As the word chocolate comes to our mind or passes through our ears, our tongue starts licking the lips, filling the mouth with saliva. Chocolates usually tempt all of us. Besides eating, chocolates are also used in baking and cooking many delicacies. But how many of us know about the different varieties of chocolates? Lets us take a look at the most famous chocolate types.Milk Chocolate: As the name implies, milk chocolate has a creamy, sweet and mild flavor. It is a combination of sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, soy lecithin, vanilla, corn syrup, sugar, and salt. Milk chocolates work well for dessert sauces, fondue, dipping coatings and chocolate garnishes. This is the most eaten chocolate of all chocolate flavors. Though it is heat sensitive, it works great for cooking and chocolate decorations. In the US milk chocolate is made with 10% chocolate liquor and 12% whole milk as a minimum. White Chocolate: White chocolate is different from the other chocolate flavors. It is manufactured from sugar, cocoa butter, dry milk solids and the addition of flavorings like vanilla. However it does not contain any nonfat cocoa solids that gives it an off-white color. White chocolate is used for all types of cooking and baking. It is manufactured from sugar, cocoa butter, milk, lecithin, vanilla, butter, corn syrup, and salt. It is sold in bars, blocks, discs and chips. It has a mild and pleasant flavor and can be used to make chocolate mousse, panna cotta and other desserts. Dark Chocolate: Dark chocolate is actually sweetened chocolate with high content of cocoa solids and very little milk or somtimes no amount of milk. Dark chocolate can of various types. It can be sweet, semi-sweet, bittersweet or unsweetened. In general, dark chocolates contain at least 35 percent chocolate liquor. Other ingredients include cream, sugar, butter, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, and salt. It is very popular for baking and dessert recipes. Semisweet Chocolate: Semisweet chocolate is a type of dark chocolate with low sugar content. Great way to introduce others to dark chocolate. Semisweet chocolate combines well with other flavors, melts easily and is great for dipping. It is sold in different forms such as, chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, bars, and disks. Semisweet chocolate has a good, sweet flavor, it contains often 40-62% cocoa solids. It is frequently used for cakes, cookies and brownies, and can be used in place of sweet dark chocolate. Bittersweet Chocolate: Bittersweet chocolate is made with very little or no amount of sugar. It is often referred to as unsweetened or baking or cooking chocolate. It contains sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla and lecithin. Lecithin holds the cocoa and the cocoa butter together in a candy bar. The minimum amount of cocoa solids in a dark sweetened chocolate is 35%. The amount of cocoa solids in good quality bittersweet chocolate is in the range of 60% to 85% depending on brand. If the amount of cocoa solids is more the content of sugar is less, giving a rich, intense and more or less bitter chocolate flavor. It is strongly advised that if a recipe specifies bittersweet chocolate do not substitute with semi-sweet or sweet chocolate. Due to its deep, rich chocolate flavor, it is most frequently used in cakes and other baked or steamed desserts. Unsweetened Chocolate: It has found many names like bitter chocolate, chocolate liquor or baking chocolate. It is preared without adding sugar. Unsweetened chocolate is made from finely ground and roasted cocoa nibs, and has zero alcohol content. In addition with sugar, unsweetened chocolate can be used in cakes, brownies, and cookies. It is packaged and sold in bars, blocks and discs.
Easter means different things to different people. But there is no doubt that for many of us, it is the sight of chocolate eggs that really gets our attention! But how do you know which one to buy? After all, there are so many different ones to choose from that it can be rather overwhelming to figure out which Easter egg to go for. The best way to make sure you get it just right is to start with who you are buying the egg for. Is it for a young child, or an adult? Is it merely a token present or will it be something special? If you are buying a chocolate egg for a child, you will probably want to focus your attention on smaller eggs. Some are designed specifically for children and they may have other benefits to them as well. For example, some might have a game or mask – to colour in or cut out – from the back of the box. You can often purchase children’s eggs that come with other items too, such as a mug, for example. These are good because they mean the child will get to keep something long after the chocolate has been eaten – just make sure the age of the child is well matched to what you are buying. But supposing you are buying an egg for an adult? There is a much wider selection available for adults, and some of them are based around chocolate bars that you will no doubt already be familiar with. What you could do is find out what bar the recipient likes the most, and then buy a chocolate egg which comes complete with those bars. But of course, the most important purchase will be for your partner. This is when it is worth spending that little bit more money – some eggs might be handmade or hand finished, while others are extremely large and could last through to the summer! Always make sure you know what your partner will appreciate though. For example, if they are passionate about a particular type of chocolate, the largest available egg in that style will be very well received. If you are stuck for ideas you could always start dropping hints ahead of time. You could also take your partner shopping and see whether they spot any eggs they particularly like the look of. If you’re really stuck then the best course of action might be to buy a range of smaller Easter eggs and wrap them all up together in a large gift basket. Either way, you will not be short of options when selecting the perfect Easter egg – if anything, you are spoilt for choice!