第1个回答 2008-03-14
白巧克力：
White chocolate is a confection of sugar, cocoa butter, and milk solids. Unlike chocolate, white chocolate contains neither chocolate liquor nor cocoa solids. White chocolate does typically include lecithin as an emulsifier, and certain flavorings, particularly vanilla or vanillin. The high melting point of cocoa butter allows white chocolate and chocolate to remain solid at room temperature, yet melt easily in the mouth. As such, white chocolate has a texture similar to that of milk chocolate, and through the use of undeodorized cocoa butter, retains some degree of its flavor.
White chocolate was first made in Switzerland after World War I. Hebert's Candies was the first to produce white chocolate in the United States, having seen the product made in Europe just one year earlier. It was first popularly distributed in America in 1984 with the introduction of Nestlé's Alpine White Chocolate bar, which contained white chocolate and chopped almonds.
Since white chocolate contains neither cocoa solids nor chocolate liquor (cocoa mass), it does not meet the standard to be marketed as chocolate in many countries. Regulations also govern what may be marketed as "white chocolate": In the United States, since 2004, white chocolate must be at least 20% cocoa butter (by weight), at least 14% total milk solids, and less than 55% sugar or other sweeteners. Before this date, U.S. firms required temporary marketing permits to sell white chocolate. The European Union has adopted similar standards: white chocolate needs to contain not less than 20% cocoa butter and not less than 14% dry milk solids.
Some "white chocolate" is made from inexpensive solid or hydrogenated vegetable fats, and as such, is not at all derived from cacao. These preparations may actually be white in color (in contrast to white chocolate's ivory shade) and will lack cocoa butter's flavor.
White chocolate can be difficult to work with as occasionally when melted the cocoa butter can split and create an oily compound that cannot be recovered and must be discarded. As with chocolate, as soon as any water is introduced into the melted product it rapidly turns lumpy, grainy and unusable. It must then also be discarded. Some brands respond better to baking than others. Some have a tendency to brown from being baked.
Like chocolate, it may be purchased in large or small bricks, but these can often be difficult to work with as one must cut off chunks with a knife, often resulting in inaccurate portioning. Pastilles (small chips) are often a more precise way to use white chocolate.
White chocolate can be used for decoration of milk or dark chocolate confections or in any way the chocolates might be used.
黑巧克力：
Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that are produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. Native to lowland tropical South America, cacao has been cultivated for three millennia in Central America and Mexico, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. All of the Mesoamerican peoples made chocolate beverages, including the Maya and Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl, a Nahuatl word meaning "bitter water". The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste, and must be fermented to develop the flavor. After being roasted and ground, the resulting products are known as chocolate or cocoa.
Much of the chocolate consumed today is made into bars that combine cocoa solids, fats like cocoa butter, and sugar. Chocolate has become one of the most popular flavours in the world. Gifts of foil-wrapped chocolate molded into different shapes have become traditional on certain holidays: chocolate bunnies and eggs are popular on Easter, coins on Hanukkah, Santa Claus and other holiday symbols on Christmas, and hearts on Valentine's Day. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages, to produce chocolate milk and cocoa.
Chocolate contains alkaloids such as theobromine and phenethylamine, which have physiological effects on the body. It has been linked to serotonin levels in the brain. Scientists claim that chocolate, eaten in moderation, can lower blood pressure. The presence of theobromine renders it toxic to some animals
History
A mug of modern hot chocolate. Chocolate was first drunk rather than eaten.Main article: History of chocolate
The word "chocolate" comes from the Aztecs of Mexico, and is derived from the Nahuatl word xocolatl , which is a combination of the words, xocolli, meaning "bitter", and atl, which is "water". The Aztecs associated chocolate with Xochiquetzal, the goddess of fertility. Chocolate is also associated with the Mayan god of fertility. Mexican philologist Ignacio Davila Garibi, proposed that "Spaniards had coined the word by taking the Maya word chocol and then replacing the Maya term for water, haa, with the Aztec one, atl." However, it is more likely that the Aztecs themselves coined the term,having long adopted into Nahuatl the Mayan word for the "cacao" bean; the Spanish had little contact with the Mayans before Cortés's early reports to the Spanish King of the beverage known as xocolatl.William Bright (personal communication cited in a 1977 article by Lyle Campbell) noted that the word xocoatl does not occur in early spanish or nahuatl colonial sources
Chocolate has been used as a drink for nearly all of its history. The earliest record of using chocolate pre-dates the Maya. In November, 2007, archeologists reported finding evidence of the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao at a site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, dating from about 1100 to 1400 BC. The residues found and the kind of vessel they were found in, indicate that the initial use of cacao was not simply as a beverage, but the white pulp around the cacao beans was likely used as a source of sugar for an alcoholic drink. The chocolate residue found in an early classic ancient Maya pot in Río Azul, northern Guatemala, suggests that Mayans were drinking chocolate around 400 A.D.. In the New World, chocolate was consumed in a bitter, spicy drink called xocoatl, and was often flavored with vanilla, chile pepper, and achiote (known today as annatto). Xocoatl was believed to fight fatigue, a belief that is probably attributable to the theobromine content. Other chocolate drinks combined it with such edibles as maize starch paste (which acts as an emulsifier and thickener), various fruits, and honey.[citation needed] In 1689 noted physician and collector Hans Sloane, developed a milk chocolate drink in Jamaica which was initially used by apothecaries, but later sold by the Cadbury brothers.
