Decoding the Chocolate Bar Label
Contents
Introduction __________________________________________________________________ 3
You say Cocoa, I say Cacao_______________________________________________________ 4
Percentage ___________________________________________________________________ 6
Chocolate Bar Types ____________________________________________________________ 7
Milk Chocolate: _______________________________________________________________________ 7
Dark Milk Chocolate ___________________________________________________________________ 8
Sweet Chocolate: _____________________________________________________________________ 8
White Chocolate: _____________________________________________________________________ 9
Unsweetened Chocolate: _______________________________________________________________ 9
Chocolate Flavor ______________________________________________________________________ 9
Dark Chocolate ______________________________________________________________________ 11
Cacao Bean Varieties __________________________________________________________ 12
Criollo _____________________________________________________________________________ 12
Forastero ___________________________________________________________________________ 12
Trinitario ___________________________________________________________________________ 12
Specializations _______________________________________________________________ 13
Single Origin ________________________________________________________________________ 13
Artisanal ___________________________________________________________________________ 13
Raw _______________________________________________________________________________ 14
Certifications ________________________________________________________________ 15
California Certified Organic Farmers _____________________________________________________ 15
Certified Vegan ______________________________________________________________________ 15
Earth Kosher ________________________________________________________________________ 15
Fair Trade Certified ___________________________________________________________________ 15
Forest Stewardship Council ____________________________________________________________ 16
Gluten Free _________________________________________________________________________ 16
Rainforest Alliance Certified ____________________________________________________________ 16
USDA Organic _______________________________________________________________________ 16
Truth in Labeling Pledge _______________________________________________________________ 17
UTZ Certified ________________________________________________________________________ 17
Ingredients/ Definitions ________________________________________________________ 18
Cocoa butter: _______________________________________________________________________ 18
Cocoa powder: ______________________________________________________________________ 18
Alkali: ______________________________________________________________________________ 18
Cocoa nibs: _________________________________________________________________________ 19
Chocolate Liquor _____________________________________________________________________ 19
Lecithin: M _________________________________________________________________________ 19
PGPR ______________________________________________________________________________ 20
Sweetener: _________________________________________________________________________ 20
Vanilla _____________________________________________________________________________ 20
Calculating % of cacao solids and fat ______________________________________________ 21
Conclusion __________________________________________________________________ 23
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“A chocolate bar is a confection in bar form
comprising some or all of the following components: cocoa
solids, cocoa butter, sugar, milk. The relative presence or
absence of these components form the subclasses of dark
chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. In addition
to these main ingredients, it may contain emulsifiers such as
soy lecithin and flavors such as vanilla.” - Wikipedia
W
-
Introduction
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_bar
These days, choosing a chocolate can be as complicated as choosing a wine or coffee,
with labels boasting cacao percentages plus words such as artisan, single origin, and
organic. Just like wine and coffee, price doesn’t necessary mean quality.
You can learn a lot from reading a label. And there could be huge differences from bar
to bar. All the information on a label is good information to know when purchasing a
chocolate bar. Unfortunately there are some things you can’t learn from a label – like
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quality.
Many countries define and regulate the ingredients within various chocolate bars.
Hence there is no international standard and chocolate bars purchased in various
countries may have significant differences in taste.
In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established very strict
guidelines or Standards of Identity (SOI) that specifies what ingredients constitute the
various forms of chocolate. These standards designate the names of the cacao products
as well as the percentage of key ingredients that must be present.
Learn in the following sections what words matter in choosing a chocolate bar that can
range in price from $.50 to $16.00 and up
This edition is based on USA standards only. Future editions will be updated with
Canadian and European standards.
You say Cocoa, I say Cacao
What is the difference between "cacao" and "cocoa"? Historically,
"cacao" and "cocoa" have been used interchangeably. Cacao is thought
to originate from the Mayan term (kakaw). It’s actually believed that
the word cocoa came about due to a misspelling by early English traders,
and it happened to catch on because it was easier to pronounce.
As
defined by the FDA, cacao includes all the ingredients derived from the
cacao bean. And cocoa refers only to cocoa powder, i.e., the powder
made by grinding partially defatted cacao beans.
David Lebovitz, author of The Great Book of chocolate define s cacao and
cocoa as follows:
“Cacao refers to the pod (cacao pods), the beans within (cacao
beans), and the pure paste of the bean (cacao paste or cacao
"liquor").
Cocoa is the powder made from the cacao bean, which is mashed
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into a paste then pounded to extract the cocoa butter and
pulverized into a dry powder.”
Some products in the USA use the term “% Cocoa” interchangeably with “% Cacao”.
The word cacao seem to be popping up more and more lately. It’s often used by
companies to represent their powder as being more “pure” or “raw” compared to
regular cocoa powder.
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Percentage
Whenever you see a % on a chocolate label, it refers to the total cacao content (by
weight) in the chocolate,. The percent of cacao content that is most commonly found in
the grocery store ranges between 50% and 60%. But because of the growing trend for
higher cacao percentages it’s not hard to find chocolates with higher cacao percentages,
in the 70s and higher.
