Chocolate and Caramel: Better Together
Bite into a candy with a chocolate shell and a caramel center, and two different textures meet. The chocolate may snap or melt smoothly, while the caramel stretches and sticks to your teeth. Both taste sweet, but they begin with different ingredients and get their flavors in different ways.
From cacao to chocolate
Chocolate begins with seeds from the fruit of the cacao tree. These seeds, commonly called cacao beans, are fermented, dried, and roasted. During fermentation, tiny living organisms help change substances in the beans. Roasting brings out more of their chocolate flavor.
After the shells are removed, the pieces inside the beans are ground into a thick paste. This paste contains cocoa solids, which provide much of chocolate’s flavor, and cocoa butter, a natural fat. Chocolate makers mix the paste with ingredients such as sugar. Milk chocolate also contains milk ingredients, while dark chocolate usually has a stronger cocoa flavor.
Chocolate can feel firm at room temperature but soften in your mouth. That happens partly because cocoa butter melts close to body temperature. The way chocolate is cooled also affects its texture. Carefully cooled chocolate can have a glossy surface and a crisp snap.
Sugar becomes caramel
- fermented:
- Changed through a process involving tiny living organisms.
- roasted:
- Cooked with heat to develop flavor.
- solids:
- The nonfat parts of cacao beans that provide much of chocolate's flavor.
- texture:
- The way something feels, such as smooth, crisp, or chewy.
- glossy:
- Smooth and shiny.
- distinctive:
- Having qualities that make something easy to recognize.
- coating:
- A layer that covers the outside of something.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1How do chocolate and caramel get their distinctive flavors in different ways?
- 2Why can chocolate be firm at room temperature but soften in your mouth?
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About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“Chocolate and Caramel: Better Together” is a explanatory article reading passage about Candy Making, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 3 minutes to read (488 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.