Chocolate was also an important luxury good throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and cacao beans were often used as currency.For example, the Aztecs used a system in which one turkey cost one hundred cacao beans and one fresh avocado was worth three beans.
Production
Chocolate is created from the cocoa bean. A cacao tree with fruit pods in various stages of ripeningRoughly two-thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in Western Africa, with 43% sourced from Côte d'Ivoire.[11] Like many food industry producers, individual cocoa farmers are at the mercy of volatile world markets. The price can vary from £500 ($945) to £3,000 ($5,672) per ton, in the space of just a few years. While investors trading in cacao can dump shares at will, individual cocoa farmers cannot increase production or abandon trees at anywhere near that pace. When cocoa prices drop, farmers in West Africa sometimes cut costs by using slave labor.It has been alleged that an estimated 90% of cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire have used some form of slave labor in order to remain viable.[According to the World Cocoa Foundation, some 50 million people around the world depend on cocoa as a source of livelihood. The industry is dominated by three chocolate makers, Barry Callebaut, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and in the UK, 99.999% of chocolatiers, whether they be large companies such as Cadbury Schweppes or small independents, purchase their chocolate from them, to melt, mould and package to their own design.
Despite some disagreement in the EU about the definition, chocolate is any product made primarily of cocoa solids and cocoa fat. The different flavours of chocolate can be obtained by varying the time and temperature when roasting the beans, by adjusting the relative quantities of the cocoa solids and cocoa fat, and by adding non-chocolate ingredients.
Production costs can be decreased by reducing cocoa solid content or by substituting cocoa butter with a non-cocoa fat, but allowing chocolate to be made with vegetable oils could have serious consequences for the millions of growers whose livelihoods depend on cocoa.
There are two main jobs associated with creating chocolate candy, chocolate makers and chocolatiers. Chocolate makers use harvested cacao beans and other ingredients to produce couverture chocolate. Chocolatiers use the finished couverture to make chocolate candies (bars, truffles, baked goods, etc.).
第2个回答 2008-03-14
Just briefly on the etymology of the word “chocolate”, the word chocolate probably domes from “chocolatl”, a Spanish combination of the Maya word for “hot water” and the Aztec word for “bitter water.”
咱们简单地从“巧克力”这个词的起源说起吧。“巧克力”这个词大致起源于“chocolatl”，它是一个合成西班牙语，合成自玛雅语“热水”和阿芝特克语“苦水”。
Chocolate comes in many forms today. Regardless of the type, processing begins by extracting, fermenting, drying, and roasting the cacao seeds (also called beans), removing the shell and skin, and leaving the tasty nibs.
如今，巧克力正以多种多样的形式出现。我们先不提它们的形状，其加工过程始于提炼、接着发酵、干燥，然后烘烤可可种子(也称为可可豆)，去壳去皮，最后留下美味的核。
There are three main forms of chocolate that one sees regularly. These are milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate.
大家通常看到的巧克力主要有三种口味，牛奶巧克力、纯巧克力和白巧克力
When it comes to chocolate, order dark
Dark chocolate -- but not white chocolate - may help reduce blood pressure and boost the body's ability to metabolize sugar from food, according to the results of a small study.
After eating only 100 grams, or 3.5 ounces, of dark chocolate every day for 15 days, 15 healthy people had lower blood pressures and were more sensitive to insulin, an important factor in metabolizing sugar.
In contrast, eating roughly the same amount of white chocolate for the same period of time did not affect either blood pressure or insulin sensitivity.
This is not the first study to demonstrate potential health benefits of dark chocolate, which contains high levels of a kind of antioxidant called flavonoids. Research shows that flavonoids that can help maintain a healthy heart and good circulation and reduce blood clotting, which can lead to heart attacks and stroke.
吃巧克力时，选黑巧克力
一项小规模研究的结果表明，黑巧克力可能有助于降低血压、促进人体对食物中的糖分的代谢能力，而白巧克力则没有这些功能。
在连续15天每日食用100克或3.5盎司黑巧克力之后，15名健康的受试者的血压有所降低，而且对胰岛素更为敏感--胰岛素是促进体内糖分代谢的重要成分。
相比之下，同样在15天中食用大致相同数量的白巧克力对血压和胰岛素的敏感性并没有影响。
这已经不是有关黑巧克力可能有益健康的第一项研究。黑巧克力富含一种叫作类黄酮的抗氧化剂，研究表明类黄酮有助于保持心脏的健康和血液循环的畅通，并减少可能导致心脏病和中风的血栓。
参考资料：http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/7461349.html?si=2