The three cocoa components are: chocolate liquor (also called cocoa
mass or paste) , cocoa powder (cocoa solids) and cocoa butter (cocoa
fat). In other words, if it came from the cacao tree, it's included in the
percentage. If it didn't, it did not. The ratio of chocolate liquor, cocoa
butter, and cacao powder is arrived at differently by different
chocolate companies, which is one of the reasons why chocolate with
the same cacao percentage tastes different.
The cocoa percentage simply reflects the sweetness of the product.
The higher the cacao content, the lower the sugar content. However a
higher cocoa percentage has little bearing on the quality. For example, a 70% chocolate
may range from excellent to terrible. The only specific thing that we can say about a 70%
chocolate bar, with any certainty, prior to tasting it, is that it has about 30% sugar in the
formulation. The % doesn’t tell you the type quality of the beans, the growing,
harvesting, manufacturing, etc. which go a long way in creating a distinctive flavor
quality.
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Chocolate Bar Types
In the USA the FDA has established very strict guidelines or Standards of Identity (SOI)
that specifies what ingredients constitute the various forms of chocolate. The U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) established Standards of Identity for various cacao
products (21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 163). These standards designate the
names of the cacao products as well as the percentage of key ingredients that must be
present.
Milk Chocolate:
Milk chocolate is the most
frequently consumed type of chocolate in the
United States consisting of sweeteners, chocolate
liquor, cocoa butter, milk (or cream), and flavors.
Milk chocolate must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor and 12% milk solids to meet
the U.S. standard of identity. The only fats allowed in milk chocolate are cocoa butter
and milk fat
They are typically much sweeter than dark chocolate, and have a lighter color. Because
milk chocolate has more added sugar than dark, as well as dried milk solids, it has a
lower percentage of cocoa mass, usually about 30 to 40 percent.
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Dark Milk Chocolate
For those who love the taste of milk
chocolate but crave the deep chocolaty flavor of dark, many companies
are creating dark milk varieties which have a higher cocoa mass
percentage than conventional milk chocolates. This gives the creamy
milk chocolate a more pronounced flavor. These chocolates usually
range between 38% and 42%. Normal milk chocolate can have as little as
10% cacao percentage. The other ingredients in milk chocolate are milk
solids or powder, sugar, lecithin, and vanilla
Bittersweet (Semi-sweet) Chocolate:
Bittersweet or semi-sweet (it may go by either name) is a
prepared mixture of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, an
emulsifier, and sometimes vanilla flavoring. It can contain
between 35 and 99% cacao content. There are significant variations among brands.
The amount of sugar in the chocolate is not regulated, so one manufacturer’s
“bittersweet” bar may taste sweeter than another’s “bittersweet” bar.
Some manufacturers, such as Ghirardelli, distinguish their bittersweet chocolate as
being less sweet then semi-sweet chocolate. Ghirardelli’s Bittersweet chocolate “has an
unsweetened chocolate content of 50% or more and Semi-sweet chocolate contains 3545% unsweetened chocolate”. Since there are no specific regulations on how much
sugar semi-sweet chocolate is required to contain, so the distinction is somewhat
arbitrary.
Sweet Chocolate: Sweet chocolate is a mixture of chocolate
liquor, milk solids, cocoa butter, sugar, an emulsifier, and sometimes
vanilla flavoring. It can contain anywhere between 15 and 34% cacao
content. It has a high percentage of sugar and much sweeter than other
types of dark chocolate.
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White Chocolate: White chocolate contains the
same ingredients as milk chocolate with the exception
of chocolate liquor or cocoa powder. It is must contain
at least 20% cocoa butter, 14% total milk solids, and
less than 55% sugar
White chocolate gets its name from the cocoa butter it contains. As it contain no
chocolate liquor or any other cocoa products, it has no pronounced chocolate taste and
is much lighter in color than milk or dark chocolate.
The important thing here is that it is made with real cocoa butter, not some other
imitation fat, which tastes nothing like chocolate. Because there's so little "chocolate" in
white chocolate, many of the different products all seem to taste the same. The flavor
is mainly one of milk, vanilla and sugar.
Unsweetened Chocolate:
Also known as
baking or bitter chocolate as it has no sugar. This is pure
chocolate liquor, served straight up. Its bitterness comes
from pure nibs, the finely ground centers of roasted cocoa
beans. It is primarily used in baking when it is combined
with a sweetener to make it more palatable.
Chocolate Flavor:
Currently, the FDA does
not allow a product to be labeled to as "chocolate" if
the product is substituted with less expensive
vegetable fats and oil for cocoa butter. To work
around this restriction, products with cocoa substitutes are often branded or labeled as
chocolate flavor or chocolatey.
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Dark Chocolate: The U.S. has no official definition for dark chocolate.
Without a
standard, manufacturers can be quite liberal in what they call dark chocolate. There
are typically no milk solids added in dark chocolate Many brands of sweet dark
chocolate have only 20-40% cocoa solids For many manufacturers, dark is
synonymous with semisweet, and extra dark with bittersweet, although the ratio of
cocoa butter to solids may vary.
Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate bar is sweet
chocolate bar - sugar is the first ingredient on the
ingredient list. It contains milk-derived
ingredients: milk fat, lactose (milk) and milk. Fits
into the definition of Sweet Chocolate. It contains the following ingredients: sugar;
chocolate; cocoa butter; cocoa processed with alkali; milk fat; lactose (milk); soy
lecithin; PGPR, emulsifier; vanillin, artificial flavor; milk
This Panama Extra Dark Chocolate bar has 80%
cacao content and contains the following ingredients:
Organic Chocolate Liquor, Organic Raw Cane Sugar,
Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Ground Vanilla
The Dove Dark Chocolate bar does not include a
cacao percentage on the front wrapper. It is a semisweet chocolate containing the following
ingredients: Semisweet chocolate (sugar, chocolate,
chocolate processed with alkali, cocoa butter,
milkfat, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavors)
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Cacao Bean Varieties
Some manufacturers will list the variety of cacao
Criollo: The rarest and finest cocoa variety accounting for less
than 1% of the world’s cacao. Today it is found only in the oldest
of plantations in Mexico, Columbia and Venezuela. Criollo
chocolate has a distinctly reddish colour, and an equally
distinctive complex taste which is slightly bitter and more
aromatic than other varieties
Forastero:
These beans are the most widespread which have
been cultivated for mass production due to the hardiness. These
beans are bitter and offer a limited range of (strong) flavours.. It is the
most popular variety (approximately 90% of the world’s cocoa
harvest).
Trinitario: This is a hybrid cocoa plant, created by crossbreeding
the two previous varieties, Criollo and Forastero. The beans vary
greatly in taste but are generally marked by a good, aromatic flavor
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Specializations
Single Origin:
It’s not unusual to hear people
talking about wine regions, tastes of wine from
particular wineries, and wine made from different types
of grapes. This interest in differing tastes depending
upon region has migrated to chocolate and has introduced the concept of single origin
chocolate.
Single origin chocolate is chocolate made from beans from one geographic region,
sometimes even one estate or plantation.. Chocolate connoisseurs argue that chocolate
has varied tastes and such tastes depend upon where it is grown and are affected by the
climate, soil properties, and farming. When chocolate is made from beans from many
different areas, taste distinction is more difficult to discern.
Chocolate bars with a single origin may not necessary be better. Some experts believe
that a bar from blended beans will make better chocolate with more complexity.
The idea is often paired with the concept of organic growing conditions, and with good
labor conditions for workers.
Artisanal: The word "artisanal" simply means
"made by an artisan"—a skilled and seasoned expert..
This term doesn't really indicate much about the
chocolate itself; chances are it comes from a small
manufacturer as opposed to a factory, but there's no regulation on the term.
The word “artisanal” gets thrown around rather liberally in the gourmet-food world, but
at heart, it refers to products crafted with the great skill and care of a seasoned expert.
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Raw:
The fundamental difference between a commercial
chocolate bar and raw chocolate is that the cacao in raw chocolate
is never heated above 118°C. Commercial chocolate has primarily
been roasted and heated at high temperatures – often multiple
times. Most raw chocolate is produced by smaller companies with
transparent sourcing policies, which means that most of it comes
from small Fairtrade famers
Keeping low temperatures is not only out of normal production
routine, but is also more labor intensive, time-consuming, and thus
more expensive
The lower the temperature, the higher content of antioxidants are
preserved.
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Certifications
Many manufacturers choose to include certifications labels on bars to represent the
transparency of their businesses.. Below is a sampling of such certifications.
California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) is one of the
very highest integrity organic certification agencies working with the
USDA. The seal may be used alone or in conjunction with the USDA
organic seal.
Certified Vegan seal verifies that the product does not contain any animal
products and has not been tested on animals
http://vegan.org/certify/
Finding vegan chocolate bars is a bit more complicated than simply avoiding milk
chocolate. Even some dark-chocolate brands include small amounts of dairy, or
were processed on machinery that also processes milk products — a practice that
renders them unacceptable for strict vegans. The most reliable way to find out if a bar
is animal-free is to check the ingredients. Avoid bars that contain casein, whey, or other
milk derivatives.
Earth Kosher seal certifies that products meet the dietary or
ceremonial laws of Judaism. http://earthkosher.com/
Fair
Trade Certified seal ensures that cacao farmers
(who typically
live in developing countries in South America, Africa,
and
Southeast Asia) receive a guaranteed minimum price
for their
products, enjoy safe working conditions, employ
sustainable
growing methods that benefit their own health as well
as the planet. And strictly prohibits slave and child labor.
http://www.fairtradeusa.org/products-partners/cocoa
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Forest Stewardship Council label ensures that the
consumption of forest products of its certified companies is ethical and
sustainable. Products that have an FSC logo have met the requirements
and therefore come from a well maintained forest. https://us.fsc.org/
Gluten Free certification verifies that that the
products are made
without the use of wheat or wheat bi-products. It also means there are no
other processes in factory where other gluten products could get into the chocolate.
http://www.gfco.org/
Non-GMO Project Verified seal means that a product
has been produced according to rigorous best practices for GMO
avoidance in North America, including testing of risk ingredients.
http://www.nongmoproject.org/
Rainforest Alliance Certified seal guarantees the cocoa was
grown on farms that meet comprehensive standards for sustainable
farming, protecting soil, waterways and wildlife habitat as well as the
rights and welfare of workers, their families and communities.
