Latest Fact Sheet

Season 2, Ep 10 - Chocolate

The Venetian seducer Casanova believed chocolate was an aphrodisiac .

A recent English study reported that eating chocolate is more pleasurable than kissing. Several studies have also found that a reasonable proportion of women prefer chocolate to sex.

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans which are processed into two things – cocoa powder and cocoa butter.

Cocoa powder is the aspect of chocolate that is responsible for the flavour. Cocoa butter is responsible for the mouth- feel – its melting point is the temperature of our mouth.

On the packet, the combination of cocoa butter and cocoa powder is labelled as cocoa solids. In New Zealand, chocolate must contain at least 20% cocoa solids.

Many dark chocolates have more saturated fat than milk chocolate – the greater amount of cocoa solids means more cocoa butter which is over 60% saturated fat.

Cocoa powder has a very high level of antioxidants with an ORAC rating of 80,933 per 100g. Dark chocolate’s rating is 20,823 while milk chocolate has a rating of 7,528. White chocolate doesn’t contain cocoa powder so it doesn’t have the associated antioxidants.

Chocolate tends to contain an emulsifier – usually lecithin - which helps during production because it gives the chocolate a thick, smooth quality when it is melted.

Chocolate isn’t good for dogs (or horses and rabbits) because of its theobromine content. Theobromine is poisonous to dogs because they metabolise it in a different way to us.

Chocolate does contain small amounts of phenylethylalanine (PEA) which is known as the love drug because people who are newly in love have higher levels of it in their brains. However, you would have to eat at least 6000 bars of chocolate to feel an effect.

Last year kiwis spent $200m on chocolate. Sales spike twice yearly – once around Easter and again around Christmas.