The “food of the gods” is the result of a long and complex process that involves the use of ingredients such as cocoa butter, cocoa and sugar. In order for these ingredients to be transformed into high-quality chocolate, they must undergo a very complex process made of various specific phases.
Mixing, refining, conching (a process that the Artisan Chocolatier will only apply in its dry version, allowing to use less fat and being more energy efficient, ensuring a better quality of chocolate) tempering, moulding and demoulding characterize the long journey that gives life to chocolate.
Cocoa mass is obtained by working the raw cocoa beans contained in pods (the fruit of the cocoa tree). The cocoa tree is about 5/10 meters tall, it is extremely delicate and grows in equatorial Africa. Before you can use the beans as an ingredient in making chocolate, these undergo various processes: fermentation, drying, cleaning, roasting, disinfection, crushing and refining.
Thanks to our new cutting-edge production area, Guido Gobino can toast and sterilize cocoa beans directly in his Via Cagliari plant, further extending the controls of the supply chain of its products and achieving the highest levels of quality and excellence.
Cocoa butter is a key ingredient for the production of chocolate: made out of the vegetable fat contained in cocoa beans (50-57%). Its melting point is 28-36 °C, it has an elevated smoke point (230 ° C, compared to 130 ° C for cowmilk butter and the 160 ° C of olive oil) and does not contain cholesterol.
Gobino Guido uses only cocoa butter for most of his products.
The only exceptions are the noble and precious Hazelnut Oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
One of the most common popular beliefs regarding food is that good tasting dishes or treats can harm your health while “healthy food” is thought to be dull and tasteless. Chocolate, however, may very well debunk such myth, as it has been proven as both good tasting and good for you. Let us see what are the characteristics demonstrated by recent research that transforms chocolate foods to feed a virtuous circle making it a valuable ally of health, as well as the palate.
First, Theobroma Cocoa, also referred to as “food of the gods”, is rich in flavonoids and contains them in higher percentage than red wine and green tea. Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants that have anti-aging effect on cells and are known to prevent cardiovascular diseases. In particular, according to a survey of cardiologists in the Cardiovascular Center of the University Hospital of Zurich in 2005, the polyphenols found in dark chocolate have a very positive effect on the endothelium, the inner tissue that covers the heart and blood vessels responsible for the maintenance of vascular tone, and platelets, which are essential for coagulation and hemostasis.
For this reason, Swiss researchers sustain the ability of dark chocolate to prevent diseases such as atherosclerosis, thrombosis and heart strokes.
The Department of Nutrition at the University of California and the School of Pharmacy and Biochemistry of Buenos Aires, Argentina, also bring us some good news: the essential role of Epicatechin, a flavonoid present in cocoa, in preventing the oxidation of plasma and inflammatory processes resulting in reduction in the risk of heart diseases.
How many times have you felt immediately relieved after eating a piece of chocolate, a little treat to help you overcome your woes?
Chocolate has a positive effect on mood because it stimulates the production of serotonin and endorphins, powerful neurotransmitters of sensations and generic well-being.
In addition, Phenethylamine, naturally present in chocolate and responsible for that sense of satisfaction that you experience while eating it, helps overcome moments of fatigue, sadness and anxiety and to recover energy quickly, especially after doing sports. Chocolate is also an excellent source of minerals useful for health: magnesium, sulfur, copper, zinc, calcium and potassium and vitamins easily absorbed by our body. That helps the circulatory system and brain to function better.
Moreover, according to the American Heart Association it seems to help lower blood pressure and stimulate vasodilation in hypertensive persons. It can also contrast the effects of “bad” cholesterol balancing it with the “good” one.
According to the latest results in research we can affirm that chocolate is no longer an enemy but an irreplaceable ally of mental well-being.
This brings us of course to a question that will spontaneously come up in your minds: Will chocolate make you fat? According to the Archives of Internal Medicine there seems to be a strong correlation between frequent consumption of chocolate and a lower body mass index, the ratio of weight to height squared but we will leave you the pleasure to verify that personally with your scale.
Finally, another world renowned positive effect of Cocoa: its aphrodisiac powers. Maybe the Mayans and Aztecs, who discovered the precious berry, were more sensitive to pleasure than what we think.
Given all the above, it would seem that chocolate is a food that in many circumstances can have positive effects on the organism. However, given its natural composition (fats and sugars), it is important to consume it in a moderate way, within a varied and balanced diet.