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/
USDA Organic seal ensures products meet all requirements in the
USDA organic regulations. 95% of the ingredients are organically
produced ingredients. The 5% non-organic ingredients could include
additives or synthetics if they are on an approved list. The label must
contain a list that identifies the organic, as well as the non-organic, ingredients in the
product, and the name of the organic certifier.
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http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?&template=TemplateA
&leftNav=NationalOrganicProgram&page=NOPOrganicSeal&description=The%20Orga
nic%20Seal
Truth in Labeling Pledge logo certifies that participants
have pledged to follow the National Ingredients Resource Center
criteria for labeling natural ingredients.
UTZ Certified stands for sustainable farming and better
opportunities for farmers, their families and our planet. The UTZ
program enables farmers to learn better farming methods,
improve working conditions and take better care of their children
and the environment. https://www.utzcertified.org/
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Ingredients/ Definitions
Cocoa butter: Cocoa butter is an ivory colored natural fat that is present in cocoa
beans and not a dairy product as is sometimes thought. It is obtained by pressing the
unsweetened chocolate, or "chocolate liquor." The amount of cocoa butter in cacao
beans typically ranges from 50 – 60%, with the balance being non-fat cocoa solids.
Cocoa butter has little flavor of its own, but it adds considerable richness and depth to
the flavor of chocolate
Cocoa butter percentage: Mass market chocolates and cocoa powders often
have much lower cocoa butter percentages than fine chocolate and high-quality
cocoa powders because cocoa butter is an expensive ingredient. The higher
percentages of cocoa butter in fine chocolate and fine cocoa powders have a
positive impact on mouth feel and flavor.
Cocoa powder:
This unsweetened powder is pulverized, partially defatted
chocolate liquor. The product is made by removing much of the cocoa butter (fat) from
the cocoa bean and grinding the remaining material to a powder. Natural cocoa powder
is light brown, with a strong, pronounced chocolate flavor. It is slightly acidic with a pH
between 5.4-5.8.
Cocoa powder still retains some cocoa butter after pressing. There are several types of
standards defined by the FDA for cocoa based on differing cocoa fat content:
• Breakfast cocoa (a.k.a. high fat cocoa): Contains at least 22% fat.
• Cocoa (a.k.a. medium fat cocoa): Contains less than 22% but at least 10% fat.
• Lowfat cocoa: Contains less than 10% fat
Alkali:
Looking at labels you may see the words “chocolate processed with alkali” or
“dutched cocoa or “dutch processed”
Alkalization is a process in which cocoa nibs
and/or chocolate liquor are processed with mild alkali solutions to increase pH between
6.8-8.1
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This process is FDA approved for cocoa that is used to modify the color, taste, and
functionality of cocoa powder. Specifically:

create a range of dark brown and red-brown colors that add desirable
appearances to some food products that contain cocoa powders

improve taste by reducing some of the sourness and bitterness associated with
natural cocoa powders

improve the solubility of cocoa powder in certain beverage applications.
Unfortunately, the alkalization of cocoa diminishes the number of healthy nutrients.
Cocoa nibs:
Cocoa nibs are the broken pieces of the fermented, dried, and usually
roasted, cocoa bean, after the shell has been removed. Cocoa nibs may be eaten as is or
ground into chocolate liquor or pressing to extract the fat or cocoa butter.
Chocolate Liquor:
Grinding the nibs into a smooth, liquid state produces what’s
called chocolate liquor—also called chocolate mass, cocoa mass, cacao mass and cocoa
paste. . During grinding, the mill gets hot and the ground nibs become very fine in
particle size and the cocoa butter becomes liquid. When cocoa liquor is cooled it
becomes solid. Cocoa liquor has no alcoholic content
According to U.S. regulations, chocolate liquor may also be called chocolate,
unsweetened chocolate, baking chocolate, or bitter chocolate.
Chocolate liquor contains not less than 50% nor more than 60 % of cacao fat.
Lecithin:
Most bars contain lecithin as an emulsifier and is a very common
ingredient, even in high-end chocolate. It helps chocolate to maintain its smooth form
and consistency and also makes the chocolate thinner and easier to pour.
It is often present in 1% or less than the total amount of ingredients.
The soy lecithin may be genetically modified and may contain traces of chemical
solvents such as hexane and various pesticides. If you’re concerned about GMO
modified foods look for non-GMO certification.
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PGPR: PGPR (polyglycerol polyricinoleate) is an artificial castor oil-derived
emulsifier that simulates the mouth feel of fat.. This ingredient is often used in
commercially-produced chocolate to replace some of the more expensive cocoa butter.
Wikipedia describe it as "a yellowish, viscous liquid comprised of polyglycerol esters of
polycondensed fatty acids from castor oil. It may also be polyglycerol esters of dimerized
fatty acids of soya bean oil.
Sweetener: A critical component in chocolate bars to reduce bitterness of the cacao.
