Substance Studies - Dark Chocolate (70% Cocoa)
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Full HD Version:    • Dark Chocolate in x100 Magnification  

This time I picked an intense dark chocolate made of cocoa solids (70% min). According to producers statement it is composed of cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla but may also contain nuts, milk, soya and sesame seeds. Cocoa beans are usually the main ingredient of chocolate production. The captured sample looks very uniform and boring at high magnification, but it made any color measurements were very reproducible, so the color was fairly easy to measure.

The chocolate production process is actually pretty complex from chemical reactions (molecular) point of view and consists of fermentation, drying, roasting, grinding of cocoa beans, mixing of all ingredients (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifiers, aroma, and milk components if needed), conching, and tempering. The most intensive changes on molecular level occur during fermentation and roasting of cocoa bean, and during conching of chocolate. Chocolate is very rich in fat, proteins, carbohydrates, polyphenols and other bioactive compounds. The main flavor compounds in chocolate are polyphenols, present in raw cocoa bean and going through various forms during production, and pyrazines formed during production, followed by aldehydes, ketones, and esters.

Measured albedo value of this exact chocolate sample in 0-255 PBR range and sRGB was R72, G64, B60 with relative luminance level at 0.257, so pretty similar luminance value to dark, brewed coffee, but chocolate seems to be less red and more blue to coffee.
As usual, to better understand light response when it illuminates the surface, I captured it in different magnification levels.

Cheers and till the next one!
G