TYPES OF CHOCOLATE

As it is commonly known, chocolate is a result of a long refining process that starts with beans from the fruits of the tree Theobroma cacao. The beans get fermented, dried, then roasted and ground. The end products consist of cocoa butter (a solid smooth fat employed in cosmetics and food), and chocolate liquor. The chocolate type is determined by different amounts of chocolate liquor and cocoa butter the chocolate has the amount of sugar and some other contents combined with the mixture.

Below are the most known chocolate varieties.

"Candy coating" chocolate

This chocolate variety is also called "compound coating," "confectionery coating,” or “summer coating." These involve flavoured candy products including milk, white or dark chocolate where palm or vegetable oils are used as substitutes for cocoa butter. These are cheaper than a lot of chocolates and do not contain much of chocolate liquor. They have exceptional moulding and melting properties, thus they are frequently employed for enrobing and dipping in candy making given that they can bear high ambient temperatures and do not need tempering.

Cocoa powder

This unsweetened pulverized powder is partially defatted chocolate liquor. Cocoa powder offers great chocolate taste and has natural or Dutch-processed varieties. Natural cocoa powder has strong chocolate flavour and is light brown in colour. It is preferable to be used in recipes which need baking soda since it is somewhat acidic. On the other hand alkalized cocoa powder is less acidic, has milder chocolate taste and has darker color. It is nice to be employed on recipes that call for baking powder.

Bittersweet chocolate

According to FDA, this chocolate has no less than 35% cocoa solids. A number of bittersweet chocolate bars have 50 % chocolate liquor at the least amount and some bars contain 70 to 80% chocolate liquor. These types of chocolate taste bitterer than semi-sweet or sweet dark chocolate. Sugar amounts of the bittersweet chocolate are not regulated thus they vary in sweetness depending on the manufacturers.

 

Unsweetened chocolate

This is also called “baking” or “bitter” chocolate. This variety is pure chocolate liquor, which merely contains ground cocoa beans.  It smells like chocolate but it tastes bitter and cannot be consumed on its own. It is combined with sugar to be used in cooking.  Unsweetened chocolate gives luscious chocolate taste to baked goodies.

Dark chocolate

This chocolate consists of lecithin (emulsifier), cocoa butter, vanilla, sugar and chocolate liquor. Dark chocolate does not contain any milk solids. Commercial dark chocolates contains cocoa in 30% ( for sweet dark) to 70-80% (super dark bars). Semi-seet and dark chocolate belongs to the "dark chocolate” category.

Semi-sweet chocolate

This American term is made popular by Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips. Semi-sweet chocolate has cocoa solids of at least 35%, and is sweeter than bittersweet chocolate but darker than the sweet dark chocolate. Nevertheless, lack of regulations related to sugar content implies that these classifications are relative and is not constant across brands.

Sweet dark chocolate

Sweet dark chocolate is a dark chocolate which does not contain milk solids, however it has high sugar levels and is sweeter than other dark chocolate varieties. Several brands of this type contain merely 20 to 40% of cocoa solids.

Couverture chocolate

Couverture chocolate is commonly used by professional confectioners or bakers, this chocolate has high levels of chocolate liquor and high percentage (at least 30%) of cocoa butter. This high ratio makes the chocolate so pricey but the product is smooth and melts evenly and quickly. Couverture chocolate is commonly used for enrobing and tempering candies. It has milk, white and dark varieties and can be bought at well-stocked cake decorating shops and online.

Gianduja chocolate

Gianduja refers to European style of chocolate created from nut paste and chocolate. Commonly, hazel nut paste is used but almond paste can also be employed in making gianduja. It comes in dark or milk chocolate varieties. Gianduja chocolate can be substituted for dark or milk chocolate or used as a flavouring. At room temperature, it is adequately soft to be cut or rolled however it is so much soft to be used for molding chocolates.

Milk chocolate

Milk chocolate contains chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. Moreover it has either dry milk solids or condensed milk (commonly European varieties). Milk chocolate must consist of 12% milk solids, 3.39 % butterfat, and 10% chocolate liquor. Milk chocolate is usually much sweeter than dark chocolate, and lighter and color and less evident chocolate flavor. Milk chocolate is more susceptible to overheating and is much difficult to be properly tempered.

White chocolate

The name "white chocolate" is derived from the cocoa butter contents, but this variety doesn't have chocolate liquor or some other cocoa products. Subsequently it has great chocolate taste, though its flavor is usually similar to vanilla or any additional flavorings. White chocolate has a at most 55% of sugar, 14% milk solids and at least 20% of cocoa butter.