CHOCOLATE Tips, Recipe and Guide

If chocolate in and of itself weren’t good enough, someone had to go and add cream to the mix, creating the first chocolate ganache. This wonderful mix is the base for so many treats they’re impossible to list.
Credit perhaps goes to the Swiss, who in perfecting the art of chocolate making, were the first to add powdered milk to the chocolate mix. True ganache, however, involves the use of cream, giving the chocolate made from the process a truly heavenly taste.

Ganache in its best form is used as the base for truffles, cakes, mousse and more. While it might seem making the chocolate formula for ganache would be a well-kept secret that’s hard to replicate, that’s simply not so.

Making ganache at home isn’t terribly tough if patience is applied and the maker is set for a possible failure or two at the start.

Ganache itself is simply a mixture of equal parts of cream and chocolate. It’s heated and mixed together and then used with other ingredients to form the basis for a whole slew of delightful confections.

While some of the best makers of chocolate might use a more complex method, there are two worthy of trying in home kitchens.

The first involves taking the chocolate for the mixture and melting it. Then bring it to room temperature and beat cream into it until the mix is creamy and smooth.

The second and perhaps the most foolproof method for making ganache at home is to bring the cream to a boil first, remove it from heat and then beat the chocolate into the cream. This avoids burning the chocolate in the mix, which is a very easy thing to do, unfortunately. While cream will burn, too, it’s easier to watch and, thus, this method is a preferred one for home chefs who want to create their own ganache.

Using this base, chocolate chefs at home can create their own mousse by adding more cream or they can create a sifter product for candies by adding a bit more chocolate. Experimentation is key, try adding some of your favorite fruits, jams or nuts to the ganache for truffles or layer it in between cake sections for a desserts that’s to die for.

Remember, though, the expert ganache makers from world famous chocolate houses have spent years perfecting their craft. What’s made at home is not likely to taste the same as a ganache imported from a famous maker in France, Switzerland or elsewhere.


By George Murray


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Almost everyone loves eating gourmet chocolate. Since chocolate was first discovered, this delicious treat has continued to evolve in form and taste. However there are some people, especially those who are figure-conscious, who do not want to indulge themselves. This is because gourmet chocolate is often associated with weight gain. This may be true to some extent, but only when chocolate is eaten in excessive amounts.

How come gourmet chocolate is very popular? Gourmet chocolate stands out from other forms of chocolate through a variety of characteristics. Gourmet chocolate, unlike chocolate products of inferior quality, boasts a smooth and glossy appearance that is not marred by streaks and dots. Gourmet chocolate also gives off a rich aroma of cocoa, not an unappetizing chemical odor. When broken, this kind of chocolate snaps sharply, instead of crumbling or bending. Lastly, gourmet chocolate melts in the mouth and leaves a velvety texture. It does not taste too sweet or too bitter, nor does it leave an aftertaste in the mouth.

Gourmet chocolate is not only a delicious treat but has been proven to provide a number of health benefits. This kind of chocolate contains essential elements such as calcium, potassium, iron, and vitamins A, B1, C, D, and E. Gourmet chocolate also has high levels of chromium that help control blood sugar, as well as magnesium that alleviates premenstrual symptoms by increasing progesterone levels.

There is an impressive array of gourmet chocolate products available in the market today. In fact, a number of chocolate brands have become household names. But aside from the number of brands to choose from, gourmet chocolate comes in a variety of exciting flavors that include Caramel, Java Truffle, Jamaican Rum Caramel and Raspberry Truffle.

Gourmet chocolate not only tastes good but provides health benefits as well. Now, indulging oneself with a generous serving of chocolate need not be a guilty pleasure.


By Eddie Tobey

Do you want to know more about chocolate such as "Buy a Chocolate Fountain", yes.. you can read that article by access this link "Buy a Chocolate Fountain"

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The term chocolate bar is a popular way of describing a confectionery treat in the form of a bar. This is usually packaged in a bar shape with individual perforations or in a long, narrow, shaped log covered with chocolate. Many types of chocolate bar exist and there are thousands of companies that create chocolate bars. Some of these companies produce many choices of fillings in their chocolate bar, such as nuts, fruit, mint, coconut, marzipan and many more.

The chocolate bar evolved in approximately the late 1900s. Chocolate had become popular many years before the introduction of the bar but the idea of creating a chocolate bar was to provide a more convenient way of consuming the chocolate. The bars could be packaged and sold to eat easily by hand or while on the go. Up to the invention of the chocolate bar, chocolate had been sold by bulk with loose, irregular or formed pieces.

