Chocolate is sold everywhere: supermarkets, subways, bookstores, hotels, airports, clubs and markets. You can find milk, dark, white chocolate, chocolate with nuts, with fruits, and even gourmet chocolate. Chocolate is known to contain antioxidant flavonoids that can lower the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood and prevent cell damage. But before you rush to the store for chocolate, you should learn how to choose the right chocolate.
Instructions
Step 1
Start by looking at the list of ingredients that make up chocolate. Real chocolate should be cocoa liquor, not cocoa powder. Avoid vegetable and confectionery fats and artificial flavors. Instead, it should contain real cocoa butter. Otherwise, the chocolate will be called a bar or similar. A high percentage of sugar is an indicator of poor quality. Cane sugar, fructose and agave syrup are preferred.
Step 2
Explore the packaging method. Bar chocolate is always wrapped in aluminum foil and then wrapped in a paper label. Small tiles can be wrapped in a paper belt. When packing chocolate bars with fillings, it is allowed to use a waxed wrapper.
Step 3
Good chocolate must have a good color. Look for chocolate that is dark brown or wenge wood, with no streaks, spots, cracks or holes. White chocolate is usually a slightly pearlescent cream in color.
Step 4
If you hold a piece of chocolate between your fingers, it should start to melt within a few seconds. The more cocoa butter the chocolate contains, the faster it will melt.
Step 5
The aroma of good chocolate cannot be confused with anything else. It is well balanced and free of foreign fruit or coffee odors.
Step 6
You can tell a lot about chocolate when you break a piece off a bar. A clean break will indicate a high amount and a sufficient amount of cocoa butter in the composition. If the chocolate contains vegetable fats, the treat will crumble and crack easily.
Step 7
The behavior of chocolate in the mouth is the main way to determine quality. Sweet tooths love the chocolate bite that melts in their mouths, all because cocoa butter has a melting point equal to our own body temperature. But besides melting gently, chocolate should have an explosion of flavor. Avoid chocolate that becomes grainy, waxy, or powdery on the tongue. Look for rich, creamy flavor with buttery undertones.
