Chocolate

Both chocolate and cocoa are derived from cocoa beans. After the beans have been fermented, roasted and ground, the resulting product is called chocolate liquor, which contains a fat called cocoa butter.

Unsweetened or Bitter Chocolate: is straight chocolate liquor, which contains no sugar and has a strongly bitter taste. It is used to flavor items that have other sources of sweetness.

Sweetened Dark Chocolate: is bitter chocolate with the addition of sugar and cocoa butter in varied proportions. It is divided into 3 categories, from low to high cocoa content:

• Sweet chocolate: 15-50% chocolate liquor,
• Semisweet chocolate: usually 50-65% chocolate liquor,
• Bittersweet chocolate: 65-85% chocolate liquor.

Coating Chocolate or Baking Chocolate: Less expensive and lower-quality chocolates, which have part of the cocoa butter replaced by other fats. They’re easier to handle and less reactive to temperature, but do not have the same flavor and qualities of good chocolate.

Milk Chocolate: is sweet chocolate with milk solids added in. It is commonly used as coating chocolate and in a variety of confections.

White Chocolate: consists of cocoa butter, sugar, and milk solids. For inexpensive brands, other fats can be completely substituted for the cocoa butter, which means these products substantially don’t contain any chocolate components at all. Nevertheless, the term “white chocolate” is in common use.