Legendary Chocolate

January 2005

Legendary Chocolate

By Bill "Pops" Hahne

What other food has its own god? The Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl gave them chocolate. The Aztecs likely received the knowledge of cacao beans from the earlier Mayans, who mixed fermented, roasted cocoa with cornmeal and chiles into a thick, cold, unsweetened drink called xocoatl. Cacao beans became so coveted that they were actually used for currency.

One of the tales from Christopher Columbus describes a trading canoe that came to his ship off of Honduras, loaded with mounds of what he thought were almonds. Actually, they were cacao beans, used in both trade and as currency. But, most importantly, they made a bitter drink that was an early version of hot chocolate. Most historians note that the Mayans probably learned about cacao beans from the ancient Olmecs of Mexico, and began cultivating the beans in the warm, humid climate of their jungles.

How the cacao -- cocoa -- beans got to Europe depends on who you are talking to. Some historians say that Columbus brought them back after his voyages; others lean more toward the conquistador Hernando Cortéz, who was given a hot beverage called chocolatl (or xocoatl, according to some sources) by Montezuma II. Eventually Europeans learned that adding sugar and spices, such as cinnamon, made the drink more palatable.

I like the theory that the early Jesuit missionaries were involved. First, they banned the drink during Lent and fasting periods, claiming that it was food. When the students and parishioners became quite violent without their chocolate, the Jesuits reversed the ban decision, and then began a profitable business of importing the beans to Europe as a fundraising venture.

Improving production
At first, the aristocracies in Spain, England and France continued to consume chocolate as a beverage. The process of making chocolate did not change much until the 1800s. Three big landmarks in the production of chocolate then made the "food of the gods" easier to procure and cheaper for us lesser folks:

· 1823: Conrad J. van Houten, from the Netherlands, discovers a process that removes most of the fat from chocolate solids, which led to the manufacture of a fine powder, called "cocoa."

· 1847: Joseph Fry reputedly combines cocoa powder with melted cocoa butter and sugar. He then pours this concoction into a mold to produce the world's first chocolate bar.

· 1879: Henri Nestlé, a Swiss chemist, creates the first milk chocolate with Daniel Peter, a Swiss chocolate maker. That same year, Rudolph Lindt -- also native to Switzerland -- invents the conching process, which mellows the chocolate. Ever since, the Swiss have led the world in fine-chocolate making.

Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland, claims to be one of the few manufacturers who still control their chocolate-making process from the cocoa bean through the finished product, greatly maintaining quality control. The basic production steps for manufacturing milk chocolate include:

· Cleaning and bean processing;

· Quality control -- inspection and standardization;

· Roasting;

· Cracking -- this removes the hulls from the beans and results in cracked beans, called "nibs."

· Milling -- grinding the nibs produces chocolate liquor (which can be pressed to remove the fat, resulting in cocoa butter and a partially defatted cocoa presscake that is ground into cocoa powder).

· Alkalizing -- the "Dutch process" makes cocoa less acidic and darker chocolate liquor and cocoa. The alkali can also be added to the nibs before they are made into chocolate liquor.

· Mixing chocolate liquor with milk and sugar;

· Refining -- this reduces the size of the chocolate particles through a series of rollers, resulting in   a smoother product.

· Conching -- this kneading process also helps smooth the texture and mellows the flavor.

· Tempering -- the process of slowly heating and cooling chocolate with shear in a very controlled way that allows chocolate's stable fat-crystal structure to form evenly and create shiny finish.

After the tempering process, the chocolate is formed into its final format, like blocks, bars, molded candies and "bits." A high-quality, sweet-chocolate formulation might be 50% sugar, 32% chocolate liquor, 16% cocoa butter and 2% vanilla and other added flavorings. Proper storage of the finished chocolate is critical to avoid "bloom," a cloudy or gray look that appears on chocolate. Fat bloom occurs when the structure of the fat crystals changes during too-warm storage and sugar bloom occurs when the sugar crystals are affected by moisture.

A few distinctions
Different processes yield a variety of types and styles of chocolate. In the United States, to be called "chocolate," products must meet FDA ingredient standards, such as the minimum chocolate liquor and milk content as well as the flavorings and other ingredients. Definitions can be found in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 163 -- "Cacao Products" (http://vm.cfsan. fda.gov/~lrd/FCF163.html). Matching the chocolate with a given application can sometimes take a certain amount of culinary and scientific skill. Some types of chocolate include:

· White chocolate -- strictly speaking, this is not really a chocolate. It is made from cocoa butter, milk solids and sugar; it does not contain any   cocoa solids.