While a number of products are sweetened with refined sugar many gourmet chocolate
companies use raw cane sugar or evaporated cane juice, which are both derived from
sugar cane but are not as processed as (and therefore contain more nutrients than)
refined sweetners. Some manufacturers, promoting low caloric bars are incorporating
sugar free sweetners such as stevia or the low caloric sugar alcohols.
Vanilla - Vanilla is a common flavoring can be found in various chocolate bars in
different forms: the whole bean, extract or as an artificial flavoring. Because of the
scarcity and expense of natural vanilla extract, vanillin (a compound found in natural
vanilla) is often made synthetically to use as a flavoring agent. Artificial vanillin is
made either from guaiacol or from lignin, a constituent of wood, which is a byproduct of
the pulp industry, reports Wikipedia.
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Calculating % of cacao solids and fat
In some chocolate bars, the exact percentage of cacao isn't immediately clear. Here are
some guidelines in calculating the percentage of cacao in bittersweet bars:

compare the grams of sugar per serving with the total grams per serving listed.
For example, if a chocolate bar indicates that a serving size is 40 grams and 20
grams are from sugar, you can safely guess that it has about a 50% cacao content.

This method doesn’t work in milk chocolate or bars with additions of nuts or
other mix-ins
Cacao butter vs cacao solids
The percentage of cacao butter versus cacao solids is seldom listed on the label. It is
possible to calculate these percentages by using the nutritional information listed on the
wrapper.
Cocoa content only tells you how much of the bar’s weight is comprised of cocoa solids.
Now, it’s important to understand that “cocoa solids” refers to the chocolate’s combined
weight of cocoa butter and dry cocoa particles (i.e. cocoa powder). You can find the
amount of cocoa butter from the amount of fat, though. Once you have that you can
determine the percentage of the rest of the solids.
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Let’s go through an example using this Green & Blacks 85% Dark chocolate:
Follow these steps from the nutrition label:
Percentage of fat: Divide the total fat in one
serving by the serving size and multiply by 100
In this example 1 serving is 40 grams and the
total amount of fat is 20 grams. (20 / 40) x 100
= 50%
Cacao solid %: Subtract the percentage of fat
from the total amount of cacao percentage. The
result will be the percentage of the bar that
consists of dry cocoa solids.
In the example: 85% - 50% = 35%
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Conclusion
Most tasters will discern differences among these bars, in flavor and texture. A preferred
one might emerge, and be different from the bar chosen by me or by your friend tasting
alongside. When it comes to chocolate I always say there is no right and wrong; there
are chocolates that appeal to just about every palate. I do, however, believe that if you
love chocolate, you should at least acquaint yourself with chocolates that are made with
attention to detail. To become familiar with chocolate bars made from different beans,
to chocolates grown in different areas of the world, processed in varied ways and made
with various other ingredients. By doing this you will educate your palate to the breadth
of what is out there and truly be able to discern what pleases you the most.
So what makes a great chocolate?
"Like wines, different varieties of cocoa beans provide different flavors and different
types of chocolate," Greweling says. "It depends on geographic location. It depends on
how the beans were fermented and dried. It depends on how they were roasted. It's so
much like wine in that you start with a very basic agricultural product
and by the time
you're finished you can either make a boxed wine for $12 from one type of grape or you
can make a bottle of Opus One for many hundreds of dollars from another one. It
depends on the same types of factors."
Not all chocolates with the same percentage have the same taste, because of the varying
lengths of time for which the cocoa beans are roasted. One manufacturer may roast
inferior cocoa beans longer than another would roast its superior beans (which require
less heat to bring out their flavor). Both chocolates may contain the same percentage of
cocoa mass, but the chocolate made from inferior beans will taste bitter, while the other
has a more pronounced, unmasked taste. This means that a higher percentage doesn't
guarantee a better chocolate. To avoid paying top dollar for a bar of chocolate that could
pass as a bar of soap, purchase a reputable brand. Better quality chocolate bars have
fewer ingredients, usually only five or six, and use real vanilla (not vanillin or other
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artificial flavorings).
The higher the cacao percentage, the more cacao content and less sugar, the less sweet
the chocolate will taste. When customers come into Le Grand they are offered a taste of
the darker variety of chocolates. After years of eating milk chocolate, white chocolate,
semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate, our chocolatiers want to share how delicious fine
chocolate products are with lower amounts of sugar. For milk-chocolate-loving
Americans, the bittersweet chocolate we use for some of our products is too strong and
not sweet enough. The challenge is to acquire a taste for the finer, richer, less-sweet
chocolates - the smooth texture (cacao ground more finely) is what fine chocolatiers use
to replace the sugar. Le Grand will always offer milk and white chocolates, but
encourage you to try the semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolates. Bittersweet chocolate is
a wonderful compliment to red wine and port and has a smooth rich texture.
THE END
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References:
http://onlinedigitalpublishing.com/print.php?pages=44&issue_id=143111&ref=1
http://www.finechocolateindustry.org/chocolate-glossary.php
http://www.candyusa.com/FunStuff/CandyType.cfm?ItemNumber=1666
http://finechocolateindustry.org/
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-04-25/features/sc-food-0608-chocolate20120613_1_cacao-tree-chocolate-bean-to-bar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart
=163
http://www.heritageradionetwork.com/episodes/3065-Straight-From-the-SourceEpisode-7-Reading-Chocolate-Labels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_chocolate#cite_note-10
David Lebovitz, author of The Great Book
Cover image – MS templates
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The first thing to ALWAYS keep in mind (and this applies to all food labels) is that
you've got to check out the serving size. This can GREATLY affect the importance of
other information on the label.
