How to distinguish real chocolate from a fake. What is real chocolate made of?

Chocolate is perhaps the most common dessert in the world. It is loved by women and men, children and teenagers, chocolate is given on holidays and bitterness from parting with loved ones is seized ... Today, there are many varieties of chocolate, dark, white, milk, with fruit fillings, as well as with chili peppers and even sea ​​salt. However, real dark chocolate is still considered the most valuable. This unique tart taste, at the same time sweet and slightly burning, slightly viscous and enveloping, from which the whole being is filled with pleasure and joy. How to understand that we have just such a real chocolate bar, regardless of the country of production, brand, packaging materials and prices. How to protect yourself from fakes and not quality product? We remember 5 important signs of real dark chocolate.

In real chocolate essential ingredient are cocoa beans, these are the seeds of a cocoa tree that grows in tropical regions the globe. High-quality dark chocolate in the name may contain the names of commercial varieties of cocoa beans corresponding to the region of their production. These may be indications of the country or port of export of cocoa beans: Bahia, Cameroon, Trinidad and others. For example, look at the assortment of the Spanish brand Amatller: dark chocolate AMATLLE 70% from Ghana or Chocolate Amatlle 85% cocoa, Ecuador.

In the process of technological processing, semi-finished cocoa liquor is obtained from cocoa beans. From this mass, using a special press, a spin is made, this is how valuable cocoa butter is obtained. Cocoa cake is born as waste from pressing. Cocoa mass and cocoa butter, together with powdered sugar, are used to make chocolate, and inexpensive cocoa powder is obtained from cocoa cake, which is often used in the confectionery industry, including for the production of a cheap chocolate product.

And here is a list of other ingredients, in addition to cocoa powder, that should not be part of a premium product: vegetable oils as substitutes for cocoa butter, such as soybean, sunflower, palm or cottonseed, vegetable and hydro fats; milk and dairy products; cocoa wella, this beautiful word, unfortunately, means the same cake; flavorings, preservatives, artificial dyes and other additives.

Ratio powdered sugar And grated cocoa affects taste features resulting chocolate, from bitter to sweet. The more grated cocoa in chocolate, the more bitter taste and more bright aroma has chocolate. True dark chocolate must contain at least 55% cocoa liquor and at least 33% cocoa butter.

2. melting speed

Of course, only a professional will determine by melting the presence of certain additives that are unacceptable for a quality product. However, please note that dark chocolate melts only in the mouth, and evenly, turning into a homogeneous thick consistency from which you can make hot chocolate. At the same time, analogues can be melted directly in the hands, when melted, they stick to the teeth or to the surface of the dishes, roll up, and a homogeneous mass is not obtained from such tiles. If, on the contrary, chocolate does not hide in your mouth at all, you have to crack it with difficulty, then you have a fake.

3. characteristic crunch

We unfold the rustling foil, and this is how high-quality dark chocolate is mainly stored, and break the tile. For example, chocolate of the famous German brand Hachez. We hear a certain crunch that a confectionery bar that is less hard in consistency will not produce. If the sound is deaf, you have a fake. There will be a characteristic crunch even if we have dark chocolate with additives, for example, Hachez chocolate bar with strawberry pieces and green pepper 77%.

4. Tile surface.

If the chocolate has been properly stored, the surface should be dark in color, very smooth despite the pattern or lines, shiny and even, without plaque or any discoloration. In fakes, which contain protein or soy products, the surface of the tile will be lighter and matte. For practice, you can compare a regular bar of milk and dark chocolate, and you will see how different their color is from each other.

5. Elasticity

High-quality dark chocolate can be compared to a granite rock. It cannot be stretched, it can only be broken. If the product stretches in your hands, you have a fake. And finally, we note that if you have already found a proven brand, then its taste and properties should not change depending on the batch.

If you are still looking, be sure to try Hachez or Amatller chocolate.