· Couverture chocolate -- this glossy chocolate usually contains a minimum of 32% cocoa butter and requires tempering. Couverture chocolate is what would be used to dip strawberries or create molded items. It is generally sold in 10-lb. blocks, broken into small chunks and melted in tightly controlled chocolate warmers. Temperatures over or under 86?F will cause a color change or loss of gloss. The chocolate is then tempered (kneaded) -- generally on a marble slab -- while it cools from 86?F to the point where chefs can work with it.

· Mexican chocolate -- this does not get a conching process and therefore has a gritty texture. It usually contains cinnamon and is pressed into blocks or rounds. In Mexican street markets, you can get chocolate freshly ground to order. I put it into pancakes for my grandkids. Mexican chocolate, typically only used in food preparation, is standard in mole sauces.

· Compound coating -- this is not technically chocolate because it contains vegetable oil that can modify the melt and setting characteristics.

Chocolate chiles
A recent flavor trend is the addition of hot chiles to chocolate, as in chipotle brownies, Mayan-inspired chocolate drinks, "wicked" hot chocolate and even chocolate-covered whole chile pods. However, this trend might not be that recent since the Aztecs and Mayans had written records of spicing up their chocolatl drinks with hot peppers.

My personal research and development into this area has yielded really good results, particularly with the chipotle flavor. Chipotles, smoked jalapeños, have a medium-high heat: about 12,000 Scoville heat units (SHUs). Sourcing a high-quality, consistent, "clean" chipotle has been a problem in the past. Working with them is now a lot easier with the introduction of hot sauces made with chipotles. Some potential applications of chipotle sauce and chocolate include:

· Chipotle-chocolate brownies -- using a brownie mix, substitute chipotle sauce for about one-third of the required liquid called for in the instructions. Possibly add some pistachio nuts for a New Mexican flavor profile.

· Chipotle-chocolate-raspberry sauce -- blend equal parts chipotle sauce, chocolate syrup and raspberry sauce to produce an outstanding topping for ice cream, or for a Southwest-style bread pudding.

· Sloppy José -- blend chipotle sauce with a barbecue sauce and add to browned, ground turkey. Grate a small garnish of baking or Mexican chocolate over the meat and sauce just before serving (adiós sloppy Joe!).

Olé mole
Sauces made with Mexican chocolate are often called "moles." This is a misnomer because the term "mole" actually means "sauce" -- as derived from the Aztec word molli -- and doesn't necessarily translate as sauces made with chocolate. Regardless, today many mole sauces contain Mexican chocolate, which adds richness and mouthfeel (whereas cocoa would only add chocolate flavor). Mole poblano is the classic benchmark sauce, meaning "sauce made with peppers from Pueblo," where the dish reputedly originated. The chocolate is used as a spice and is the perfect counterbalance to the ancho, pasilla and mulatto peppers used in the sauce.

Classic recipes for mole poblano call for extensive ingredients and usually begin with: "starting two days before..." Ingredients can include garlic, onion, pumpkin seeds, almonds, spices, herbs, chile peppers, chocolate and toasted sesame seeds. The stock for the sauce is almost always derived from chicken or turkey.

A variety of mole pastes are available. While not as good as the long, complicated sauces made from scratch, they are quite usable with some added toasted sesame seeds plus a little ground or shaved Mexican chocolate.

Quaffable cocoa
The varieties of modern Mexican hot-chocolate drinks would have made Montezuma proud. Cups of hot chocolate flavored with almond and cinnamon are still whisked vigorously with a wooden whisk called a molinillo until they have foam on top. In southern Mexico, residents of Oaxaca consume about five times more chocolate than their neighbors, and they like a drink called champurrado, a hot chocolate with brown sugar, anise and masa (corn flour).

Chocolate flavors are now a major part of the specialty coffee flavoring industry. For example, Flavor Dynamics, Inc., South Plainfield, NJ, lists dozens of chocolate flavors for coffee, candy and baking. Their chocolate cinnamon hazelnut is used for Christmas-themed coffee. Some other blends include chocolate almond fudge, chocolate cherry cordial, chocolate raspberry crème, chocolate mint, chocolate macadamia nut, white chocolate mousse and chocolate Irish crème. Adding a chocolate flavor to desserts receptive to soaking up flavor, such as bread, rice or tapioca pudding, gives new flavor to traditional formulas.

Even if chocolate doesn't really have its own god, it was given a botanical godlike name: Theobroma, or "food of the gods." Back in my working chef days, I was trying to come up with a good banquet dessert, and one of my sous chefs summed it up: "Who don't like chocolate?"

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