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How to guestimate the cacao percentage of chocolate?
Baggett writes that often, especially with chocolate blends, the exact percentage of cacao isn't
immediately clear. For semisweet and bittersweet bars, she recommends simply comparing the
grams of sugar per serving with the total grams per serving listed. For example, if a chocolate bar
indicates that a serving size is 40 grams and 20 grams are from sugar, you can safely guess that it
has about a 50% cacao content.
Do note that this method won't work for milk chocolate or bars with additions of nuts or other
mix-ins.
Cocoa content only tells you how much of the bar’s weight is comprised of cocoa solids.
Now, it’s important to understand that “cocoa solids” refers to the chocolate’s combined
weight of cocoa butter and dry cocoa particles (i.e. cocoa powder). You can find the
amount of cocoa butter from the amount of fat, though. Once you have that you can
determine the percentage of the rest of the solids.
Follow these steps from the nutrition label:
1. Note the serving size, since it varies.
2. Note the Total Fat The Fat is from cocoa butter
3. Divide the Total Fat by the Serving size (Fat/Size), then multiply by 100 to get the
percentage of fat
4. Subtract the percentage of fat from the cacao percentage and the difference will tell
you what percentage of the bar consists of dry cocoa solids. Cocoa butter percentage +
cocoa solids percentage = Total cacao percentage.
For example, consider a bar of Lindt Excellence 70%. The Nutrition Facts show the
serving size as 42g, with 17g of fat. Divide 17 by 42 and multiply the result by 100, and
you’ll get 40. This means there’s 40% cocoa butter. Subtract that number from 70,
which in this case is 30% dry cocoa solids . (40 + 30 = 70)
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***
Back of the label Green and Black 70%
Organic Cocoa Liquor, Organic Raw Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter,
Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Organic Vanilla Extract, Organic Whole Milk Powder.
Sometimes the label separates chocolate it’s constituent parts.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Cocoa beans (high cocoa %)
Sugar
Cocoa butter (additional)
Lecithin – used to make processing the chocolate easier
vanilla
sometimes you’ll see salt as a flavor enhancer
vanilla
high quality – natural form of vanilla.
Vanillan – artificial form of vanilla.
Masking flavor – to ensure flavor is same from batch to batch – ensures consistency
in flavoring.
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How To Read a Chocolate Label
Chocolate is made from cacao, which naturally contains cocoa butter, but what else
is found in the typical bar of chocolate? Here are the ingredients from five labels, all of
them labeled as semisweet, bittersweet or dark chocolate:
Bar #1: Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Milk Fat,
Lactose, Soy Lecithin, PGPR, Vanillin, Artificial Flavor and Milk.
Bar #2: Cacao beans, Sugar, Cocoa butter, non-GMO Soy lecithin, and Whole
vanilla beans
Bar #3: Cocoa beans, Sugar, Cocoa butter, Emulsifier: Soya lecithin, Natural vanilla
extract
Bar #4: Cocoa beans, Organic cane juice, Cocoa butter
Bar #5: Cocoa mass, Cane sugar
To read a label, one must understand that the ingredients will be listed in
descending order of greatest percentage: the first ingredient is the largest amount within
the item. Unless the company shares specific percentages, we will not know how much
of each item is within the product. The percentage we often see represented nowadays
on a chocolate label refers to the actual cacao mass from the cacao beans and will be
expressed as “60% cacao” or “55% cacao mass”, or some similar term might be used.
Occasionally the manufacturer will share the percentage of cocoa butter as well, but
typically, no numbers beyond those will be shared. If they were, we would have the
whole “recipe” for the chocolate, and that is proprietary.
In our first example, Sugar is the first ingredient; in the others, actual cacao beans
(or cocoa beans as some companies state it) are the largest ingredient. Most
connoisseurs look for cacao beans to be the first ingredient.
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Cocoa processed with alkali might sound like a scary science experiment, but it is
simply the same process used to produce Dutch-processed cocoa. It is a readily accepted
process, by the industry and chocolate lovers alike, and just refers to the fact that the
acidity in the chocolate has been changed.
The next thing you might notice is the Milk Fat and the lactose. What is milk fat
doing in your dark chocolate? According to the FDA, this is allowable. Many dark
chocolate lovers, however, would find this ingredient unnecessary as well as
unwelcomed. Milk fat can damper the flavors of finer dark chocolates. Lactose is a sugar
derived from milk (in fact it is sometimes referred to as milk sugar). Those that are
lactose intolerant should steer clear of these products.
Soy lecithin, sometimes called soya lecithin or simply just lecithin, is an emulsifier
that helps bring together the smooth texture of the chocolate bar. It is often present in
1% or less than the total amount of ingredients. Non-GMO refers to the fact that the
product contains lecithin from non-genetically modified soybeans. Lecithin is a very
common ingredient, even in high-end chocolate.