Nadezhda Andriyakhina

Photo by Nadezhda Andriyakhina

In whatever language you pronounce the word “chocolate”, anyone will recognize it, because this sweet sounds and enjoys unlimited love almost everywhere the same.

Entire treatises have been written about the benefits of chocolate and its effect on human health and mood. Even the most strict nutritionists do not object to chocolate. However, to be sure of the real benefits of this delicacy, you need to know for sure that the chocolate is of high quality.

The real composition of chocolate can only be determined in the laboratory, but there are certain indicators that you can focus on when buying chocolate to be sure of your choice.

Materials:

• chocolate

Step-by-step instructions on how to determine the quality of chocolate:

First, let's understand the terms. Bitter chocolate (the most useful!) - the content of cocoa products is not less than 55% and cocoa butter is not less than 33%. Milk chocolate - at least 40% cocoa products and at least 12% milk. White chocolate - does not contain grated cocoa, but only cocoa butter. Chocolate should always contain four main components: cocoa liquor (except white chocolate), cocoa butter, lecithin, sugar.

Determining the quality of chocolate, let's start by examining the packaging. It should be whole, undamaged, but the main attention should be directed to studying the composition. For example, we read the composition of Babaevsky chocolate - elite, 75% cocoa: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, emulsifiers: lecithin, E476, flavor identical to natural Vanilla. The percentage of cocoa products corresponds to GOST, however, this chocolate can hardly be called elite. The use of cocoa powder, which is made from pomace, a product of cocoa processing, clearly reduces the quality of chocolate. The same can be said about the E476 emulsifier (polyglycerin). It allows you to increase the plasticity of chocolate while reducing the proportion of cocoa butter without losing the properties of chocolate, but not of elite quality.

The first ingredient in the composition is always the ingredients, the number of which is greater. In white, aerated chocolate"Airy" in the first place is sugar, which may cast doubt on the benefits of such chocolate.

The packaging may contain a record of the presence of traces. On this package of milk chocolate with hazelnuts and raisins "Russia is a generous soul" it is written: "The product may contain a small amount of peanuts, other nuts, egg white, gluten and sulfur dioxide. Any traces cast doubt on the purity of the ingredients used, especially if substances such as sulfur dioxide are present.

Open the package, the surface of the tile should be shiny, without dents or cracks. Break off a piece. Breaking off, the chocolate should make a loud crack, and at the break it should have a matte surface. Milk chocolate does not break off so loudly. If the chocolate, when broken off, resembles plasticine, it stretches, there is no need to talk about any quality, cheap substitutes are used instead of cocoa butter.

High-quality chocolate should not leave marks on the hands, and melt - only in the mouth, leaving the true chocolate flavor. The melting point of the correct cocoa mass is less than body temperature. If the chocolate sticks to the teeth and leaves a greasy feeling, it cannot be called chocolate, most likely it is just a sweet bar.

How stronger degree grinding cocoa products softer chocolate.

Chocolate is highly sensitive to environmental conditions: moisture, sunlight, cold, odors, it must be stored strictly at a temperature of 18 ± 3 degrees. The "gray" surface of the chocolate indicates that the chocolate was stored incorrectly and cocoa butter appeared on the surface. By itself, a whitish coating is harmless, but there is no need to talk about quality.

Chocolate is perhaps the most favorite treat children and adults. It causes joy and a surge of energy. Thanks to useful elements, which is part of cocoa beans, chocolate also becomes healthy treat. Real chocolate helps to keep the figure slim and the mood cheerful. We emphasize once again: we are talking about real chocolate.

Today, when there is no clear control over food production by government agencies, some manufacturers produce anything in their factories, but not chocolate. Their products are united with real chocolate only by color and rectangular shape. The composition is completely different. Such samples will suit the name "sweet tile" and nothing more. It will be sweet, but the effect and benefit, as real chocolate, will not bring.

Real chocolate is always uplifting

What is real chocolate made of?

First, let's figure out which product fits the description of real chocolate.

