From the Jungle to the Wrapper
Ripe cacao pods are removed from the trees, the pods are split, and the pulp and beans are removed and wrapped in banana leaves to ferment. The sugary pulp decomposes, heating the beans. Many chemical changes take place that affect flavor, aroma, and color. The rich cocoa aromas develop, and the beans change from purple to chocolate brown. After fermentation, the beans are dried on bamboo mats or wooden floors, with frequent turning.
These dried beans are shipped to the manufacturing plants, where they are cleaned, sorted, and roasted. Not only does the variety of the cacao plant influence flavor, but fermentation and roasting have major influences on the flavor of a chocolate.
This roasting that develops flavor and aroma also loosens the bean shells so that they can be removed more easily. The beans are lightly crushed, and the husks are blown away (a process called “winnowing”). After removing the husks and the germ, the 82% of the bean remaining, the cotyledon, is now in dark chips called "nibs." When the nibs are crushed, this mixture of unrefined cocoa particles in cocoa butter is called “chocolate liquor” or “chocolate mass.”
For dark, semisweet, and bittersweet chocolates, nibs and sugar are ground until the cocoa and sugar particles range in size from 25 microns (0.001 inch) to 75 microns. This paste of cocoa butter and fine cocoa particles from the nibs and fine sugar particles is kneaded (“conched”) for up to 72 hours to further smooth and blend all particles, creating the creaminess of fine chocolates.
Types of Chocolate
To make cooking chocolate and candy bars, chocolate liquor is further processed with sugar and tiny amounts of other things like lecithin, dairy products, etc. Chocolates can vary in amounts of cocoa particles, amounts of cocoa butter, amounts of sugar, and additives (emulsifiers, dairy products).
Unsweetened Chocolate (Baking Chocolate)
In refining, the cocoa particles are ground very fine and smooth, and an emulsifier like lecithin may be added along with vanilla or vanillin, but no sugar. When it is tempered and cooled, it is baking chocolate in the
U.S.in the familiar 8-ounce packages of 1-ounce squares.
Dark, Bittersweet, and Semisweet
Bittersweet does not necessarily mean that the chocolate has less sugar than semisweet. The amount of sugar varies from company to company. One company’s bittersweet may have more sugar than another company’s semisweet. By Federal regulation, this chocolate must contain a minimum 35% chocolate liquor. Until recently, top American and European brands contained 50 to 55% chocolate liquor, with the rest being sugar. This is the chocolate that we are accustomed to eating and using in cooking. High-Percentage Chocolates Couverture This very high quality chocolate has a larger amount of cocoa butter than semisweet so that it is more free flowing when melted. It is perfect for coating candy centers. White Chocolate and White Confectionery Coating Almond bark and many other white coatings do not even contain cocoa butter. They are made with palm kernel oil (lauric acid type) and are flavored to taste something like chocolate. They contain neither cocoa particles nor cocoa butter. FDA Standards require a minimum 20% cocoa butter and a maximum of 55% sucrose (sugar) to be labeled white chocolate. Milk Chocolate U.S. - FDA Standards of Identities for Cocoa-Derived Products © Copyright Shirley O. Corriher, 2007
Alice Medrich’s 2003 book, Bittersweet, explains all about the new chocolates that are sometimes called high-percentage chocolates. They contain 60% or 70%, or even more, chocolate liquor. These chocolates contain a lot more cocoa particles and cocoa butter than the chocolates that we have used before. The older chocolates with 50 to 55% chocolate liquor contained 20 to 22% cocoa particles; now the chocolates with 60 to 70% chocolate liquor contain 28 to 30% cocoa particles. This will make a big difference in the amounts of liquids that we must use to blend these chocolates with other ingredients.
White chocolate, which until 2002 was not allowed to be called "chocolate" in the United States because it contains no chocolate liquor, consists of cocoa butter, sugar, dairy products, and flavorings. Some brandnames are Alpine White, Narcissus, etc. The better brands contain cocoa butter, but others (called white confectionery coatings) are made with partially hydrogenated soy, palm, palm kernel, or cottonseed oil.
In addition to sugar, this chocolate contains cream or dairy products. You can see from the following chart of FDA Standards that milk chocolate is required to have a minimum of 10% chocolate liquor. You will find that the flavors in milk chocolates vary greatly--some creamy, some more caramelly.Product
% Chocolate Liquor Chocolate Liquor
100% Bittersweet and Semisweet
35% Sweet (like German’s)
10% to 35% Milk
10% (min) White
0%