PGPR is an ingredient you might not have noticed before. (See Bakepedia for entry
on PGPR). The letters stand for polyglycerol polyricinoleate. It is an emulsifier that
allows chocolate to be made with less fat, while still retaining the desired viscosity.
Cocoa butter can be expensive, so PGPR is often used to make chocolate in a more cost
effective way. Most chocolate aficionados find its inclusion offensive and look at it as an
unnecessary additive.
Vanilla can be found in various chocolate bars in different forms: the whole bean,
extract or as an artificial flavoring.
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Our last two bars are examples of where some smaller, artisanal chocolate
producers are leaning with regards to chocolate formulations. With the increased
interest in the purity of our foods, these companies have made chocolate without
lecithin (or any other emulsifier) or any flavoring such as vanilla. Bar #4 has just three
ingredients: the cacao, additional cocoa butter and their choice of sugar happens to be
organic cane derived juice. The last bar is an example of minimalist simplicity
containing only cacao and sugar. No added cocoa butter, emulsifier or additional flavors
such as vanilla to get in the way. This is a purist’s approach to appreciating what those
particular beans have to offer.
Most tasters will discern differences among these bars, in flavor and texture. A
preferred one might emerge, and be different from the bar chosen by me or by your
friend tasting alongside. When it comes to chocolate I always say there is no right and
wrong; there are chocolates that appeal to just about every palate. I do, however, believe
that if you love chocolate, you should at least acquaint yourself with chocolates that are
made with attention to detail. To become familiar with chocolate bars made from
different beans, to chocolates grown in different areas of the world, processed in varied
ways and made with various other ingredients. By doing this you will educate your
palate to the breadth of what is out there and truly be able to discern what pleases you
the most.
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So what makes a great chocolate?
"Like wines, different varieties of cocoa beans provide different flavors and different types
of chocolate," Greweling says. "It depends on geographic location. It depends on how the beans
were fermented and dried. It depends on how they were roasted. It's so much like wine in that
you start with a very basic agricultural product
and by the time you're finished you can either
make a boxed wine for $12 from one type of grape or you can make a bottle of Opus One for
many hundreds of dollars from another one. It depends on the same types of factors."
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Chocoalte is
Chocolate Liquor: Cocoa beans with their shells removed that have been fermented,
roasted and ground until they liquefy. This liquid is made up of cocoa butter and cocoa
solids; both are naturally present in the bean.
Cocoa Butter: Natural fat from the cocoa bean; extra cocoa butter enhances chocolate’s
flavor and mouthfeel.
Sugar
Lecithin: An emulsifier, often made from soy, that makes the ingredients blend together.
Vanilla or vanillin and other flavors.
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Milk chocolate flavor ingredients:
cocoa, cocoa liquor (the essence of the cocoa bean - FDA requires the chocolate contain 10% or
more cocoa liquor)
cocoa butter
sugar
milk or cream powder
spices
Milk chocolate flavor has a lot to do with the type of milk or cream product that's used in its
manufacturer as well as the strength and taste of the cocoa liquor. Because the added milk or
cream softens or masks the flavor of the chocolate liquor, most manufacturers rely on a bitter
chocolate flavor bean such as forastero to deliver flavor.
Couverture - Fine couverture is made with care from fine cacao beans that are
fermented and dried properly then roasted, refined and conched with concern for the
overall flavor and texture of the chocolate. Couverture is generally used by chocolatiers
to coat ganache or in molded chocolate bonbons, though it may also be molded into bar
form, or used in cooking and baking as well.
Ghirardelli does not support the changing the "standard of identity" or "definition" of
chocolate. As you may have heard, the FDA is considering changing the "standard of identity"
for chocolate. These changes (proposed by other chocolate manufacturers) would allow for the
addition of vegetable oil in place of cocoa butter without losing the ability to call the product
Milk Chocolate, Semi-Sweet Chocolate or Bittersweet Chocolate. This substitution is not
allowed today unless manufacturers clearly label their products as "chocolaty", "chocolate
flavored", sweet chocolate and vegetable fat coating, or milk chocolate and vegetable fat coating.
If the proposed changes are approved, consumers would have no idea by reading the front of
the label whether the traditional milk, semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate are suddenly made
with other vegetable fats rather than the cocoa butter that they have come to expect.
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Non-Fat Cocoa Solids - the portion of the cacao beans that is not fat. Since cacao
beans typically contain 50-60% fat; the remainder (40-50%) is mostly non-fat cocoa
solids with a small amount of moisture. Cocoa differs from non-fat cocoa solids in that
cacao still contains some fat. Cocoa solids are the low-fat component of chocolate.
When sold as an end product, it may also be called cocoa powder, cocoa, and cacao.
. In contrast, the fatty component of chocolate is cocoa butter.
Bittersweet chocolate
When melted, it is more fluid than unsweetened chocolate and has a satin gloss, both of
which characteristics make it good for dipping. It is sold in “squares” or bars for
cooking, but because it may contain only 35 percent fat (the presence of the sugar
reduces the percentage of fat), it will have different cooking characteristics than the
fattier unsweetened chocolate.
Thus, you can’t substitute unsweetened chocolate plus sugar for semisweet or
bittersweet chocolate in a recipe. It would be too fatty. To further complicate things,
there are significant variations among brands, and chocolates labeled bittersweet are
likely to have a higher ratio of chocolate liquor to sugar than those labeled semisweet.
After these requirements are met, it is up to the individual manufacturer to adjust
the amount and type of chocolate liquor and the amount of sugar, cocoa butter and milk
solids.
Couverture chocolate - this chocolate contains a very high percent (at least
30%) of cocoa butter, as well as a high percentage of chocolate liquor. This high ratio
makes it expensive, but it also means that the resulting chocolate is smooth and melts
quickly and evenly. Couverture is generally used by chocolatiers to coat ganache or in
molded chocolate bonbons, though it may also be molded into bar form, or used in
cooking and baking as well
.
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So how do the terms semisweet, bittersweet, extra-bittersweet, and extra dark relate to
cacao percentages? Keep in mind that the higher the cacao percentage, the less the
amount of sugar. This, of course, means that the higher percentages have a more intense
chocolate flavor. Because different chocolate manufacturers label their chocolates
differently it’s hard to pinpoint exactly the cacao percentage of semisweet, bittersweet,
and extra-bittersweet. And, I should add that the FDA standards are outdated, which
say that semisweet and bittersweet chocolate require only a minimum of 35% cacao. I
put semisweet chocolate in the range of 50% to 62%, bittersweet in the range of 63% to
72%, extra-bittersweet in the range of 73% to 85%, and above that would be what I
would call extra-dark. And it is possible to find chocolate that is 100%, which means it is
completely unsweetened.
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Cocoa powder is made by removing much of the fat from chocolate liquor. First,
chocolate liquor is pumped into special hydraulic presses that extract cocoa butter—the
natural fat from the cacao bean—and drain it off. The remaining compacted cocoa solids
are released from the press in the form of a hard cake, which is then broken up and
ground to become cocoa powder.
It’s all regulated by US government. Covers what can and can’t be in chocolate.
No standard for dark chocolate.
Buying chocolate used to be pretty simple. There was chocolate candy. And there was
chocolate for making brownies and layer cakes and cookies, hefty bars of unsweetened,
bittersweet, semisweet and chips.
All the stuff on the labels is very good information, and it's very good for consumers to
have but you have to know what it means — and what it doesn't mean."
“A chocolate bar is a confection in bar form comprising some or all of the following
components: cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar, milk. The relative presence or absence of
these components form the subclasses of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white
chocolate. In addition to these main ingredients, it may contain emulsifiers such as soy
lecithin and flavors such as vanilla.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_bar
In the USA the FDA has established very strict guidelines or Standards of Identity (SOI)
that specifies what ingredients constitute the various forms of chocolate. The U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) has established Standards of Identity for various cacao
products (21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 163). These standards designate the
names of the cacao products as well as the percentage of key ingredients that must be
present.
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The difference between all of them is the amount of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa
butter, and milk content.
After the cacao percentage, the remaining components of the chocolate are sugar, a bit
(1%) of lecithin, and often vanilla.
For dark chocolate, everything not included in the percentage is sugar (sometimes with
a small amount of lecithin as an emulsifier)—so a 72% bar is 28% sugar.
Milk chocolate is a bit trickier; since there's no requirement to list the percentage of ALL
the ingredients, there's no way to tell how much of the bar is milk solids and how much
is sugar. For baking chocolate, knowing the percentage allows you to control the
sweetness and chocolate intensity in your baked goods.
Proponents and fans of single origin chocolate contend that region makes a different in
taste, and they entice chocolate lovers to try simple tastings to detect these differences
too. Some companies even offer tasting kits for four people, in order to detect the multilayered tastes of chocolate from different regions. Words like "finish," "snap" and
"sheen" are used to describe the differences between chocolates, and tasters may discern
berry, vanilla, or coffee “notes” in chocolate from one particular region. To many this
sounds a great deal like wine tasting terms, and they would not be wrong to assume this.
As popularity in wine tasting has grown into a mass and profitable business,
chocolatiers realized the market potential of chocolate tasting, and have capitalized
upon it.
chocolate made with cacao beans that are all from the same farm or plantation
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Some companies have used single origin chocolate for years, and the trend of chocolate
tasting has been a popular one in Europe. America is now catching up with numerous
companies offering slim bars of chocolate from a single origin. The idea is often paired
with the concept of organic growing conditions, and with good labor conditions for
workers.
Cocoa butter is an expensive raw material for chocolate manufacturers. By using
PALSGAARD 4150 the chocolate recipe has lower costs in terms of less cocoa butter but
also gives the benefit of having less fat
A recent workaround by the US confection industry has been to reduce the amount of
cocoa butter in candy bars without using vegetable fats by adding polyglycerol
polyricinoleate (PGPR), which is an artificial castor oil-derived emulsifier that simulates
the mouthfeel of fat. Up to 0.3% PGPR may be added to chocolate for this purpose.
Cocoa butter can be expensive, so PGPR is often used to make chocolate in a more cost
effective way. Most chocolate aficionados find its inclusion offensive and look at it as an
unnecessary additive
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