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Frequently
asked questions for chocolate:
Question: How much caffeine do your
chocolate products contain?
Answer: Concerns regarding the caffeine in chocolate
may not be as warranted as one might think. Actually, most
of our chocolate items contain very little caffeine. To help
one make the comparison, one cup of regular coffee contains
100-142 mg of caffeine. A cup of decaffeinated coffee contains
approximately 4 mg of caffeine.
Baking Cocoa caffeine content:
One serving of SACO Premium Cocoa (3 Tbsp. or 15 grams) contains
47 mg of caffeine. This is only about 1/3 of what you would
get in a cup of regular coffee.
CHUNKS caffeine content:
One entire 12 oz. bag of SACO Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate CHUNKS
contains only 200 mg of caffeine.
Hot Cocoa Mix caffeine content:
In either the regular or the No Sugar Added, the caffeine
is about 12.5 mg per serving. About the same as 3 cups of
decaffeinated coffee.
Dolci Frutta caffeine content:
In a one ounce serving (30 grams, or 1/8th of the container),
there is only 1.7 mg of caffeine, less than half a cup of
decaffeinated coffee.
An interesting fact found in my research; one cup of coffee
made in an automatic drip coffee maker contains 142 mg of
caffeine. One cup made in an electric perk machine only contains
100 mg. Those of you looking to wake up better use those automatic
drip coffee makers!
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Question: Can you use SACO Chocolate
CHUNKS or Baking Cocoa to chocolate cover fruit, cookies,
etc.?
Answer: Although our CHUNKS and Premium Cocoa are some
of the best chocolates you can buy, they are not suitable
for chocolate covering anything that you would want a solid
coating on, similar to our Dolci Frutta. The CHUNKS do not
contain the proper oils that allow immediate solidification
of the chocolate after melting. In order to use the CHUNKS
for this purpose, they would need to be tempered, which is
a very precise procedure involving heating the chocolate to
a certain temperature, then dropping the temperature quickly,
several times. If temperatures in tempering are not exact,
it will not work, and it is much easier to use Dolci Frutta
or a similar confectionary coating. The same holds true for
the Baking Cocoa, in which a liquid chocolate would need to
be made and tempered.
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Question: Ever wonder why chocolate
is craved so much by the American population?
Answer: Chocolate is loaded with chemical mood enhancers.
Almost every component in it has, at some point, been credited
with making people feel good. The carbohydrates in chocolate
(sugar) trigger the release of serotonin, contributing to
a sense of well-being. The sweet taste also calms the senses.
The fat in chocolate enhances flavor and satisfies an initial
urge for more calories. And then there's the phenylethylamine,
a chemical that some researchers say stimulates feelings similar
to what people experience while in love. However, studies
have been done where a group of people were split into three
equal parts, one being given milk chocolate, one was given
white chocolate (which actually contains no cocoa, just cocoa
butter and flavorings), and the last group was given pills
that contained the same stimulants found in chocolate. The
only group that was not satisfied of their chocolate cravings
was the group given the pills. Therefore, studies suggest
that the true reason for chocolate cravings is sensory. Chocolate
addiction is a desire for the oral experience of chocolate;
the odor, the smoothness, the flavor. So... please pass the
SACO CHUNKS.
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Question: What is the shelf life of
SACO Chocolate CHUNKS?
Answer: The CHUNKS are fairly shelf stable. You can
plan to keep them for about two years after date of manufacture.
They may begin to accumulate more chocolate blossoms over
time (white coating on chocolate), but that will disappear
upon cooking/baking. The CHUNKS are actually "safe"
well beyond the two year time frame, but the quality of the
chocolate will decrease after that time.
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