adverts.
Chocolate has been considered an aphrodisiac for centuries. The Aztecs believed that chocolate invigorated men and released women from their inhibitions. The Aztec emperor, Montezuma, certainly believed in these properties of chocolate. With a sizeable harem to entertain, he is reputed to have needed up to 50 goblets of chocolate a day to keep his passion at its peak. Ding-dong!
Casanova would drink chocolate instead of champagne to induce that loving feeling. He also gave it to those he desired as a means of having his wicked way with them.
In the seventeenth century chocolate was very commonly employed as an aphrodisiac within the French Court. Art and literature of the period contains strong erotic themes supposedly inspired by chocolate.
