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MAGAZINE Februar y/March 2025 cream, butter or milk fat, in a quantity equal to at least 3.5%. What is defined as ‘gianduja hazelnut’ chocolate is the result of combining chocolate – with a minimum total dry cocoa solid content of 32% and a minimum dry non-fat cocoa solid content of 8% – with finely ground hazelnuts, in such a way that 100 grams of the product contain no more than 40 and no less than 20 grams of hazelnuts. Black, plain and dark are all synonyms for chocolate that contains at least 45% cocoa. For extra dark chocolate, on the other hand, the percentage rises to 70%, and even as high as 100%. The ‘ruby’ variety is more modern: a completely natural pink chocolate, which in its creation process does not undergo any type of alteration by preservatives or colourings. The chocolate is pink, in fact, because its beans are pink, or rather ruby-coloured. They originate from Brazil, Ecuador and the Ivory Coast and undergo a special process that enhances their colour, fragrance and aroma. Finally, ‘chocolate familiar a la taza’ is obtained by combining cocoa, sugar and flour or wheat, rice or corn starch. To be defined as such, it must contain a minimum percentage of total dry cocoa solids of 30%, of which at least 18% is cocoa butter and at least 12% is fat-free dry cocoa, and a maximum flour or starch content of 18%. Then there is an all-Italian speciality, Cioccolato di Modica PGI, the only chocolate in the world to have received Protected Ge- ographical Indication certification in 2018. It can be produced in the entire administrative territory of the municipality of Modica, in the province of Ragusa, and is obtained exclusively from the processing of bitter cocoa paste with sugar. It is characterised by a sweet taste with a bitter note and can be combined, according to the percentages indicated in the specifications, with spices, natural flavourings, fruit (including dried or dehydrated fruit) and salt. CHOCOLATE, THE UNDISPUTED STAR OF EASTER Chocolate is one of the main ingredients at Ea- ster. It is the ‘nectar of the gods’ that sweetens this holiday with its delicious creations. Starting with Easter eggs and moving on to one of the most famous Italian Easter cakes: the colomba. While chocolate can be used in many different ways in Easter eggs, in the colomba it makes a delicious inclusion when added to the mixture, or a tasty coating when used as icing. Between these two great classics, we have litt- le eggs, pralines and reinterpretations of the pastiera, the typical Neapolitan dessert, with chocolate and oranges. TRENDS FOR EASTER 2025 The passion, inventiveness and inspiration of the greatest Italian and international pastry chefs have, in recent years, enabled them to go beans are still cultivated today. The cocoa pods, which contain the beans inside, are harvested from the trees by hand when they are ripe, and then opened to extract the beans within a week, or ten days at the most, from harvesting. After extraction from the pod, the beans undergo a process of fermentation and drying before being packed into sacks. FROM MILK TO DARK, TO EACH THEIR CHOCOLATE European Directive 2000-36-EC on cocoa and chocolate provides a clear definition of what chocolate is. To be called chocolate, it must have a minimum cocoa content of 35%, of which no less than 18% is cocoa butter and at least 14% is dry non-fat cocoa solids. But chocolate can be made in different ways. For example, it can be transformed into ‘chocolate powder’: a mixture of cocoa powder and sugar, with at least 32% cocoa powder. Then there is ‘couverture chocolate’, which must contain no less than 35% total dry cocoa solids, of which a minimum percentage of cocoa butter equal to 31% and fat-free dry cocoa equal to 2.5%. ‘Milk chocolate’, on the other hand, has a mi- nimum total dry cocoa solid content of 25%. ‘White chocolate’ is obtained by melting cocoa butter, milk or milk-based products and sugars, and contains not less than 20% cocoa butter and 14% milk solids obtained by partially or to- tally dehydrating whole milk, semi- or full-skim- med milk, cream, partially or totally dehydrated Food, and the extra touch that smoked salt gives at the end of cooking. New recipes and new combinations. Our supply chain comparisons always give rise to new ideas, which today are enriched by the technical expertise we provide. We are keen to share all this and our new piz- zeria catalogue. Most of all, we really want to do this and grow together with our customers. That's why we created a Pizza Qualitaly logo and an award for pizzerias that use our products and that participate in a training programme to learn how to use them best. In other words, for those who, like us, want to make the perfect ‘O’. ----------------------------------------------------------- AT PAGE 14 FOCUS ON Bitter-sweet chocolate AN ANCIENT INGREDIENT THAT IS SHIPPED ALL OVER THE WORLD EVERY DAY, IN A THOUSAND DIFFERENT FORMS. AND YET, IN RECENT YEARS THE SUPPLY CHAIN HAS BEEN FACED WITH NUMEROUS CHALLENGES RELATED TO SUSTAINABILITY AND PRICES by Veronica Fumarola Always considered the ‘food of the gods’. In one word: chocolate, or ‘theobroma’, to go back to its origins. The ‘theobroma’ (a genus of plants of the Malvaceae family) originated millions of years ago in South America, east of the Andes, as mentioned on the website of ICCO-The Inter- national Cocoa Organization, the intergovern- mental organisation that promotes sustainability in the world of cocoa. Recent archaeological evidence found in southern Ecuador indicates that cocoa beans were already being used by indigenous populations more than 5,300 years ago. Since then, the beans have been used by various pre-Columbian civilisations, including the Maya (who inhabited the area that is now Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras), the Inca (who lived in what is now Peru, Ecuador, Co- lombia and Bolivia) and the Aztecs (who po- pulated what is now southern Mexico). For the pre-Columbian civilisations, cocoa beans were a staple food: they were used to prepare drinks and mixed with corn flour and spices; but they were also a form of currency. It is said that the first foreigner to drink choco- late was Christopher Columbus, who reached Nicaragua in 1502 in search of a sea route to the spices of the East. But it was Hernan Cortés, who led an expedition to the Aztec empire in 1519, who returned to Spain in 1528 bringing with him the Aztec recipe for ‘xocoatl’, or in other words, chocolate drink. So, during the colonisation period, the cultivation of cocoa slowly spread to three areas: Asia, Africa, La- tin America and the Caribbean, where cocoa III