During the Great Depression, the cost of a chocolate bar was five cents. The price rose to ten cents after World War II and remained that price for many years. More advanced packaging and advertising contributed to the increase in cost to the consumer of many types of chocolate bars. Many chocolate companies still make the same bars they started out with, also adding many more varieties. Some popular chocolate bars that are still popular today are Clark Bar 1917, Baby Ruth 1920, The Charleston Chew 1922, Three Musketeers 1932, Fifth Avenue 1936 and many more. The Hershey Chocolate Company makes several chocolate bars that have been enjoyed for many years. The Krackel Chocolate bar was introduced in 1938 and the bars first contained almonds and then in 1939 peanuts were added alongside of the almonds. In 1941 the Hershey company changed the direction of the Krackel bar and removed all nuts and peanuts, which is the way we know the Krackel bar today. The shape of the York Peppermint Pattie may be round but it is still considered a chocolate bar. The Peppermint Pattie was introduced in 1940 and is still enjoyed today.

Chocolate bars can be used for fundraising, as where a sports team, corporation or school uses the chocolate bars to raise money for needed supplies. There are companies that put their corporate logo on the chocolate for use at promotional shows, incentive programs, and customer appreciation or to encourage attendance at board meetings. Wedding favors and other special parties, such as Bar Mitzvahs or milestone birthdays or anniversaries, are perfect occasions to use personalized chocolate bars to mark the day.


By Terence Roberts


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Famous Belgian chocolate has pure cocoa flavour because no vegetable shortening is used. Most tourists know that Belgium is a chocolate paradise. Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per year in over 2,130 chocolate shops.

Internationally known Belgian chocolate brands are: Galler, Guylian, Godiva, Leonidas, Marcolini, Neuhaus.

You will probably find those in your home country as well. It's good chocolate but if you want something exceptional and typically from Antwerp - read on.

Burie

Lieven Burie of the Burie chocolate shop took over when his father died suddenly. Already at school, this young talented man showed creativity only artists have (I was sitting just a few desks further). He now designs everything in chocolate and his store displays are often as attractive to watch as to bite in to it.

Yes this is not cheap, but you get only the very best quality and the finest taste experience in this place.

Del Rey

The finest of the finest, the best of the very best! No superlative can describe the chocolate combinations they have. Recently they expanded to the country of the rising sun (Japan) where they are also extremely successful.

They have a nice tasting room where you can eat small dishes and delicious cakes and pastries. Del-Rey is more then a chocolate maker. He is an artist that would be top chef in every food category. We are lucky he choose chocolate and pastries.

Goossens

Mr. Gossens makes one of the best and Famous Chocolate in Belgium, he can make whatever you request. Last year, the American ambassador ordered 1500 chocolate American stamps of 1 kilo and a lot of them when strait to the White house.

As we have a tradition in Belgium of giving sugar beans for the birth of a child. Goossens made a giant white sugar bean for the birth of the crown princes of Belgium. It was worth a mention in the Guinness book of records!

He also invented the chocolate hands filled with Elixir of Antwerp you find everywhere in the city. They are delicious!

We love his chocolates and buy it every time we go to Canada. My brother in law, the little man is only eighth could not believe his eyes when I brought the Christmas chocolates from Belgium. It was not just the taste - the chocolates are so beautifully crafted it's a pity to eat them.

So which is the best chocolate in Belgium? Try them all and decide :)


By Amanda Luczynska


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Although it’s called chocolate, white chocolate isn’t really chocolate at all. A hybrid that does derive its roots from the same cacao plant, the white version involves a different process for creation. Be this as it may, those who crave the creamy vanilla taste of the white version of chocolate will probably not care about the semantics involved.

Chocolate making involves first the extraction of useable items from the ancient cacao bean. While dark chocolates use the cocoa powder ground from the seeds, the versions of white use only the butter. When chocolate making experts create a white blend, the butter is the only items used from the bean itself to create the end product.

Making chocolate of the white persuasion involves a process not dissimilar to making darks. Despite the similarity, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will even deem white chocolates as chocolates at all since chocolate liquor isn’t used in their creation.

Instead, makers of white varieties of chocolates use the cocoa butter, milk solids, vanilla, sugar and lecithin to make this creation. Those that use true cocoa butter create a higher-quality chocolate than those who don’t. Other makers will save money by substituting vegetable fat for the cocoa butter, but don’t be fooled, it’s not the same.

True white chocolates are ivory in color when they’re made. The taste screams of cream and vanilla and it simply cannot be matched with the white, white creations that come from vegetable fat. The consistency, taste and ability to store is vastly different between the two versions of whites made by chocolate manufacturers.

Delicate by nature, white chocolates melt quite easily and scorch even easier. Take care when melting for things like ganache or chocolate fondue. Also, due to the use of real cocoa butter in the creation of top quality whites, this chocolate can store for months without spoilage.


By George Murray


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