/oss/taxonomy/term/414/all en /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-did-you-know/chocoholics-true-addiction-or-funny-word <p>In the third novel of the Harry Potter series, the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry encounters the “Dementors” for the first time -- creatures that feed on hope and happiness. When he is left with a feeling of depression, Harry learns that chocolate is an antidote to help counter the Dementors’ effects. For us Muggles, chocolate has a somewhat similar result, making us feel a little warm and fuzzy inside! But can we get addicted to chocolate? In other words, is being a chocoholic a real thing?</p> Wed, 25 May 2022 17:51:10 +0000 Haleh Cohn 9119 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition/counting-chocolate <p>Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone and you are probably fed up with all the stories about chocolate that the media feels obliged to trot out at this time every year. There are the usual stories about the Aztec king Montezuma enhancing his libido with chocolate and about phenylethylamine in chocolate inducing people to fall in love. Actually, the only thing chocolate makes people fall in love with is chocolate!</p> Fri, 15 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7587 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition-you-asked/why-shelf-life-white-chocolate-so-short-compared-dark-chocolate <p>Dark chocolate contains plenty of naturally occurring antioxidants known as polyphenols, which are absent from white chocolate. Actually, “white chocolate” isn’t really chocolate because it does not contain the cacao bean particles that are responsible for the characteristic taste of chocolate. All chocolate originates from cacao beans, which are found inside the fruit of the cacao tree. The beans are removed together with the pulp that surrounds them and are piled for a few days to allow fermentation to occur.</p> Fri, 15 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7590 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/hot-cocoas-black-sludge <p>If you've made hot cocoa with powder, you've probably experienced the dark sludge at the bottom of the cup. This chocolate goop seems unavoidable, despite being absolutely certain that you dissolved all the powder when you first stirred your drink. For years I thought I was just a bad stirrer, but it turns out that the sludge actually forms as the drink cools down. As the hot cocoa cools, the solubility of the hot chocolate powder is reduced. This means that the amount of powder you can dissolve in a mug full of water or milk is lessened.</p> Tue, 10 Oct 2017 18:01:10 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 4255 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/chocolate-genes <p>Chocolate may be about to get better, sweeter and even more irresistible. Scientists have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the Criollo chocolate tree. Due to susceptibility to diseases, cocoa trees normally give a low production of fine quality cocoa.</p> Tue, 23 May 2017 17:46:26 +0000 emily.shore@mcgill.ca 2481 at /oss /oss/article/food-you-asked/whats-difference-between-white-chocolate-and-brown-chocolate <p>Chocolate comes from cocoa beans which grow inside a large pod that grows on trees. To make chocolate the beans are removed from the pods and heaped into a pile. Immediately a slew of chemical reactions begin. Sugar converts to glucose and fructose and which in turn start to ferment to alcohol and acetic acid. This then forms a variety of flavourful acetate esters and also kills the sprouts inside the seeds, releasing enzymes that break down proteins and sugars to tasty compounds.</p> Sun, 18 Nov 2012 23:32:28 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1802 at /oss