In defense of milk chocolate
The recent trend about dark, high percent cocoa chocolate being the "gourmet" chocolate -the good stuff- and considering milk chocolate as an inferior form, almost as low in culinary scales as ketchup, is nonsense.
A friend that claims to be a chocolate lover was disappointed about me, another chocolate lover, preferring milk chocolate over the bitter, 80 percent cocoa, she was eating. Well I’m sorry.
Around the world, who would you say associates Mexico with great chocolate? Nobody? Exactly. No one sees Mexico as a country producing great chocolate, even though the consumption of cocoa in this planet started in Mexico when the Olmecs not only realized that they could eat it and derive great pleasure from its consumption but learned also how to cultivate it. That was at least 2,400 years ago.
The Aztecs (around 400 AD), even used cocoa beans as currency. That’s how prevalent and abundant (and important) cocoa was for the Mesoamerican cultures.
So we have centuries of chocolate production and consumption in Mexico. Cocoa and chocolate are used in many recipes. More than a few moles include chocolate. And when you prepare mole from scratch in Mexico, you start by making chocolate from scratch. Yes, you have to make chocolate from scratch and you can. The tradition and know-how is there. Not like a friend here in San Diego that told me she knew how to make mole poblano from scratch using peanut butter and Nestlé’s Quick. God bless her soul….
So, why is it that no one associates Mexico with good chocolate? Because we - I’m Mexican- don’t make any.
Which country do we associate with the best chocolate? (and army knifes and watches)….Switzerland. What did the Swiss have in the 1800s when cocoa finally became available and popular there that Mexico didn’t have? Cows. MILK. And the Swiss started producing milk chocolate, and we all loved it and have loved it for two centuries. Good chocolate is milk chocolate and vice versa.
- "…But dark chocolate brings more health benefits…"
Yes. So does broccoli.
