What type of chocolate lover are you? A brief blog about types of chocolate.

Coffee, tea, wine, chocolate.... what kind you like often gives away a tiny bit of your personality. It's fun to play the guessing game when you know someone well enough. It's so much fun to get it right too. For example, I like dark chocolate. But that was not always the case. I used to think it was awful, gross and too strong. I also used to like Sutter Home white zinfandel and now I won't go near the stuff. I like french roast coffee, a hearty cabernet and dark chocolate. What does this say about me, eh, I have no idea. I would say artist if it was someone else but I don't feel that that's a fair judgment of myself because I already know that it is true. What I can tell you is that I think that white chocolate is elegant. I think milk chocolate is fun. And I think that dark chocolate is decadent. 


I used to make chocolates for the holidays when I was younger. As messy as it was I thought it was so much fun. Because it was so messy I haven't done it for years but I decided I would give it another shot this Christmas. With age and excessive reading comes knowledge because this year it was NOT messy and it all came out delicious! I made truffles for the first time and I am in love with them. I plan on making more for Valentine's Day. I will post the truffle recipe soon.


As previously stated I am a nerd.... and I seem to be incapable of making decisions without researching as many possibilities I can.... so obviously when it came time to making truffles I learned as much as I could about chocolate. Once I started reading I realized that I actually knew nothing beyond what tasted good to me.  Chocolate is serious business. It is regulated by the United States government, that when it says chocolate, you are indeed getting chocolate. And our regulations vary from European regulations.


Unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor which is known as bitter chocolate, baking chocolate or cooking chocolate. It is mixed with some form of fat (cocoa butter) to produce a solid form. It is unaltered chocolate.


Dark chocolate is made from adding fat and sugar to caocao. It does not have milk. There are no US government definitions for dark chocolate.


Milk chocolate had condensed or powdered milk added to it. The US government requires at least a 10% concentration of chocolate liquor. Famous milk chocolate: Hershey's and Nestle.


Semisweet chocolate is used in baking a great deal. It is dark chocolate with low sugar content. 


Bittersweet chocolate is interchangeable with semisweet chocolate. Yet it chocolate liquor with some sugar, cocoa butter, and vanilla. It contains less sugar than semisweet chocolate. The American FDA classifies chocolate as either "bittersweet" or "semisweet" that contains at least 35% cacao.


White chocolate. Ah yes white chocolate. Many say that white chocolate isn't even really chocolate. I like to think that it's like how when I went to art school I was told that black and white really aren't colors. Black is the absorption of all colors and white is the reflection of all colors.  White chocolate is made from sugar, nutmeg and fat- hopefully cocoa butter or you're not getting good chocolate. And it has no cocoa in it. Making it hard to understand why it's called chocolate.


Cocoa powder there are two types of unsweetened baking cocoa available: natural cocoa (like the sort produced by Hershey's and Nestlé using the Broma process), and Dutch-process cocoa (such as the Hershey's European Style Cocoa and the Droste brand). Both are made by pulverising partially defatted chocolate liquor and removing nearly all the cocoa butter. Natural cocoa is light in colour and somewhat acidic with a strong chocolate flavour. Natural cocoa is commonly used in recipes which call for baking soda. Because baking soda is an alkali, combining it with natural cocoa creates a leavening action that allows the batter to rise during baking. Dutch-process cocoa is processed with alkali to neutralise its natural acidity. Dutch cocoa is slightly milder in taste, with a deeper and warmer colour than natural cocoa. Dutch-process cocoa is frequently used for chocolate drinks such as hot chocolate due to its ease in blending with liquids. Unfortunately, Dutch processing destroys most of the flavonoids present in cocoa. (thank you wikipedia)


When you're buying chocolate for baking make sure it has cocoa butter in it. Then you've got the good stuff. Any chocolate that contains vegetable fat, tropical fats or hydrogenated fats is not actually allowed to be called chocolate according to the US government. It goes by the fun name of "compound chocolate". 


My secret to making super delicious chocolate anything.... coffee. I put either a little bit of brewed coffee in it OR I use instant coffee granules. It doesn't taste like coffee but it makes for a more rich chocolate flavor.


Oh and before I forget, Dove chocolates..... has inspirational messages written inside their individually wrapped chocolates.  I liked it. And they're good if you need a little pick me up.




Cheers!