Chocolate is considered a very healthy product. It has long been known that it can lift your mood and improve brain function. The healthiest type of chocolate is dark chocolate because it does not contain sugar. But in milk chocolate, the most delicious chocolate, there is more than enough sugar – there is so much of it that, due to its presence, chocolate becomes a harmful product. Recently, a group of scientists from Switzerland figured out how to make chocolate sweet without adding sugar. If you add the ingredient they developed, the product becomes not only tasty, but also healthy due to its high fiber content, which improves digestion and controls blood sugar levels.
Swiss scientists have reinvented the recipe for delicious chocolate
Contents
- 1 How chocolate is made
- 2 Harm and benefits of chocolate
- 3 Recipe for sugar-free chocolate
- 4 The healthiest and most harmful chocolate
How chocolate is made
Any real chocolate is made from cocoa beans – almond-shaped seeds that are found in the fruits of the chocolate tree (Theobroma cacao). Ripe cocoa beans are collected by hand and placed in baskets for fermentation, as a result of which their taste and aroma properties are improved. After this, the beans are dried in the sun so that they do not spoil.
Chocolate tree with ripe fruits. Source: RuNews24
Dry cocoa beans are cleaned of debris, fried and crushed – to make chocolate, you need to separate the kernels from the shell. Subsequently, the cocoa beans are ground into cocoa mass, resulting in a smooth and homogeneous mass. It is to this that additional ingredients are added, such as sugar, milk, and so on. The resulting tasty mass is further heated for a smooth texture and poured into molds. After this, the chocolate is packaged for transportation and sale.
Fresh, roasted and ground cocoa beans. Source: The Belgian Chocolate Makers
IMPORTANT:You may have noticed that when making chocolate, a lot of attention is paid to giving it the right texture. The fact is that the taste of chocolate depends not only on the composition, but also on the tactile sensations when eating it. In 2023 this was proven by science.
The harm and benefits of chocolate
According to statistics, every year every resident of Russia eats 6-7 kilograms of chocolate. On the one hand, this is good, because chocolate has beneficial properties. For example, it has a good effect on the brain, cardiovascular system, and can even reduce high blood pressure.
You can eat 20-25 a day without harm to your health and figure gram of chocolate
But considering the high sugar content in chocolate, this is not such a healthy product. If a person eats a lot of milk chocolate, as well as candies and other sweets, he will quickly gain excess weight. This, in turn, can lead to heart problems and diabetes.
Therefore, to get the benefits, it is recommended to eat dark or dark chocolate. It contains the least amount of sugar and other additives.
Sugar-free chocolate recipe
Recently, an article appeared in the scientific journal Nature Foods that scientists managed to reinvent the chocolate recipe. Researchers from Switzerland have found that instead of sugar, parts of the cocoa fruit, which are usually thrown away, can be used to give chocolate a sweet taste.
It was mentioned just above that cocoa kernels are separated from the shell. It turns out that this shell contains substances that can release a sweet taste. They also contain a lot of fiber, which is good for digestion.
In the future, chocolate production may become waste-free. Source: Newsweek
Experiments have shown that mixing the crushed shell with the juice from the bean pulp produces a sweet gel. By changing the temperature and proportions, scientists were able to find the perfect balance. The resulting chocolate was as sweet as a sugar-containing product. At the same time, it also contained an increased amount of fiber.
According to the authors of the scientific work, thanks to the new discovery, it is possible not only to start producing chocolate with maximum benefit. The new approach assumes that after processing cocoa beans, there will be almost no waste left. In addition, farmers will be able to receive additional income from the sale of these remains. Solid advantages!
Read also: 10 unexpected products containing substances from oil
The most useful and harmful chocolate
Unfortunately, healthy chocolate with a new composition will not appear on sale anytime soon. The fact is that many production and legal problems need to be resolved before that.
White chocolate is completely devoid of the benefits that cocoa provides
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Today, the healthiest type of chocolate is considered dark or bitter, with a cocoa content of 70% or higher. And the most harmful is white chocolate, which does not contain cocoa powder. Instead, only cocoa butter, sugar and dairy products are added to white chocolate, so this product does not contain antioxidants and other beneficial substances.