Chocolate FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about about chocolate. It deals with eating, cooking with and buying chocolate.
This FAQ about Chocolate was compiled and written by Monee Kidd
faq@choco.com with numerous contributions by others.
1. General- A reader of the old alt.food.chocolate once asked:...
1.1 What is chocolate? Where does it come from?- Chocolate is a food made from the seeds of a tropical tree called ...
1.2 What is the history of chocolate?- (Excerpted with permission from the Godiva WWW site)...
1.3 How is chocolate made?- Workers cut the fruit of the cacao tree, or pods open and scoop out ...
1.4 What is conching?- Raw unprocessed chocolate is gritty, grainy and really not suitable ...
1.5 What kinds of chocolate are there?- Depending on what is added to (or removed from) the chocolate liquor, ...
1.6 What is this white, blotchy stuff on my chocolate bar?- A white, filmy residue on chocolate is called a bloom. It occurs ...
1.7 I just bought a whole bunch of chocolate. How should I store it?- Chocolate is best kept at around 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit, the ...
1.8 What is lecithin and why is it in my chocolate?- Lecithin is an emulsifier used to reduce the viscosity, or thickness ...
2. Cooking with chocolate- Chocolate is a very tricky food to cook with. Temperatures that are ...
2.1 What is tempering? How can I temper chocolate at home?
2.2 What is couverture?- Couverture is a special kind of chocolate that has more cocoa ...
2.3 How do I melt chocolate and what's the best kind to use?- There are two ways to melt chocolate, in a double boiler or in a ...
2.4 I was melting some chocolate, and suddenly it changed from a shiny, smooth liquid to a dull, thick paste. What happened?- As discussed before, chocolate is very sensitive. Any slight variance ...
2.5 How do I make chocolate covered strawberries?- Covering strawberries is not an easy task, but if you exercise a ...
2.6 Where can I get some chocolate?- There is a complete document entitled CHOCOLATE RESOURCES, posted as part ...
3. Chocolate trivia- Chocolate has been the subject of many stories and myths throughout ...
3.1 Hey! Did you hear about this lady at Neiman Marcus who wanted to buy a chocolate chip cookie recipe...?- Stop right there. The story to which you are referring is completely ...
3.2 Is chocolate really an aphrodisiac?- Chocolate is the traditional gift of love, ranking right up there ...
3.3 Can I give chocolate to my dog (cat, bird, other pet)?- Unequivocally, no. The theobromine in chocolate that stimulates the ...
3.4 How much caffeine is in chocolate?- Although there is less caffeine in chocolate that there is in a cup ...
3.5 Doesn't chocolate cause acne?- This is another myth about chocolate. While some people might be ...