Chocolate

The food product made from the roasted beans (seeds) of the cacao tree. For thousands of years, chocolate was only used a drink - xocoatl; it has only been eaten in solid form since 1847. Chocolate for cooking is left unsweetened and generally unflavoured, whilst eating chocolate is typically mixed with sugar, vanilla, and sometimes other flavourings and generally lecithin as an emulsifier; milk chocolate also contains milk.

Quality eating chocolate is further divided as follows:

• Dark Chocolate: Chocolate that contains more than 50% cocoa content. Besides chocolate liquor, it often contains added cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla, and often lecithin.
• Milk Chocolate: Chocolate liquor to which dairy, sugar, vanilla and often lecithin have been added. Quality milk chocolate should contain a minimum of 30% chocolate liquor.
• White Chocolate: Made from cocoa butter, dairy, sugar and vanilla (and often lecithin). It does not contain chocolate liquor, but must contain at least 33% cocao butter to be considered of good quality.