Chocolate

The highlight of this week goes to CHOCOLATE.
Ingredient very rich and wide variety of applications.

Let's learn more about CHOCOLATE!

Chocolate is a food, found in slurry form, solid and drink sweet or bitter, made ​​from roasted beans of cocoa; before the Spanish arrived in the Americas, the Aztecs knew the cocoa. With him were a dark liquid they called xocoatl (the Nahuatl xococ "bitter" + atl "water"). In 1502, the island of Guanaja, inhabited by the Aztecs, mystical and religious people, received the squadron of Columbus. The browser was one of the first Europeans to taste the chocolate flavor.

Chocolate is a popular food that has known various forms of presentation.

It can be drunk (chocolate powder or chocolate) with milk, or tablet. This case is presented in many versions: milk (in Portugal it says milk chocolate), white, margo, peanuts, almonds or hazelnuts, with or without stuffing, etc.., Varying according to the increase in different parts of its individual components and thus varies also its caloric value, than in any of cases is high.

• The bitter chocolate is done with the cacao beans roasted without adding milk, and some versions allow its use as basis for desserts, cakes and biscuits. Must use a minimum of 35% cocoa, according to European norms.
• The milk chocolate or milk chocolate in the making takes milk or milk powder. European standards provide a minimum 25% cocoa.
• The couverture is chocolate rich in cocoa butter, used by professionals chocolatiers, such as Valrhona, Lindt & Sprüngli, Theo Chocolate and others, with more than 70% cocoa, and fat of about 40%.
• White chocolate is done with cocoa butter, milk, sugar and lecithin, may be added flavorings as the vanilla. Invented in Switzerland after World War I, was only released in 80 years of the twentieth century by Nestle.

Health

While the chocolate is often eaten for pleasure, there are some positive health effects in food intake. The cocoa or chocolate bitter, for example, are beneficial for the circulatory system. Other effects include the properties anticancerous, stimulants brain and ability to heal diarrheas, among others. The aphrodisiac properties of chocolate have not been proven.

Moreover, ingest large quantities of foods highly energetic, such as chocolate, increases the risk of obesity. There is a concern about cases of poisoning mild per lead through the consumption of some types of chocolate.

A study by the BBC indicated that melting chocolate in the mouth of a person causes an increase in brain activity and heart rate, which is more intense than that associated with passionate kissing, and that lasted four times longer after the end of the activity.

Effects in the circulatory system

Recent studies suggest that cocoa and chocolate may bear fruit some beneficial effects on human health. Cocoa possesses a significant antioxidant action. Other studies also found that there is a small decrease in blood pressure after the daily consumption of dark chocolate. There is even a diet, "Chocolate Diet", which suggests the intake of cocoa and chocolate in capsules. However, consuming milk chocolate or white chocolate or dark chocolate drink with milk fat, seem to offset the benefit in health. In fact, small amounts and regularly consumed chocolate reduces the risk of heart attack.

Aphrodisiac

The Romantic culture considers chocolate an aphrodisiac. The famous aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate are usually associated with the simple sensual pleasure of its consumption. Moreover, the nature sweet and fatty chocolate stimulates the hypothalamus, inducing pleasurable sensations and raising the level of serotonin. Although the serotonin have effects pleasurable, in excess can be converted into melatonin, which, in turn, reduces libido. Finally, chocolate has substances that can activate cannabinoid receptors, which causes sensations of sensitivity and euphoria. A gift of chocolates is a very common ritual cutting.

Acne

There is a popular belief that eating chocolate can cause acne. Several studies show that this is the case of foods with high glycemic index in general, although this issue is still being studied. It is known that milk stimulates the appearance of pimples.

Nutritional Value

Chocolate is a very nutritious food. Has proteins, fats, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc carotene, vitamins E, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 and C. Recent studies suggest the possibility that moderate consumption of dark chocolate and bitter bring benefits to human health, especially due to the presence of gallic acid and epicatechin, flavonoids with cardioprotective function. It is known that cocoa has antioxidant properties. The chocolate still constitutes a stimulant due to theobromine, although low-capacity. Chocolate also Own caffeine and your intake causes the body to release neurotransmitters like endorphin.

em: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate