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Types of chocolates
White Chocolate is produced
from a mixture of cocoa butter, milk
and sugar. The brown chocolate paste does not enter into its composition.
The cocoa butter is the natural fat of the bean with a delicate chocolate
aroma, pressed from chocolate liquor.
Dark
chocolate used to describe any sweetened chocolate that does not contain
milk solids. It is also sometimes called bittersweet or semi-sweet.
Normally, Europeans refer to dark chocolate as bittersweet, while Americans
refers to dark chocolates as semi-sweet. Dark chocolates normally
contain cocoa liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla
and sometimes lecithin to act as an emulsifier.
Dark chocolates have at least 35% of chocolate liquor in North America and around 43% in Britain. Thus the Europeans normally have dark chocolates that are stronger in chocolate flavour, while Americans have dark chocolates that are sweeter. The best chocolates can contain up to 65-70% chocolate liquor. The higher the chocolate liquor content, the richer and more flavorful the chocolate is.
Milk
chocolate contains chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, vanilla, milk solids, and
lecithin. Milk chocolate must contain the following, which is 10% chocolate
liquor, 3.7% milk fats, and 12% milk solids. It also contains less chocolate
liquor than dark chocolate and therefore have a less pronounced chocolate
flavor. The better
brands normally contain a bigger percentage of cocoa liquor. It should be smooth on
the palate, and not have a greasy aftertaste. It is quite sensitive to heat
due to its high sugar content.
Chocolate chips
are small rounds of semi-sweet, milk or
white chocolate that contain less cocoa butter than other chocolates. They
are made to be able to withstand moderate heat from the oven so they retain their texture and
shape in cookies, muffins, and other baked desserts looking like they have
not melted, even though the insides has melted. This is because of the smaller amount
of cocoa butter, of about 25-30%, in the chocolate chips. Some brands
might use vegetable
fat as an ingredient.
German Sweet Chocolate is a dark baking chocolate that was created by Samuel German, who thought it would be time-saving for bakers to have a chocolate where the sugar was already added to it. It is sweeter than most dark chocolate and contains a blend of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, flavorings, and lecithin. The quality of the chocolate as usual depends on the ingredients and processing.
Unsweetened chocolate is also called baking, plain or bitter chocolate. This is chocolate's rawest form. The chocolate liquor, that has been refined, contains 50-55% cocoa butter. Since sugar has not been added to the chocolate, it has a strong, bitter taste that is usually used in cooking or baking, but is never eaten out of hand.