Types of Chocolate
Chocolate is not just about candies, toffees and bars. In reality, the varieties of chocolate are totally different from what we think. There are several types of chocolate depending on their texture, color, taste, contents, and origin.
Cocoa powder: It is the ground or powder form of chocolate. The natural cocoa powder is light brown powder with a strong flavor of chocolate. They are slightly acidic in nature and are best used in the recipes that include baking soda in them. Alkalized cocoa powder is slightly darker in color and it is less acidic in nature, and slightly mild in taste. Hence they are recommended to be used in recipes with baking powder in them. Cocoa powder is used in low-fat recipes as it contains only around 10 to 20 percent of total fats in them.
Unsweetened chocolate: Unsweetened chocolate is also known as 'bitter' or 'baking' chocolate. Made up of ground cocoa beans, it looks and smells like chocolate, but it cannot be consumed as such. Unsweetened chocolate is mainly used for cooking combined with sugars so as to make it palatable and delicious. They provide a deep and rich chocolate flavor to the dishes and baked goods. Except for white chocolate, unsweetened chocolate is the basic ingredient for all other types of chocolate. They contain 100 percent cocoa solids and possibly half of it is butter fats.
Dark chocolate: Dark chocolates contain sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, vanilla and lecithin. They do not contain any milk solids in them. In markets, dark chocolate bars are available with 30 to 80 percent cocoa content.
Bittersweet chocolate: According to the FDA, a chocolate bar should contain 30 percent of cocoa. But some bars are bittersweet in taste and contain at least 30 to 70 percent of chocolate liquor. These bars are often deeper in color and bitter in taste. Some people consume it directly while some use such chocolate for cooking purpose.
Semi-sweet chocolate: This term was coined by Nestle when they introduced semi-sweet chocolate chips to the market. They contain at least 35 percent of cocoa solids and are darker in color than sweet chocolates. As the name suggests, these chocolates are semi-sweet which means they are sweeter than bittersweet chocolates but slightly bitter than regular sweet chocolates.
Sweet dark chocolate: It's a sweet chocolate but doesn’t contain any milk substitutes. This type of chocolate has a higher percentage of sugar than dark chocolates and are thus sweeter than all other dark chocolates. They contain 20 to 30 percent cocoa solids.
Milk chocolate: Milk chocolates contain milk substitutes along with the chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. They must contain 10 percent chocolate liquor, 3.39 percent milk fat and 12 percent milk solids. They are much sweeter than the dark chocolates and are lighter in color and lack a pronounced taste. They are more prone to overheating and melt easily.
White chocolate: White chocolate is white or cream-ish in color due to the cocoa butter, but it doesn’t contain any chocolate butter or chocolate liquor. It does not taste and smell like chocolate, instead, it tastes like vanilla or other added flavors. According to the FDA laws and regulations, white chocolates should contain a minimum amount of 20 percent cocoa butter, 14 percent milk solids, and a maximum of 55 percent of sugar. Some white chocolates often contain vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter.
Couverture chocolate: Couverture chocolates are generally used by professional pastry makers for dipping, molding and coating in pastries, candies and other chocolate recipes providing them with a smooth and shiny finish. The higher amount of cocoa butter makes this chocolate a bit pricey. They have high amounts of chocolate liquor too. They come in many varieties such as dark, milk and white chocolate and are found in cake decorating stores.
Gianduja chocolate: This is European style chocolate which is a combination of chocolate and nut pastes. Almond, hazelnut, cashew and pistachios are the most common nuts used in this type of chocolate. They come in dark and milk chocolate varieties.
Candy coating chocolate: They are also known as 'summer coating' or 'compound coating'. These chocolates are often cheaper than other chocolates and don’t contain much of chocolate liquor, and thus they don’t have a strong chocolate flavor. They are used in candy making and dipping. Since they don’t require tempering, they can withstand high temperature.
