Valentine day’s here and whether you’re spending it with your significant other or
drowning in the misery of your total loneliness, chocolate is often in the mix.
But, if you’re going to go overboard on the chocolate this year, what’s the best
choice?
In this corner, mixed in at under 20% cacao, you’ve got creamy milk chocolate.
In the other, weighing in at over 60 45% cacao, you’ve got complex and alluring dark chocolate.
It’s time to settle this dispute in the chemistry thunderdome.
Who will come out on top in this scientific face-off!?
It’s long been believed that chocolate is free ticket to friskyville.
And if this is true, the real question is what chemicals in chocolate can trigger the
romance?
Given the higher concentration of cacao in dark chocolate, we could unscientifically
guess that the darker the chocolate, the sweeter the emotion.
Also note we’re using the word “cacao” as that’s term chocolate makers use for
the sum of all ingredients from the cocoa plant.
Your brain produces a chemical called phenylethylamine or PEA, which helps release, dopamine and
norepinephrine, which are big time players in feeling “in-love.”
And you guessed it, phenylethylamine can be found in trace amounts in chocolate!
Problem is folks, when it hits your gut your body quickly begins to metabolize it, leaving
no legitimate effects on your brain.
In the end it when it comes to chocolate it might just be that old fashion placebo effect
which means that the aphrodisiac round ends in a draw.
You may have heard that chocolate has some great health benefits.
This due to an abundance of potentially healthful plant compounds called polyphenols and in
particular, a group known as flavanols.
In the laboratory, these compounds have been shown to have antioxidant effects that may
result in combating cancer-causing free radicals, lower blood pressure, and limit the progression
of heart disease.
Due to higher concentrations of cacao in dark chocolate, it packs a higher quantity of polyphenols
than its milk counterpart, but that’s not all.
Flavanols have been shown to up the release of nitric oxide which opens your blood vessels,
and may lead to better heart health.
Also, eating dark chocolate can deliver equal or greater amounts of antioxidants as red
wine, berries, and green tea.
Let’s be real folks, chocolate’s no health food, but when it comes to these potential
health benefits, dark chocolate - due to it’s higher cacao contents, is more promising than
milk, giving it the win for this round.
Whether it’s of the dark or milk variety, chocolate definitely isn’t a health food.
And while more research is needed on the health impacts of antioxidants in food, that higher
flavonol content gives dark chocolate a small but slight edge in the health department."
So when it comes to healthful benefits, dark chocolate is going to take a win for this
round.
Pretty much everyone knows what chocolate tastes like, but its complexity can be hard
to pin down with words.
The real flavor of chocolate comes from cocoa beans, whose flavor profiles are drastically
enhanced by the process of both fermentation -- like when you make bread, cheese or beer
-- and roasting, as in delicious coffee.
In cocoa beans, compounds called methylxanthines, which include caffeine and theobromine, contribute
to a chocolate’s bitterness - and a little buzz for you!
Those polyphenols we talked about contribute to that bitterness too, but being herbaceous
health-benefitters they also give a sort of earthy green note that’s very particular
to chocolate.
Amino acids and peptides in cocoa beans along with the bean’s sugars and carbohydrates
also mean the Maillard reaction explodes during roasting, giving chocolate its characteristic
bold flavor.
Volatile compounds play a big role in defining the characteristic chocolate flavor as well.
Researchers have identified over 700 individual compounds in chocolate vapors.
But here’s where it gets tricky, with the incredible biodiversity of cocoa plants, each
strain exhibits its own flavor profile.
With dark chocolate, you find more strains, meaning that there are going to be more complex
flavors, giving it the win for this round.
Texture -- or mouthfeel for the foodies -- is one of the most incredible characteristics
of chocolate and in particular how it melts into a velvety, smooth goo that coats every
surface of your mouth gifting you nothing but unfettered flavor.
All chocolate bars are composed of a mix of this stuff.
But milk chocolate also has condensed or powdered milk.
When it comes to smooth texture, those milk products are what really knock its smoothiness
out of the ballpark.
Milk proteins can add an incredible, melty, creaminess to a bar of chocolate.
Casein proteins from milk act as an emulsifier and help keep the other ingredients mixed
together.
The milk’s butter fat softens the cocoa butter, making for a smooth, even melt, rather
than the fats and roasted plant bits losing touch and getting clumpy.
Even though dark chocolate has a nice texture of its own, milk chocolate is going to have
to take this round.
Milk chocolate tends to be a lot easier on the pocket book, and the reason is simple:
the more cocoa, the more expensive.
If you’re a candymaker and don’t need to use as much of your expensive product,
you can make a lot more servings, and recoup your costs with higher margins.
This is why milk chocolate seems to dominate the shelves at most stores.
So when it comes to economics folks, milk chocolate takes a win for the price.
Right now we’ve got a draw which means we need one more round to settle this.
It’s up to you guys!
We’re going to crown a winner on Valentine’s Day, but first, we need you to tell us which
of these heavy hitters is the greatest.
Post your champ in the comments, and we’ll tally them up and reveal the winner next week.
Until, thumbs up, and subscribe, we’ll see you again soon.