Cocoa and chocolate, what's the difference?

Walking into a cafe, there is a chocolate menu and cocoa menu, is it not the same ?? Today I will resolve your concerns.

Cocoa and chocolate are both made from the beans of the cocoa pod. They are difference in the step of extracting, and the components inside are not the same. Chocolate is the fermentation of cocoa beans to produce microorganisms and accelerate many nutrients in cocoa beans for maximum efficiency. After that they are dried for longer storage.

When it's time to use it, these dry cocoa beans are then heated and peeled off to reduce their stinginess before grinding to get a liquid that we call chocolate.

Some part of this Chocolate liquid consists of cocoa oil, as we call cocoa butter, there are about 45-55% of all the part depending on the variety and the cultivation area. A quality chocolate bar is a Chocolate liquid with a lot of cocoa butter instead of vegetable oil, cacao mass itself, and mashed with sugar or other kinds of ingredients. Then they are molded in chocolate mold, waith to be chilled and serve as a craft chocolate bar.

The Cocoa Butter is extremely useful. Contains both monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids as quality fats. It makes chocolates soft in heat or solid in low temperatures. When we eat chocolate, placed it on the tongue, the fine chocolate will gradually melt due to their melting point of 32-37 degrees Celsius. The unique after-taste smell lingers in the tongue as it melts completely in the cocoa butter.

"Among minerals, magnesium, copper, potassium, and iron are present in cocoa and chocolate in significant amounts (14). Magnesium, copper, and potassium exert a cardio protective role (15–17), while iron, mainly present in dark chocolate, contributes to the 25% of the U.S. recommended dietary allowance for middle-aged man, thus preventing anemia outcome (18)."

The cocoa butter contains 40 times more antioxidants than blueberries and contains anti-inflammatory substances which help to prevent anemia, prevent stenosis of the arteries, help in heart disease, memory loss, thus making cocoa butter more expensive. This cacao butter is extracted first and use in other industries such as cosmetics, etc. than it is used in making supermarket chocolate.

When the chocolate is extracted or squeeze out the cocoa butter, leave it with cocoa powder, which contains very little cocoa butter. Cocoa powder is popularly used to make desserts and various kinds of food since it is easier and longer to keep, they are no need to store in the storage. (Thailand is normally 38-42 degrees Celsius, will chocolate stay in good quality?)  

Cocoa powder is more convenient to use, it doesn't sensitive with heat that may cause the cocoa-processed dessert to lose its shape. The chocolate candy or chocolate bars sell in supermarkets are cocoa powder mixed with vegetable fat and other types of oil that are resistant to heat, add sugar, milk powder.

 

When ordering cold chocolates drink (100% chocolate drink) in our shop, we will take the chocolate to stew it in a saucer for 4-5 minutes until the chocolate gradually melts. This step is very fragrant. Cocoa butter will start working when stewed until the chocolate is completely melted. Then we gradually mix the milk, syrup or other ingredients according to the recipe before being served. This takes about 10-15 minutes for each serving.

But if you order cocoa drink (50% chocolate drink), you can forget these steps. We just scoop up cocoa powder, stir in hot water and add sweetness. This drink can be served within no more than 3 minutes (actually, there are many types of cocoa powder. Let's tell about it later)

Next time to go to the cafe, you should understand why the iced chocolate is more expensive than the iced cocoa. However, It is better to eat cocoa than not to eat. Because the fiber in the cocoa beans also helps improving Low-density lipoprotein (LDL): High-density lipoprotein (HDL) which reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and has some research findings. Study of consumer samples of cocoa showed significant differences in body metabolism among consumers.  for both who do not consume cocoa and drink on a regular basis. This is why cocoa is famous for lose weight

More for those who want to know the deep inside about cacao and chocolate, Actually, cocoa can be grown in Thailand. If you still don't know, you can read from our article on Chocolate Journey. If not interested in planting, just eating for delicious or for health concern, you can skip that article.

Cocoa is a plant of sustainability. A cocoa tree is useful in every part, from root to leaf. There are a lot of researches on the extraction of different parts of the cocoa tree to benefit. But most of them are foreign research. When cocoa is grown in Thailand It will also have the advantages of the Thai's land as well. Not blessing our country as a real golden land. We can planting almost anything that is good and valuable like coco atoo. Although, there is no research on Thai cocoa yet, but I believe that our cocoa must be good, for sure. :)

sources

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00677/full

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4696435/

https://insights.ovid.com/article/00075197-201311000-00010


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