{"id":300,"date":"2009-04-09T11:05:12","date_gmt":"2009-04-09T11:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html"},"modified":"2009-04-09T11:05:12","modified_gmt":"2009-04-09T11:05:12","slug":"5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html","title":{"rendered":"5 Fun, Scientific Facts About Chocolate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who says the kids at MIT were only about quarks, electrons, and semiconductors?  Turns out that for the past 6 years, a popular club at the prestigious school has celebrated the science of chocolate!<\/p>\n

The Boston Globe has an article about The Laboratory for Chocolate Science<\/a> here, and the kids have some cool scientific facts I’d like to share.  Before I do, though, a Beliefnet teaser: very soon, we’ll be publishing a feature on the hidden health benefits of chocolate.  Yummy!  <\/p>\n

Meantime, here’s what I learned from my left-brained friends at MIT, plus a delicious how-to video from them on tea-infused chocolate truffles:<\/p>\n

1. Chocolate has no caffeine!<\/b>  Can this be true?  Yes, according to a 1993 article in the journal Biochemist<\/i>, as quoted<\/a> by the MIT peeps.  Processed chocolate, broken down into its chemical elements, showed an undetectable amount of caffeine. Which explains, perhaps, why I can’t handle a single cup of coffee, but can down a LOT of chocolate.<\/p>\n

2. Chocolate contains serotonin<\/b>.  We knew chocolate made us feel good, and here’s why.  Serotonin, which is the most concentrated of all the neurotransmitters contained in chocolate according to the MIT site<\/a>, is responsible for feelings of well-being and contentment, as well as curbing anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n

3. Chocolate can “bloom.”<\/b>  You know when you open a package of chocolate that’s been sitting on the shelf for awhile and it has some white shmutz on it?  This is called “bloom,” and it happens when, over time, fat (cocoa butter) molecules suspended inside the chocolate bar rise to the surface and recrystallize.  “Bloomed” chocolate is not dangerous to eat, but it will be dry and less flavorful than the original product.<\/p>\n

4. Chocolate is a “polymorph.”<\/b>  No, this doesn’t mean it can take the form of broccoli or 12-grain bread. But it does mean that there are multiple ways – VI, to be precise (they’re given Roman numerals) – to arrange the particles of chocolate in its solid phase. The most desirable is polymorph V (5), which is stable enough for that pleasant “crack,” but still fluid enough to have that delicious melt-in-your-mouth feeling that we all crave.  See this article<\/a> for more on polymorphs.  <\/p>\n

5. Chocolate is cool(er than us).<\/b>  In its optimal form (polymorph form V), chocolate’s melting point is around 35 degrees Celcius.  This is just below the average temperature inside the human body.  The slight difference is the scientific reason why chocolate melts in that sloooow, delectable way: it’s warm enough to melt, but not so warm as to liquify on contact.<\/p>\n

Isn’t science delicious?  Please add your own chocolate fun facts below…after you drool over this video! <\/b>  <\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who says the kids at MIT were only about quarks, electrons, and semiconductors?  Turns out that for the past 6 years, a popular club at the prestigious school has celebrated the science of chocolate! The Boston Globe has an article about The Laboratory for Chocolate Science here, and the kids have some cool scientific facts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,72],"tags":[391,390],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-holly-lebowitz-rossi","category-food","tag-laboratory-for-chocolate-science","tag-mit"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Fun, Scientific Facts About Chocolate - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Fun, Scientific Facts About Chocolate - Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who says the kids at MIT were only about quarks, electrons, and semiconductors?  Turns out that for the past 6 years, a popular club at the prestigious school has celebrated the science of chocolate! The Boston Globe has an article about The Laboratory for Chocolate Science here, and the kids have some cool scientific facts…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-09T11:05:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hrossi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Fun, Scientific Facts About Chocolate - Fresh Living","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Fun, Scientific Facts About Chocolate - Fresh Living","og_description":"Who says the kids at MIT were only about quarks, electrons, and semiconductors?  Turns out that for the past 6 years, a popular club at the prestigious school has celebrated the science of chocolate! The Boston Globe has an article about The Laboratory for Chocolate Science here, and the kids have some cool scientific facts…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html","og_site_name":"Fresh Living","article_published_time":"2009-04-09T11:05:12+00:00","author":"hrossi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html","name":"5 Fun, Scientific Facts About Chocolate - Fresh Living","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-04-09T11:05:12+00:00","dateModified":"2009-04-09T11:05:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/168fb6fdfd4f4d1a2e41e628b308b687"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/5-fun-scientific-facts-about-chocolate.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Fun, Scientific Facts About Chocolate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/","name":"Fresh Living","description":"Holistic, Health and Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/168fb6fdfd4f4d1a2e41e628b308b687","name":"hrossi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b92\/b928efbbb02076837659d614a160f471x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b92\/b928efbbb02076837659d614a160f471x96.jpg","caption":"hrossi"},"description":"Holly Lebowitz Rossi is Beliefnet's Health and Relationships Editor. A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Divinity School, she has more than a decade of experience writing about religion and spirituality for Newsweek, The Washington Post, Spa Finder, Sojourners, Search, and many other publications. Her commentaries have also been heard on NPR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Things Considered.\" When not at her desk, you can find her baking, in her garden, or rockin' out in water aerobics class. She lives in Arlington, Mass. Visit http:\/\/www.hollyrossi.com for more.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/hrossi"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}