“There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles.” –Anonymous

Who doesn’t like chocolate?  Sure – there are a few people, but they’re definitely in the minority.  So I’m not surprised to see questions or comments about chocolate cravings on the forums I moderate.  People are trying to eat “clean” after all, and – in spite of the health benefits associated with certain kinds of dark chocolate – it’s a problem they want to control.  Polyphenols or no, the stuff is still loaded with fat and sugar, which isn’t conducive to getting lean and mean.

So how do you deal with chocolate cravings?  There are some obvious fixes such as ”cold turkey” withdrawal; using low-cal surrogates; finding alternate ways to “treat” yourself; and/or taking certain supplements that duplicate some of the physiological or pharmacological effects.  Different things work for different people.  But since I’m a food science/tech person, I accidentally discovered another way: “creative visualization.” I found that simply describing how the stuff is made can turn people off.  As one “Fat Loss Revealed” member put it:

“Here I thought I was losing all my cravings because I was starting to feed my body correctly. I’m starting to think its just the accumlative effect of Elissa’s posts. She blew my chocolate (and now my Oreo) craving out of the water with one little paragraph.”

So now I’m gonna try it on you too…

As most people already know, chocolate comes from cocoa beans.  Cocoa beans are grown around the world, although the majority (70%) are grown in West Africa – the largest producing countries are Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana.  Cocoa beans are typically grown on poor family farms, and the conditions are pretty brutal.  Child labor laws are routinely ignored, so even very young children work alongside their parents and relatives.

That alone might be enough for you…or at least steer you towards chocolate that’s grown/harvested under more equitable conditions.

There’s more, however…

Cocoa beans themselves grow in largish, hard-shelled pods, surrounded by a thick, starchy pulp.  The pods have to be cracked open by hand, in order to extract the beans intact.  The beans are then fermented to get rid of the surrounding pulp, and develop the characteristic, complex flavors associated with the finished chocolate.

“Fermented” is a loaded word.  When most people see the term, the mental image is of fine wine, or maybe beer.  In other words, a nice, clean, hygienic process that occurs under controlled conditions using specially cultured, purified strains of yeast. 

That’s not quite how it works for cocoa beans. 

With cocoa beans, the process is “au naturel.”  In essence, they’re composted: the wet, pulp-covered beans are heaped together into piles and covered by mats or banana leaves – or else piled into large wooden boxes and left to…well, rot for a while.  The “starter cultures” (yeasts and bacteria) come from the exterior of the pods, the workers’ hands, insects, and/or the surfaces that come into contact with the pile.  The pulp fuels explosive microbial growth: the temperature of the pile can get as high as 125 degrees Fahrenheit during the process.

Believe it or not, this process is important for developing the characteristic – and complex – flavors and aromas associated with chocolate.  The array of microorganisms produce a number of organic acids, while enzymes within the beans are activated to produce a variety of metabolites.  These are further transformed during subsequent heat treatments – which also have the happy effect of killing off the “bugs” still clinging to the beans.

Yummy, eh?

If you’ve read this far, hopefully you haven’t had to reach for the Pepto Bismol, but that’s the (rather gritty) reality behind all the sweet, fragrant deliciousness.  It’s not very pretty, but if it can help you think twice before hitting the candy machine at work or making an impulse buy at the store, then it’s worth it.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s often easier to make good choices when you understand more about food.  There’s a whole history of social/economic, physical and chemical processes lurking under the wrapper of your Hershey bar - hopefully it’s food for thought.

Share