When you think about chocolate, there’s probably not a single person in the world who doesn’t like it. Even those who claim they’re not the biggest fans, still like to have at least a tiny piece. And one should never feel guilty, like when eating something that’s going to affect their health. Quite the contrary, chocolate is known to have a very beneficial effect on those who eat it, such as calming. Here we mean quality chocolate.
A lot of products out there cannot guarantee their quality, and eating excessive amounts of these products can cause us more harm than good. Sugar, artificial flavors and fillings, vegetable fats, all these ingredients have never brought anything good to our bodies. Okay, almost never.
Which products should you reach for in those moments when you really feel like indulging in a quality piece of chocolate? Here are some guidelines: every real chocolate has 5 ingredients: cocoa butter, cocoa mass, sugar, emulsifier (mostly) soy lecithin, and natural vanilla flavor (not present in every chocolate).
Which of these is the most important? Cocoa butter is your most important factor. It is a natural fat that primarily develops our brain system and provides the body with healthy fats. So, you want to choose the one with a higher percentage of cocoa butter, because vegetable fats are a type that our body does not recognize and cause numerous inflammations in it. A lot of quality products like Callebaut chocolate, in many forms, you can find here.
Therefore, cocoa mass is the reason why chocolate is dark and bitter in taste, it is found in different percentages in chocolates. It contains antioxidants and is also healthy, but more important than the fact that your chocolate contains 95% cocoa mass is that it contains cocoa butter instead of vegetable fats.
What about sugar? Let’s be honest, you can’t eat it with sugar, and you can’t eat it without it either. It’s absolutely essential for the taste. The emulsifier you read about on the label is important for our chocolate to be stable, and the vanilla aroma is included also because of the taste.
As far as the quality chocolate features go, that’s about it. But if you’re wondering about what to look for, ingredients -vise in sweets based on chocolate, you need to learn more about Callebaut. It’s as special as it gets, and in the rest of the text, you’ll be reading about a couple of interesting facts connected to this delicious brand.
1. It’s an impressive brand
With more than a hundred years of tradition in its business, Callebaut offers chocolate whose entire production process takes place in Belgium, in the largest chocolate factory in the world, where every stage of production is monitored, from the cocoa tree to the most refined Belgian chocolate. It is part of the Barry Callebaut group, the world’s leading producer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa. Callebaut, therefore, uses the experience, technology, and innovation of this magnate, which it combines with the needs of top cuisine, and is always in search of the most creative, sophisticated, and excellent ways of using chocolate. Through a large number of educational centers around the world and its team of masters in making chocolate pralines and other delicacies, the so-called Chocolate Academy, Chocolate Ambassadors, and technical advisors, Callebaut is in constant contact with its users and is dedicated to encouraging new trends and increasingly inspiring approaches in making top quality chocolates. chocolate treats.
2. More than a thousand tons of chocolate is being produced in their factory every day
No wonder they are the biggest in the world, huh? Looking at their yearly production average, it must be around 350,000 tons. That’s a lot.
3. They were first a brewery
We’ve mentioned that the brand originates from Belgium. What do Belgians like more than chocolate? Beer, of course. The brewery was launched around 1838 but switched to chocolate in 1911.
4. The factory has its own bus stop
Being the biggest one in the world comes with a lot of attention, and people from all over want to visit and witness their greatness. Barry Callebaut, the former of the factory plays a huge role in this small community where it’s located, as he has been employing most of the people from the community for a very long time. Hence the reason why the public bus stop was created.
5. Their chocolate can no longer be bought in supermarkets
As their products are intended for chocolatiers, they mostly, it has to be ordered separately. You will receive them in the form of chocolate chips, which allow you to easily handle and dispense, and the chocolate is packed in a Callebaut bag and comes stored in a box and wrapped in thick plastic wrap to prevent damage to the package. Their chocolate does not spoil, and after you open the bag, just wrap it tightly in plastic film and keep it in a dry and dark place until you use it again. If a white layer appears on your chocolate, remember: it is NOT spoiled chocolate. It’s just about the fat breaking out on the surface due to the change in the temperature of the chocolate.
Dark, quality chocolate such as this one has always been appreciated. Its history is at least 3000 years long. Here are a couple of interesting facts about it:
- In South American cultures, it was used as a bitter drink for ritual and medicinal purposes, and as a luxury drink for the elite. The inhabitants of South America have created a real cult of drinking a liquid dessert made of cocoa, hot red pepper, and water.
- Christopher Columbus tried the chocolate drink but was not impressed. It wasn’t until Cortes’s arrival in America that chocolate came into focus.
- The first chocolate shop was opened in London in 1657, it arrived in Switzerland in 1750, and in 1778 the first chocolate cake was made in Austria – the Zacher cake.
If by now you haven’t tried any product based on Callebaut chocolate, and you call yourself a chocolate lover, now is your cue.
