Over the last couple of centuries, the cacao bean been has been used in many different ways such as medicine, as money, etc.  But today, we eat it almost exclusively for pleasure.

There are different varieties of cacao beans and it has been said that each strain has been significantly changed due to its tree’s ability to naturally cross-pollinate, not to mention all the intended hybridization of the cacao bean for the past centuries.

Cacao beans go through a lot of processing to produce the chocolate we all love. They are harvested, fermented, dried, roasted, and ground to make chocolate liquor, which is then further processed into cocoa solids and cocoa butter.

Chocolatiers or the chocolate makers use these cacao beans or the cocoa mass to produce pure chocolate, which they call “couverture”. This is what they make their confections from.

To make the chocolate, the chocolate liquor is incorporated into cocoa butter and sugar. And these chocolates are categorized based on the amount of the chocolate liquor that was put into it.

The categories said are the following: Dark chocolate, which is known for its bittersweet taste, contains the highest quantity of chocolate liquor. Milk chocolates, which are made with milk ingredients, contain less chocolate liquor. While white chocolate, which is technically not real chocolate since cocoa solid content is zero, is made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk.

A few years back, Scharffen Berger started the style listing the percentage of cocoa mass on labels so people would determine how dark is dark. And within each category, characteristics are all laid down such as the type of cacao beans used, the maker and chocolatier, etc.

Chocolate and wine are known to be a perfect combination. Dark chocolates typically go well with stronger fruity red wines. Milk and white chocolates are often best with white and rosé wines. Just see to it that the chocolate is not as sweet as the wine.

Ports (sweet dark red dessert wine) are also known to be a good partner of chocolate. Tawny ports are preferred over vintage ones as the latter overwhelms the chocolate rather than complementing it.

Beer and chocolate can go superbly together as well. Think of any beer and pair it with practically any chocolate, keeping in mind that the darker the chocolate is, the better.

You can search this blog for more specific pairings of wine and chocolate as well as beer and chocolate.

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Joanna Maligaya

Staff Writer/Content Developer at Chocolate University Online

Ever since she can remember, Joanna has always considered chocolate as the ultimate food for her soul. She believes in the saying, “9 out of 10 people love chocolate, and the 10th always lies.”

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