Varieties of Chocolate and Their Differences

Varieties of Chocolate and Their Differences

They say money makes the world go round, but I’m confident that millions of chocoholics like myself would beg to differ. For one, you can’t pop a coin in your mouth and close your eyes in absolute surrender to let that warm, fuzzy, blissful feeling wash over you. In fact, you’d probably choke on it- and, add to that, chocolate was even used as a means of currency and tax payments by the ancient Aztecs. You can pretty much say chocolate figures high on the ‘things of high value that can never be replaced’ list.

On that note, let’s say hello to the members of the vast chocolate family:

Dark Chocolate

The chocolate as we know it today is mostly the sweetened, milk chocolate kind, but in the past few years, there’s been a huge demand for dark chocolate- and why not? In its true form, dark, unsweetened chocolate, though strong and bitter, is the elixir of good health and is replete with antioxidants.

Dark chocolate or black chocolate is made by adding sugar and fat to the cocoa, but has little or no milk compared to milk chocolate. A true dark chocolate should have a minimum of 15% concentrated chocolate liquor (in the USA; 35% in Europe) and cocoa butter. The latter is important because most of the commercial milk chocolates you get today have hydrogenated oil instead of cocoa butter- which is why they are cheap. Dark chocolate with cocoa butter tends to be a tad more expensive (couverture), but is well worth it since cocoa butter is far healthier.
How ‘dark’ these chocolates are would depend on how much cocoa they contain- some bars have 30% cocoa, while others have a concentration as high as 80% cocoa. The higher the percentage of cocoa in the chocolate, the more rich, healthy, and bitter it would be.
Dark chocolate in turn has different varieties such as unsweetened, bittersweet, semi-sweet, and sweet-dark chocolates.

Raw Chocolate

Raw chocolate is just what its name denotes- raw, unprocessed, unheated, and unmixed chocolate in its purest form. However, its sale in retail markets is very limited even though it is extremely healthy.

Milk Chocolate

As the name suggests, milk chocolate contains milk either in the form of powder, as a liquid, or condensed milk. A milk chocolate in the US should have a minimum chocolate liquor content of 10%, while in the Europe (save for UK and Ireland, where the minimum is 20%), the stipulated minimum limit is 25%. It is much lighter in color than dark chocolate and sweeter since its concentration of chocolate liquor is far less.

Couverture

Couverture is both dark and milk chocolate that has a substantial amount of cocoa butter and chocolate liquor and is often used by gourmet and pastry chefs due to its more ‘exclusive’ nature. These are often sold in specialty stores under brand names such as Lindt and Callebaut and often have cocoa content as high as 85%.

Cocoa Powder

Cocoa powder is the powdered form of cocoa that is often mixed with milk and sugar to be made as a drink and is also used for baking. Natural cocoa powder is light brown and has a slight acidic taste, while Dutch processed cocoa powder has a darker color and a lighter, more subtle taste. Nearly all the cocoa butter is removed from Dutch processed cocoa powder, which is not healthy considering all the healthy flavonoids in chocolate are present in cocoa butter.

Candy Coating Chocolate

Also known as confectionary coating, candy coating chocolate is just candy flavoured like white, milk, or dark chocolate and contains no cocoa butter whatsoever. It melts quickly and is cheap, and that’s why it is used in a majority of confectionary items.

White Chocolate

This is the end result of milk, fat, and sugar without the presence of any cocoa solids. The fat here may either be vegetable oil or cocoa butter. From a purist’s point of view, white chocolate technically isn’t even chocolate since it does not contain any cocoa solids or chocolate liquor. However, the FDA has deemed it mandatory for white chocolate in the USA to have at least 30% cocoa butter. If you cannot avoid white chocolate, then do the right thing and opt for one that has absolutely no hydrogenated oils in it.

As you can see from the discussion above, the healthiest chocolates are the ones that have the highest cocoa butter and chocolate liquor content, so make a wise decision today and go for real, genuine chocolates that can do your health a world of good.