2·14 Valentine's Day: How to Eat Chocolate Right
Introduction: Yesterday was February 14th, Valentine's Day in the West, and the most common gifts lovers receive are flowers and chocolate. Will eating chocolate make you fat? Is chocolate good for your heart? Is chocolate healthy? How can you eat chocolate correctly? And so on. Faced with this series of questions, we will answer them one by one for everyone before Valentine's Day.
Question 1: Among the common ingredients in chocolate, which of the four—"cocoa liquor," "cocoa mass," "cocoa butter," or "cocoa powder"—is actually beneficial for the heart?
Cocoa liquor and cocoa mass are pastes formed by roasting and then grinding cocoa beans, which are then solidified into blocks. They are bitter but have the aroma of chocolate. They contain cocoa butter and all the polyphenolic components of cocoa.
Cocoa butter is the fatty part extracted from cocoa bean fragments. Its fatty acid composition is quite characteristic, with a high proportion of saturated fats, and it has special solidifying properties, which are related to the smooth texture and aroma of chocolate. Generally, the higher the cocoa butter content, the better the chocolate's texture. However, the connection between cocoa butter and the health effects of chocolate is not that significant, as most of the antioxidants are in the non-fat components.
Cocoa powder is made by grinding the defatted fragments of cocoa beans. Cocoa powder concentrates the antioxidant components of cocoa, so it has the strongest health benefits. Medical research has proven that unsweetened cocoa powder is helpful for controlling blood pressure, reducing blood clotting, and lowering the risk of heart disease.
Overall, the more ingredients derived from cocoa beans (including cocoa liquor, cocoa mass, cocoa powder, and cocoa butter), the higher the content of polyphenolic components beneficial to the cardiovascular system and the higher the potassium content in the chocolate. Unfortunately, very few products on the market have a cocoa content of over 60%. Most products are too high in sugar and intensely sweet, so they can only be classified as candy.