Definitions of terms
- Bio
- Common European term for organic farming.
- Bittersweet Chocolate
- Bars which fall in the the middle ground between candy and Chocolate,
25% to 50% Cacao content.
- Cacao
- (also Kakao) From Mayan Cacau
- The plant and seeds that produce Chocolate.
- Chocolate in it's natural form,
- The pure processed product before additives are combined with it to
form Chocolate, or candy.
- Cacao Liquor
- Cacao Mass.
- Cacao Mass
- The creamy paste resulting from grounding the roasted Cacao beans.
- Cacao Paste
- Cacao Mass after extra Cocoa Butter has been added and it has cooled.
- Chocolate
- From Aztec Xocoatl, via Spanish and then French.
- Product of the seeds of the tree Theobroma cacao L.
- A narcotic, native to Venezuela, used by the Mayas and Aztecs and widely exploited by the 18th Century Spanish Empire.
- A tempered version of the Aztec Xocoatl which is now added to many confections.
- Chocolate Mountains
- A Mountain Range in the southeastern Southern California desert; there
is a large military practice range there. As far as i know they have
nothing whatsoever to do with Cacao.
- Chocolate War; The
-
- The European Union Food Standards 'discussion' within the EU in the mid
1990s about how to define Chocolate, resulting in no minimum Cacao
level, but labeled percentages on all bars. The result was an
explosion the market for high percentage pure Chocolate bars.
- A war of conquest in pre-Colombian Yucatan (Mexico).
- Chupon
- The main stem of the Cacao tree with Pods and fans of leaves budding
off.
- Cocoa
- A further Anglicization of Cacao caused by a spelling error,
probably by 18th century English traders. Now generally used to refer
to the product (a powder) of the Dutch Process which removes all
of the fat.
- Cocoa Beans
- Roasted, fermented seeds from the fruit pods of the Cacao Tree.
- Cocoa Butter
- The fat pressed out of pure Cacao paste. The paste is about 55% fat.
Has a melting point at human body temperature, is edible and nutritious
which presents many industrial uses. Is added to pure Cacao Paste to
create bar Chocolate.
- Cocoa Powder
- The results of Dutch processing where the creamy Cacao Mass is
pressed into Cakes to remove all of the Cocoa butter (fat), and then
ground into a powdered Chocolate flavor.
- Crillo
- The original Venezuelan cultivar of Theobroma cacao accounting
for 5% to 10% of all commercial Cacao. Produces very fine grade
Chocolate with a full, complex flavor.
- Dark Chocolate
- Chocolate bars above 50% chocolate content.
- Dutch Process
- Producing a powder with no Cocoa Butter by pressing the pure Cacao
Paste at very high pressure to produce a fat free powder. Developed in
the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium & Holland) in the mid 18th
century. Although usually connected with Holland, i believe it is
really Belgian.
- Fair Trade
- A method of production and asset management which assures that the
people who grow the raw product are treated well and fairly
compensated. Very important with Chocolate due to widespread
problems with slavery on Cacao plantations.
- Food of The Gods
- Romantic term coined by Europeans for Cacao and often incorrectly
attributed to the Aztecs. The origin of the genus name Theobroma.
- Forastero
- The most common cultivar of Theobroma cacao accounting for 80%
to 90% of all commercial Cacao. Makes low quality Chocolate with poor
flavor.
- Hot Chocolate
- Originally, ground Cacao beans in almost boiling water. Now it refers
Cocoa Powder powder in milk. In practice it is also used to refer to
confections which contain far more sugar that Chocolate.
- Kakao
- European. see Cacao
- Like Water for Chocolate
- The water to create the Aztec Chocolate beverage must be be extremely
hot for the mixture to work, and from that came this phrase, still
used in Mexico, to mean as hot as anything you can imagine.
- Milk Chocolate
- Candy made from numerous ingredients, primarily sugar and vanilla which
includes less than 30% Cacao. Generally Cacao is the third or fourth
ingredient. (Some Fine Chocolate Manufacturers are making a 60% milk
chocolate where the milk replaces the sugar instead of replacing the
chocolate.)
- Organic
- A method of agriculture which respects the health of the land, the
farmer and the consumer. Avoids all added chemicals including
pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Also works with an
ecosystem (such as a tropical rainforest) instead of against it.
- Pod
- The large (about 40 cm) fruits of the Cacao Tree containing seeds
which are processed into Chocolate. Green while growing, the Pods turn
yellow, red or even purple when ripe.
- Pure Chocolate
- European name for bars with greater than 65% Cacao content and no
additives.
- Seed
- One of about 30 to 70 small (3 cm x 1.5 cm) purple seeds in each Cacao
fruit pod.
- Theobroma cacao L.
- A rainforest tree, native to native to Venezuela now grown in the
tropics worldwide, whose seeds are produced into Chocolate.
- Trinitero
- A cultivar of Theobroma cacao accounting for 10% to 15% of all
commercial Cacao. A hybrid of Crillo & Forastero grown primarily in
the Caribbean. Produces very fine grade Chocolate with a spicy,
complex flavor. Becoming more popular of late.
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