What Makes Chocolate Chocolate?
First, a brief overview of what chocolate actually is and what the different chocolate products consist of. Chocolate is created from the fruit of the cacao tree, known more commonly as the cacao bean. There is a long and mildly complicated refining process, where the beans are put through several steps, including fermenting, drying, roasting, and grinding. This produces a couple of different things: chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder. Chocolate liquor is the ground or melted state of the cacao bean, which is equal parts fat and nonfat. The fatty parts are called cocoa butter, and the nonfat solids are referred to as cocoa powder. The variations of chocolate are slightly different in different parts of the world, but in America, the combination of cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and chocolate liquor is what determines what type of chocolate you have on your hands. In America, the Food and Drug Administration decides what can be labeled as what type of chocolate, but there are of course additives and variations within those categories, so it can be a little confusing. You can also vary the amount of time spent roasting the beans, as well as what temperature you roast them at, in order to create further varieties and flavors of chocolate. We will explore some of our favorite types to work with here, as well as how to distinguish between them for your best use when making baked goods!Cacao
Cacao refers to the raw bean, or an unprocessed version of it (cacao nibs are crunched up versions and cacao powder is ground cacao beans). This is often known as the healthiest form of chocolate that you can get, but it is also quite bitter in taste. The cacao beans can be eaten raw or roasted and are most common in chocolate-producing countries.
Unsweetened Chocolate
If you let pure chocolate liquor harden into a solid, it becomes what is known to bakers and confectioners as unsweetened chocolate. This is often referred to as baker's chocolate or baking chocolate, as the lack of sweetener makes it easier to work with in baking. The pure chocolate liquor produces a very rich, strong flavor, so it will produce the most consistent, robust end results. Eating unsweetened chocolate by itself is not ideal, however, as the flavor will be somewhat bitter.Bittersweet Chocolate
Bittersweet is what the name suggests, a slightly sweetened chocolate. If you add a little sugar to unsweetened chocolate liquor, then you will get bittersweet chocolate. The “rule” put forth by the Food and Drug Administration states that there needs to be at least 35% chocolate liquor and less than one third sugar in a bittersweet chocolate. There is more cocoa butter that has been added to the chocolate liquor as well. Though there is some sugar in bittersweet chocolate, the flavor is still decidedly bitter. Bittersweet is a great baking chocolate and provides a nice, rich base for products like fudge, cake, and other baked goods. There are a few types of chocolate similar to bittersweet, which is why it is important to understand the distinctions between each so you can use the correct one in your baking!Semisweet Chocolate
Often bittersweet and semisweet chocolates are used interchangeably, especially when it comes to baking. Semisweet is typically more sweet than bittersweet chocolate, with around 50% chocolate, although there are no specific requirements for semisweet in the United States. You are more likely to enjoy eating semi-sweet chocolate by itself than bittersweet chocolate, but it will still be slightly bitter to the taste. Bittersweet and semisweet chocolates come in a lot of different forms for baking, from chips to chocolate bars and almost any other form you could need!Dark Chocolate
These last two may have sounded like what you think of as dark chocolate, and you’re not wrong! The terminology is a little flexible, and technically "dark" chocolate only refers to anything with 70% cocoa or more. Extra dark chocolate is referring to the kind of chocolate that has a 85% or more chocolate, and these will be extremely bitter in taste, whereas the lower percentages will be slightly less bitter, comparatively. Dark chocolate is often called plain chocolate or black chocolate, due to the lack of extra milk in it, although it still usually contains cocoa butter. There are of course dark milk chocolates, as well as hybrids, but your average dark chocolate will not contain any milk.Milk Chocolate
This is my personal favorite, and probably yours too if you have a sweet tooth! Milk chocolate is solid chocolate that contains milk in addition to the cocoa. Milk chocolate was invented in Germany in 1839, but until 1875 it could only be consumed as a drink (yum!). In 1875, Swiss confectioner Daniel Peter and his neighbor Henri Nestle (a name you may have heard before) created the first solid milk chocolate on record, using condensed milk. As you probably know, milk chocolate is much sweeter than dark chocolates, is lighter in color, and is available in almost any form you could imagine, from Hershey's chocolate kisses to the melted chocolate fountain! Milk chocolate in America is required to have 10% cocoa solids, but in Europe, milk chocolates need to have at least 25% chocolate solids to be considered chocolate. "Hershey Process" chocolate is popular in the United States, made famous by Milton Hershey, another name you may have heard. While the process is proprietary, it involves adding milk from local farms to the chocolate, which can be tricky but has been very popular with consumers in America.White Chocolate
A lot of people claim that white chocolate is not even real chocolate, and that is actually true. White chocolate is made from sugar, milk, and cocoa butter, without any actual cocoa solids. This is why it is white in appearance instead of the typical brown color of chocolate. White chocolate, by law, must have at least 20% cocoa butter, 14% milk, and a maximum of 55% sugar. This type of chocolate is often enhanced with flavors like vanilla to complement its natural taste.
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