1. This is a tile with cocoa content in the range of 55-99%. Dark and bitter chocolate fall within these boundaries.
2. The first components in the description of the composition of the product should be cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar. Plus emulsifier and flavor. All.
3. The product has short term validity. From 4 (if stuffed) to 6-8 months. The absence of preservatives significantly reduces the shelf life of real chocolate.

IN milk chocolate To listed components admixed powdered milk. A White chocolate prepared without the addition of grated cocoa beans.

These points should be followed if you want to enjoy quality chocolate.

Chocolate is dark, white, milk and with additives in the form of nuts, cereals, dried fruits

Unique, incomparable taste, mass useful properties, rich history and loyal fans among children and adults - all this can be said about chocolate. If you conduct a survey on the topic “What is your favorite treat? “, then the most frequently repeated answer will be: “Chocolate! » The counterfeiting of a product so popular with the world community is on a grand scale. And often an inexperienced consumer becomes a victim of fraud, buying under the guise of chocolate something that has a very distant relation to it.

In order not to fall into the number of victims of dishonest manufacturers and regret the wrong choice, make it a rule when purchasing chocolate to carefully study the label. And, most importantly, you should not be interested in an attractive external design, but in the composition of the product. Real chocolate consists of the following components:

• cocoa butter;
• cocoa mass;
• powdered sugar.

Depending on the type of chocolate conscientious manufacturer will always indicate the percentage of cocoa beans in their product. Yes, in dark chocolate- this is 60-70%, in milk - 35-40%, only in white chocolate there are no grated cocoa beans responsible for the brown color of the delicacy.

If you did not find at least one mandatory component in the list, be sure that you will not quality chocolate. What other tricks are used to foist an obvious fake on the buyer under the guise of a noble product?

The most common variants of falsification of chocolate

• Replacing the main ingredients with others. Other fats can be used in place of cocoa butter, such as hydrogenated palm or coconut oil. This is not prohibited by law, but the manufacturer must honestly indicate on the label that we have a sweet confectionery bar that simply does not have any right to be called chocolate.
• Grated cocoa is replaced with soybean meal - such a “chocolate” will leave you feeling sticky and sticky for a long time both in your hands and in your mouth.
• The developed chemical industry makes it possible to counterfeit chocolate at a high level - the dark color is not achieved due to high content cocoa beans, and thanks to dyes, preservatives are added to fake tiles to increase the shelf life.
• Another trick of chocolate makers is to use cocoa powder instead of grated cocoa, which is nothing more than waste after extracting cocoa butter. If you saw such an ingredient in the composition, this directly indicates the manufacturer's attempt to save money. Such chocolate can no longer be called high-quality.
• The most innocuous version of chocolate falsification is an attempt to give out one variety after another, as well as an overestimated content of nuts, candied fruits, raisins and other additives.
• Here is a fake if the label indicates a high percentage of water content in the tile. So manufacturers intentionally influence the weight of the final product, reducing the amount of valuable components that distinguish real chocolate in the composition.
• If the label of the so-called chocolate indicates a shelf life of a year or more, do not hesitate to pass by. This directly indicates that antioxidants and preservatives have been added to this tile. Real chocolate is stored for no more than six months, and dessert varieties and with filling - no more than four.

How to distinguish chocolate from a fake without relying on information provided by the manufacturer?

Of course, some advanced scammers can write whatever you want to see on the label. But the obvious fake chocolate can be distinguished visually. A real chocolate bar that has correct composition, externally looks glossy and its surface is even and smooth. Having broken off a piece, you should clearly hear the crunch, and at the break, the shade of chocolate will be dull. Another one salient feature high-quality chocolate - at a temperature of thirty-two degrees, it begins to melt. Putting a piece of true delicacy in your mouth, you will feel it to the fullest.

Taking into account the criteria right choice quality product, you will always enjoy only genuine chocolate that rightfully bears this name.