“Sweet” companies are fighting for the consumer, offering products with unusual and original tastes. Chocolate with mint is produced by several companies. The competition is high, the spoiled buyer wants everything at once: both taste, and convenient shape, and attractive packaging, and safe, and, if possible, also useful composition.
The brand
It’s hard to find someone who at least once has not come across Nestle products. The Swiss brand is known on all five continents. Founded in 1866, a small company has set itself the task of creating a milk formula for infants. At the end of the nineteenth century, infant mortality was very high.
Henry Nestle invented nutrition for infants and established its industrial production. Over time, other foods were added to the mixture. The company's management has never saved on investments in scientific research in the field of studying food products and their impact on the human body.
In the twenties of the last century, chocolate production was added to the assortment. Nestle sweets quickly gained popularity, they are of excellent quality. Today, chocolate is the second most important for the company and accounts for 3% of the total production of products. In an effort to satisfy customer requests, experts offer new tastes, sometimes quite unexpected, such as, for example, chocolate with mint filling.
Chocolate
Actually, chocolate itself is a product of the processing of seeds of the bean tree - cocoa beans. Homeland - Central and South America. The Aztecs and Mayans used it as a cold spicy drink. In addition to crushed roasted seeds and water, it included hot peppers. It was an invigorating frothy drink with a high fat content.
Chocolate from cocoa beans came to Europe in the middle of the 16th century. At first it was prepared according to the recipe of the American Indians. Over time, it degenerated into a hot sweet drink. Such a pleasure from expensive raw materials could afford only very rich Europeans.
Chocolate owes its modern solid appearance to the Dutchman Conrad van Guten. In 1828, he was the first to patent a relatively inexpensive method for squeezing butter from grated cocoa. With a difference of one year (1847), a solid bar of chocolate appeared in France and England. Milk “brother” was born in 1875 after the successful addition of milk powder to the mix. The Swiss were the first to note the relationship between the duration of conching (forced mechanical mixing of the chocolate mass) and the taste of chocolate. The correct calculation allowed Swiss confectioners to maintain a leading position in the production of delicious desserts for a long time.
History
For a long time, chocolate made from cocoa and mint (before appearing in Europe) was not used as a dessert. The plant was accessible to everyone, and a hot drink was the privilege of wealthy people. Both were ingredients for the manufacture of medicines in the skilled hands of pharmacists.
Who and when invented to combine chocolate with mint is not known. Currently, many companies producing chocolate offer customers this curious dessert. Peppermint and curly mint are suitable for its manufacture. It is added to sweets, muffins, ice cream, candies and other sweets. Peppermint goes well with milk, bitter and white varieties of chocolate.
The company's product is a thin bar of dark chocolate with mint fondant filling. The consistency is closer to the viscous leaking iris.
After Eight (Mint from Nestle) has been available since 1962. To the 50th anniversary of this event, the company released a 300-gram package in a new design. Thus, the relentless demand for goods over generations was noted. As before, this is an excellent product - dark chocolate with peppermint filling, without artificial colors, preservatives or flavors.
Taste
Nestle Peppermint Chocolate offers a fabulous blend of delicate chocolate flavor and explosive peppermint freshness. She does not interrupt the easy pleasant bitterness of goodies. Delicate “warm” chocolate is ideal for sharp “cool” mint, emphasizing the exquisite combination of products.
The degree of saturation of mint chocolate depends primarily on its composition and production technology. Peppermint goes well with milk, white and black types of chocolate. In each case, the buyer is offered a unique and surprisingly fragrant product. It has its own degree of richness of mint flavor and its own unique formula.
The literal translation of the name After Eight - “after eight in the evening” - accurately reflects the purpose of the refreshing dessert. It will serve as a wonderful decoration of evening tea drinking in a pleasant company of close people.
Packaging
Chocolate with mint looks like a pack of dark green tea. Inside is an original accordion-shaped insert, it contains thin, packed records (21 pieces in a 200-gram package). The small size of chocolates is very convenient for those who are worried about their volumes. They are square in shape, the approximate size is 5 by 5 cm, the thickness is only 5 mm. On one side there is a textural wave pattern, on the other - a company inscription. The packaging of the plates themselves is a black envelope with a printed pattern. Multilayer packaging allows you to store chocolate for a long time at ordinary room temperature.
Composition
Nestle mint chocolate, like any other product of the company, is of excellent quality. It consists of:
- milk fat (the basis is cow's milk), provides tenderness and softness;
- milk sugar (lactose, carbohydrate), is responsible for energy value;
- stabilizer (invertase, enzyme), or E1103, accelerates the breakdown of sucrose, helps to increase shelf life;
- emulsifier (lecithin), or E322, works as an antioxidant, prevents the "aging" of chocolate;
- acidity regulator (citric acid), or E330, adds elasticity and increases shelf life;
- peppermint oil;
- sugar;
- grated cocoa;
- glucose syrup;
- cocoa oil;
- skimmed milk powder ;
- salt;
- natural flavoring is vanillin.
All additives of category "E" are allowed in the countries of the European Union. The manufacturer indicates their original names on all packages, this helps customers better navigate when choosing a product. The cocoa content is 51%. 100 grams contains:
- proteins - 2.5 g .;
- fats - 12.8 gr.;
- carbohydrates - 74.4 gr.;
- energy value - 418 kcal.
Varieties
The food industry is able to satisfy a wide variety of tastes. This also applies to chocolate products. Manufacturers offer a choice of three types:
- Black bitter. Main ingredients: icing sugar, cocoa butter, grated cocoa. By changing the ratio of cocoa and powder, changes in taste are achieved. The higher the percentage of grated cocoa, the stronger the aroma and bitterness.
- Lactic. Powdered milk is added to its composition, usually a film with a fat content of 2.5% or dry cream. Cocoa gives off its flavor, and milk and powdered sugar determine the taste. It has a light brown tint and does not tolerate high air temperature, it begins to melt.
- White. It contains no cocoa powder. Powdered milk with a caramel tint provides a peculiar taste of this variety. It does not contain caffeine and theobromine. The product is cream-colored, easily melts when the ambient temperature rises.
Peppermint chocolate is available in all three flavors. In addition to the above types, companies offer porous chocolate in all variations (bitter, milk, white). Vegan, often dark, without milk or made on plant-based ingredients (rice, almond, soy or coconut milk). Special diabetic chocolate contains sweeteners instead of sugar.
Competitor
The main competition of Nestle in the production of the original product is the German company Ritter Sport. Chocolate with mint "Ritter Sport" looks a little different. These are not plates, but chocolate cubes. 40% of the goodies are mint filling. The peculiarity is that the raw materials are organic cocoa varieties from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Tight packaging made of modern materials reliably protects the product, guarantees the preservation of aroma and taste.
It should be noted that the Swiss launched the first mint chocolate. In 1962, there were no analogues on the market for such a dessert. The company did not crowd out competitors, did not conquer sales markets with battle. The company's specialists gave the gourmets an amazing combination of tastes. The original After Eight firmly holds a leadership position.