Questions on chocolate
What do you really know about chocolate? Did you know that it can give you the same sensation as falling in love? That it is an antidepressant? How should you eat it to satisfy all your senses? What is the best way to conserve it? Discover all these answers and impress your friends the next time you share a box of Godiva with them. Because you do share them, don't you?

Does chocolate tone you up?
Yes chocolate is a tonic both for the body and the mind. It provides lots of energy in a very small volume. This high energy value is due to its principal nutrients: carbohydrates (sugars) and fatty acids or lipids. The sugars can be easily assimilated by the organism to which they give a boost in low periods or during physical effort. Fatty acids, represented by cocoa butter, are assimilated more slowly to cover the long-term need for calories. It is also a re-generative food for intellectuals, thanks to its mineral salts, oligo-elements and its vitamins. It also contains substances such as theobromine, which stimulate the nervous system and encourage concentration.

Is it really an aphrodisiac?
The Aztec emperor Motzemuca was convinced that it did. Madame De Pompadour was too. The Marquis de Sade certainly abused it. Today we know that chocolate is not really an aphrodisiac, however it contains a natural substance, phenylethylamine, which provokes in the body the same reaction as when you fall in love.

Does chocolate cause increased cholesterol?
On the contrary, it has a beneficial effect on cholesterolemy. Indeed, after assimilation, cocoa produces 72% unsaturated fatty acids, which reduce cholesterol levels and clean the arteries. And it contains only 20% saturated fatty acids which have the opposite effect. The amount of cholesterol in dark chocolate is negligible. In milk chocolate, it varies from 15 to 18 mg per 100 g which is insignificant. But of course we are talking only of chocolate whose fat content is 100% cocoa butter, like Godiva chocolate.

Does chocolate cause indigestion?
The liver, contrary to popular opinion, is not involved in indigestion. It is a de-intoxication point for substances which damage the organism, notably venous fungus, alcohol and certain drugs. When too many fatty foods are consumed it is in fact the stomach and the digestive tract which are affected. Chocolate is often blamed when it has been consumed at the end of an unbalanced meal. At Christmas and Easter, for example, indigestion is actually caused by increased fat intake (foie gras, sauces, cakes etc.).

Is chocolate rich in magnesium?
Yes and so chocolate is beneficial currently, at a time when our daily magnesium requirement, which we need for good neuro-muscular function, is barely covered by our food intake.

How to consume chocolate is for maximum pleasure?
Everything starts with eye appeal. The creativity of form, gives rise to an anticipation of the delicate balance of flavours. The shine on the coating heralds the crunch and smoothness. Bite into the subtle flavours of the finest cocoa beans. This mouth feel comes from a couverture chocolate prepared with 100% cocoa butter. For Godiva, there is no question of substituting a gram of any other kind of vegetable fat. Let it melt in your mouth. Slowly savour the chocolate inside and outside. Then press it against the palate to appreciate its length.

How should chocolate be stored?
Often, chocolates are kept in the refrigerator which is not to be recommended. Chocolate keeps best at a temperature of 15 to 18 degrees Celsius. A dry, odourless cellar or unheated room is the ideal place. If possible, keep the chocolates in their original packaging (ballotin, box, etc.), or in a hermetically sealed or metallic box. And avoid storing them next to food with strong odours. Chocolates filled with fresh cream should always be consumed rapidly.

Why do some chocolates have a whitish look?
We must first distinguish the type of whiteness. Fatty whiteness or sugar whiteness. Fatty whiteness is formed on the exterior layer of chocolate like a non-granulous film which disappears when touched. Sugar whiteness is granulous and rough to the touch.

What causes fatty whiteness?
Fatty whiteness is a migration of fats to the exterior or a re-crystallisation of the fats. There can be a variety of causes; poor tempering, too thin a layer of chocolate, the filling, storing it at too high a temperature. In manufacturing, tempering involves bringing the cocoa butter to its most stable crystalline form to obtain a shiny surface, good retraction of the chocolate, ideal bite and a pleasant mouth feel. It is something to which great attention is paid at Godiva. The thickness of the chocolate is also an essential element in Godiva's process control. Too thick, and taste quality is reduced. Too thin, and it increases the speed at which fat appears on the surface. Fats in the filling can provoke whitening. Godiva is particularly attentive to the stability of all its cream and paste fillings as well as to tempering when the chocolates are made. Finally the storage temperature of chocolate is very important and accelerates or stabilises fat migration. This is why temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees Celsius should be respected.

What causes sugar whitening?
Sugar whitening is caused by re-crystallisation of the sugar in the chocolate. It is caused by condensation due to significant thermal shock and when the humidity level in the air is to high. To avoid this phenomenon, Godiva's storage standards are very demanding; constant temperature and permanent control of humidity levels. You must avoid storing your chocolates in the kitchen...

GLOSSARY OF THE CHOCOLATE CONNOISSEUR

Ballontin
Traditional packaging for fresh chocolate assortments. The concept and the name are Belgian in origin.

Cocoa butter
Fat extracted from cocoa beans. It can be added to the cocoa paste (result of the milling of roasted beans) and the sugar to make chocolate or added during the preparation of fillings for different textures and mouth feel. Recently, the European Parliament has authorised the replacement of 5% of this cocoa butter by other, less expensive vegetable flats. Godiva does not countenance this. Our chocolate will remain made with 100% cocoa butter.

Bonbon or chocolate bouchée
Terms used in France to describe fillings enrobed with chocolate. In Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the word praline is used, which has another meaning in France (see praline).

