The new episode of the podcast “Sustainable Food” talks about the preparation, types, consumption and benefits of chocolate: Which is better for health? Can we eat it daily?
If there is something that practically everyone likes, it is the chocolate: the average Spaniard has an annual consumption of almost 6 kilos of cocoa and chocolate. But, despite its popularity, we do not know much about this cocoa derivative.
hand in hand Laura González, head of nutrition, health and well-being at Nestlé in Spain, we discovered new facets of a food that we thought we knew. For this, it has the collaboration of John Morenomarketing manager for Nestlé chocolate bars and Louis Rojasproduction manager and chocolate specialist at Nestlé.
But, even if you like it a lot, there are those who have never seen the cocoa bean or are totally unaware of the process that goes through to become chocolate.
From cocoa bean to chocolate
Cocoa cultivation is highly localized: the climatethe geography and the conditions from some areas of Africa or South America are ideal for its growth. Hence the 70% of world production come from that area.
But How is the cocoa bean transformed into chocolate? Laura González explains the process that the raw material goes through from harvest to commercialization: shelling, fermentation and dryingbeing the fermentation the most important of this first stage.
Subsequently, other factors come into play, such as the roast: Luis Rojas, an expert in the field, speaks of it as “the step that has the greatest impact on the final flavor of the chocolate.”
From here, depending on what is done with the cocoa bean, we will obtain pasta o butterboth basic ingredients in the production of chocolate.
What’s in milk chocolate?
In the case of milk chocolate, Rojas explains that its preparation is based on cocoa butter, cocoa paste and a kind of preparation of milk with sugarsimilar to condensed milk.
varieties of chocolates
But milk chocolate is not the only type of chocolate, far from it. The most common varieties are:
- Chocolate. The one known as dark chocolate. Contains sugars and cocoa.
- Milk chocolate. It is made based on sugars, cocoa and dairy derivatives
- White chocolate. It has as mandatory ingredients sugars, dairy products and cocoa butter.
Is dark chocolate better?
As they say, for tastes, the colors. Especially if we speak from the sensory prism.
“We cannot say that one type of chocolate is better than another from a sensory point of view,” says Luis Rojas.
The taste of cocoa is intense, bitter, astringent And not everyone enjoys it in the same way.
What can be assured is what do you like best. In this sense, Joan Moreno indicates that the trends in the consumption of chocolate are clear: the demand for 70% or more chocolate. But the one who keeps the throne is the one milk chocolate.
“Milk chocolate is a chocolate consumed by all segments of society,” says Moreno.
But nutritionally speaking…
EFE/ULI DECKOf course, not everything is centered on him. aroma of the chocolate. He Nutritional value It is a factor that we cannot neglect under any circumstances. Generally speaking, the nutritional benefits of cocoa son:
- Antioxidants
- Magnesium
- Potassium
- Proteins
- Fiber
What about the nutritional value of different types of chocolate?
Depending on the type of chocolate, some benefits or others are distinguished:
- Chocolate negro. Higher percentage of cocoa, so it has a greater number of benefits, in addition to the caffeine o theobromine, stimulant substances found in cocoa in solid state. is the one that has better nutritional value.
- Milk chocolate. Less healthy than dark chocolate, but with a much smoother taste. In terms of nutritional value, it falls somewhere between dark and white chocolate.
- White chocolate. It’s the chocolate more caloric and with more sugar. has a higher percentage in fat, for its proportion of cocoa butter. For its content of leche has:
- Soccer
- Vitamin A, B, K
- minerals like iron
Is daily chocolate consumption healthy?
Despite the fact that we all hope for a resounding yes, the head of health, nutrition and well-being at Nestlé, much to her regret, refutes this myth.
“Although cocoa contains many nutritional benefits, in the end it has other ingredients of less nutritional value,” he says.
The question, as with everything, is consume it responsibly and always, in moderation.