Glossary

Bittersweet, Semi-Sweet Chocolate and Dark Chocolate  

• Because each must contain at least 35% chocolate liquor, bittersweet chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and dark chocolate are different names for the same thing. 
• Cocoa Beans
  
  
• The source of all chocolate... cacao beans are found in the pods of the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, an evergreen typically grown within 20° of the equator.

Cacao Content

• The fraction, by weight, of the cocoa in the product. The higher the percentage of cacao, the more chocolate, versus other ingredients, you get in each bite.

Cocoa Solids and Cocoa Liquor

• You may see these terms used interchangeably, but they’re quite different. When the meat or “nib” of the cocoa bean is ground into a smooth liquid, it’s called chocolate liquor.  If the chocolate maker removes all the fat (or cocoa butter, which comprises 53% of the bean) from the chocolate liquor, cocoa solids are what remain.

Cocoa Nibs

• Cocoa beans without their shells

Cocoa Butter

• Cocoa butter is the ivory-colored natural fat of the cocoa bean extracted during the manufacturing process of producing chocolate and cocoa powder.  It has a very subtle mellow flavor that gives chocolate its creamy smooth, melt-in-your-mouth texture. 

Cocoa Powder

• Cocoa powder is made when chocolate liquor is pressed to remove three quarters of its cocoa butter.  The remaining cocoa solids are processed to make fine unsweetened cocoa powder. 

Bloom

• If chocolate is improperly stored or tempered, a "bloom" will occur.  This is when the cocoa butter separates from the solids. You can see the bloom because it appears as a colored film on the outside of the chocolate. It is harmless and will disappear as soon as it is melted.

Seizing

• When you melt chocolate, a few drops of water or even steam can moisten forming a dull, dry, grainy mass, called seizing. The remaining texture looks like a dull, thick paste.

Tempering

• Tempering is a technique by which pure chocolate is stabilized through a carefully controlled melting-and-cooling process, allowing the cocoa butter molecules to solidify in an orderly fashion and for the chocolate to harden properly. Commercially available chocolate that you buy is already tempered, but this condition changes the minute you melt it for your own use; the molecules of fat separate (as cream separates from milk). In order to put them back together, you must temper it.

SOURCES:

• Chocolate Smarts Guide, Julie Tucker and Jennifer Elias, Published by SmartsCo in SF, CA, copyright 2004
• www.joyofbaking.com
• www.baking911.com