Chocolate Gift Baskets

Chocolate is a food made from the beans of cocoa trees that are native to Central America.  The cocoa bean is intensely bitter on its own, but through a series of processes it comes to be the chocolate we know and love in the USA.

Chocolate liquor is non-alcoholic; it is actually the term used for the middle of the bean after it is ground up into liquid.  Cocoa butter is the fat extracted from the chocolate liquor.  Cocoa powder is the solid left after pressing the cocoa butter out of the liquor.  It may undergo a Dutch process, which reduces its acidity, making it into the cocoa that is best for hot chocolate.

Different types of chocolate include unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate.  Unsweetened chocolate is often used in baking and is the solid form of chocolate liquor.  Bittersweet chocolate is also most often used in baking and it has a minimum of 50% chocolate liquor, while semi-sweet chocolate contains a minimum of 35% chocolate liquor.  Dark chocolate contains only 15% chocolate liquor, as well as sweeteners and cocoa butter.  By far the sweetest of the darker chocolates, milk chocolate has at least 10% chocolate liquor and 12% milk solids mixed with sugar, vanilla, and cocoa butter.  White chocolate is made of cocoa butter, sugar, and milk solids, and lacks the brown color because it does not contain any cocoa solids.

Everyone loves receiving gourmet chocolate gifts, but chocolate varies in quality and taste because of recipe differences and the use of natural or artificial flavors.  On Chocolate-Gift-Baskets.com we feature several fine chocolatiers who offer a selection of chocolate confections and gift baskets for every occasion.

Chocolate Confectioners

• Godiva offers a variety of fine gourmet chocolates, truffles, cocoa, and gift baskets. Godiva Chocolate is a perfect gift for holidays, birthdays, and business occasions.
• Lake Champlain Chocolates offers gourmet chocolate truffles, chocolate gift baskets, and Kosher chocolates.
• Hauser Chocolates creates world class confections using select blends of pure chocolates and fine ingredients.
• Nantucket Clipper infuses old family recipes with inspiration and fine ingredients to bring you exquisite gourmet chocolate gifts.
• Bissinger's is a European style chocolatier who offers fine handmade, gourmet chocolate.
• Hershey's Gifts offers personalized chocolate cards, candy gifts and chocolate gifts.

Related Sites

• Chocolate Shop features a selection of online chocolate shops which offer a wider range of chocolate products and gift items.
• Gourmet Gifts features convenient access to popular online gourmet gift shops.

Chocolate Gift Baskets