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Glossary
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Q - Z
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Baker's Chocolate
In the mid-18th century, a Massachusetts chocolate-making business (eventually to become Baker's Chocolate) was the first to begin using power machinery.
Bittersweet
Bittersweet chocolate, not to be confused with unsweetened or semisweet chocolate, is primarily used for baking. A slightly sweetened dark chocolate, it has many uses such as making shiny chocolate curls as garnishes or rich, dense chocolate cakes. Both it and semisweet chocolate are required by the U.S. FDA to contain at least 35% chocolate liquor.
Brut (Bitter)
n the U.S. the FDA describes this as chocolate that does not contain any sugar, though it may contain natural or artificial flavoring. This pure chocolate is intended for cooking as only real fanatics will enjoy this very bitter chocolate substance with a solid cocoa content in excess of 85%.
Cacao
A term used for a cacao plant but also for the unprocessed product (pods) of
the cacao plant.
Carraque
Solid milk or dark chocolate pieces, which are sometimes topped with raisins, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts.
Chocolate Liquor
Chocolate liquor is made up of the finely ground nib of the cocoa bean. This is technically not yet chocolate. This type of chocolate is also known as unsweetened chocolate and is also referred to cocoa mass or cocoa liquor.
Chocolate Lover
One who appreciates the unique qualities of a truly fine piece of chocolate and feels that life would not be the same without gourmet chocolate.
Cocoa Beans
Source of all chocolate and cocoa, cocoa beans are found in the pods (fruit) of the cocoa tree, an evergreen cultivated mainly within twenty degrees north or south of the equator.
Cocoa Butter
The natural, cream-colored vegetable fat extracted from cocoa beans during the process of refining. Adds smoothness and flavor to chocolate.
Cocoa Mass
Chocolate liquor is made up of the finely ground nib of the cocoa bean. This is technically not yet chocolate. This type of chocolate is also known as unsweetened chocolate and is also referred to cocoa mass or cocoa liquor.
Cocoa Pods
Between the blossoms of the permanently flowering cocoa tree we can see fruit at various stages of development. The egg-shaped cocoa pods measure between 15 and 30 centimeters (between 6 and 12 inches) and hang from the trunk and the largest branches. Each fruit contains between 30 and 40 beans of about 1 cm (about 0.5 inch) in length.
Cocoa Powder
Once cocoa beans are fermented, dried and roasted, the nibs are ground to extract about half the cocoa butter, leaving a dark brown paste called chocolate liquor. After drying again, the hardened mass (press cake) is ground into the powder known as unsweetened cocoa, available in different fat levels. May be natural or Dutch processed.
Creams and Fondants
A filling for chocolate made up of sugar, water and confectioner's sugar, sometimes flavored with fruit and other flavorings; the finished chocolate is coated in a tempered chocolate.
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate must contain a minimum of 43% cocoa to be called "dark" according to European norms. A "70% cocoa chocolate" is considered quite dark while 85% and even 88% cocoa dark chocolates have become quite popular for dark chocolate lovers.
Devil's Food
A chocolate-flavored product that derives most of its flavor from cocoa butter rather than chocolate.
Dutch Process Cocoa
Cocoa powder which has been treated with alkali to neutralize the natural acids; darker in color and slightly different in flavor from natural cocoa.
Dutching
In the early 19th century the Dutchman Coenraad Johannes van Houten discovered that the acid taste of cocoa was neutralized if he added alkali-potash to the nibs before they were roasted. Ever since the end of the 19th century all industrial chocolate makers have practiced this alkalization process to modify the flavor and the color of the final product. Another technical term for alkalization still used today is the 'Dutch process' or 'Dutching'.
Dutch Processed
In 1828 Dutch chemist Van Houten invented a hydraulic press and alkalinizing process that created an easily-prepared and digestible product: cocoa. This process is what made large-scale manufacture of cheap chocolate possible. This process modifies the chocolate flavor, helping to neutralize cocoa's natural acidity.
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