Pod
The fruit of the cocoa tree. It is a sort of large oval gourd 15 to 30 cm long. It contains 30 to 40 beans of around 1 cm in length which are used to make cocoa.

Cocoa
The basic raw material of all cocoa paste products (also called cocoa paste, bitter mass or cocoa liquor) is obtained by milling roasted beans.

Cocoa powder
The substance resulting from the extraction of cocoa butter from the cocoa paste. It is used to prepare chocolate drinks or finish certain truffles.

Caraque
Small square of chocolate, flavoured or not.

Dark or extra dark chocolate
Also called simply "chocolate". According to European norms it must contain a minimum of 43% cocoa paste. At Godiva, this minimum is 50% for dark chocolate and 72% for extra dark.

Milk chocolate
For quality chocolate. the cocoa element content must be at least 30%. Milk gives it a lighter colour and makes it sweeter.

White chocolate
Prepared solely with cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder which is more or less caramelised.

Conching
A very important phase which involves constantly mixing the chocolate paste with the other ingredients such as sugar, cocoa butter or milk powder (according to the recipe) for several hours at temperatures varying between 50 and 80 degrees Celsius. It is during is operation that's all the aromas and smoothness specific to chocolate occurs.

Fresh cream
Main filling in certain chocolates. It also contains fondant sugar and a small amount of alcohol for conservation and flavour. Godiva uses real fresh cream, unadulterated and un-flavoured. The alcohols used are all authentic branded products.

Enrobing
The technique consists of covering the heart of a bouchée or praline in chocolate either by passing it under a curtain of liquid chocolate, or dipping it by hand in a vat of chocolate.

The bean
Fruit of the cocoa pod. There are several varieties of bean of varying origins. The selection and the mixture determine the flavour and the aroma of the chocolate. Godiva couverture chocolate is made according to our own special selection of beans. For people who love intensely dark chocolate, Godiva also makes small sample squares based on varieties from specific areas; Origins of the world.

Fondant sugar
Sugar syrup from which the crystals are removed during cooling until a smooth whitish cream is obtained. A small amount of alcohol may be added to this cream. Fondant is, for example, used in the preparation of a Kirsch Cherry or for enrobing a real traditional Manon dipped by hand in a small shell, heated in the Bain Marie for which a fork is used to create a small fresh cream dome decorated with a walnut.

Filling
Interior of filled chocolates or pralines.

Ganache
Extremely smooth filling obtained by mixing full cream brought to the boil, which is added to the chocolate and stirred until a smooth paste is obtained. This chocolate paste can be flavoured in various ways (tea, coffee, alcohol, spices, fruit flavours and even flowers such as Jasmine).

Gianduja
Paste which comes from mixing ground hazelnuts or grilled almonds, with white sugar. Cocoa butter or chocolate is added.

Icing
Preparation made with heated fondant sugar used to glaze the outside of a cake or eclair to which chocolate or flavouring is sometimes added. It is frequently used to cover chestnuts, forming a delicious chrysalis while preserving the smoothness of the interior.

Liqueur
Have you ever wondered how they manage to put real whisky, real cognac or real brandy, which is completely liquid, inside a chocolate? In fact what they do is to surround the alcohol with the chocolate. Its magic! The boiling sugar syrup is poured on the solution of branded alcohol. After cooling slightly, this syrup is poured into moulds made of food starch. The mixture is cooled for more than 15 hours. In cooling, the sugar forms a chrysalis around the alcohol flavoured syrup and to make the layer uniform and homogeneous, each capsule has to be carefully turned. After they are completely cooled, these capsules are carefully taken from the moulds, delicately brushed and enrobed in dark chocolate. The delicate manufacturing process of these chocolates lasts 2 1/2 days.

Marzipan
Marzipan is a mixture of feshly peeled almonds and white sugar. The almonds are not ground too fine so that the texture of the marzipan remains friable. Godiva marzipan is dipped into a bath of candi sugar (water/sugar) which surrounds it with a chrysalis, improving its appearance and its conservation.

Moulding
The technique consisting of making honeycombs of chocolate in moulds to obtain innumerable shapes which can then be filled with one or other filling before being sealed with a layer chocolate or simply using larger moulds to make hollow items such as our Santa Claus, clogs, eggs and all the other famous pieces in our collections.

Nougatine
Operation consisting of heating sugar until it caramelises and mixing in roasted hazelnuts or almonds which have been finely crushed. This is then laminated on a slab of marble and the caramel roller is used to form delicious squares.Nougatines is also used for filling certain chocolates.

Palet
Bouchée or chocolate made by enrobing a flavoured ganache filling.

Pralin
A roasted almond- or hazelnut- based mixture, enrobed with caramel and then ground.

Praliné
The same mixture, ground very finely, to which one part chocolate or cocoa butter is added to make it smooth. Godiva's praliné is particularly renowned.

Praline
The Belgian name for the filled chocolate shell which was invented by Belgian chocolatiers at the beginning of the twentieth century. In France, the most frequently used term for these specialities is bonbon, chocolate bouchée or quite simply chocolate. The praline was a sweet composed of an almond simmered in boiling sugar invented by a chef working for the Duke de Plessis-Praslin.

Truffle
A cream or butter ganache centre, enrobed with a fine film of chocolate and rolled into a ball, either in cocoa powder of different colours and flavours, coconut or other nuts. Godiva presents more than nine variations on this theme.