Perfume winner! And a chocolate question...

[mollyringle]

Sorry for the delay in the announcement, but nehi won the perfume drawing from last week. Congratulations! I'll announce a new drawing (again a perfume) in a few days.

My question for the world: why is it seemingly impossible to get decaffeinated chocolate? I'm talking dark chocolate, now, not "white chocolate," which isn't exactly chocolate anyway. I assume there's something about the chemical makeup of cacao that creates difficulties in separating the caffeine-containing components from the good stuff.

Chocolate very seldom keeps me awake from caffeine content, but once in a while it does, in the case of a particularly rich, dark dessert. And for those who are seriously caffeine sensitive, a decaf version of chocolate would probably be a godsend.

Comments

[indrifan.livejournal.com]

Interesting question about chocolate - I just did a quick web search and found a lot of very suspicious-looking claims. This site seems sane, but is still fairly anecdotal. The gist is that the offending chemical in chocolate is theobromine and not caffeine. Theobromine content will be higher in dark chocolate. I wouldn't be surprised if some rich dark desserts have coffee added as well (assuming you didn't make them yourself). Anyway, it is probably the theobromine keeping you awake. If you want to goole it, the quality of information seems to be better if you search theobromine than not.

Some people mention carob as a chocolate substitute. I like carob for its own sake, but if you're looking for the full chocolate experience you're likely to be disappointed.
-Chris

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Huh, that's interesting! I never assumed that the caffeine thing might just be a myth. I may have to track down some Food Science people my parents know and see if they can illuminate the matter. But yeah, another stimulant could certainly be the issue, as could the addition of coffee products to chocolate desserts (it's a great flavor enhancer).

Agreed on carob. I think it actually tastes pretty good, but it isn't the thing for a dark chocolate fix.

Thank you!