Chocolate is a popular sweet treat that is a favorite to many worldwide. In Europe and the United States, more than 3 million tons of cocoa beans are consumed per year. ‘Chocolate’ refers to different things as there are various forms of chocolate, from dark, milk, semisweet, white chocolate, and many others. These sweet treats are suitable for the heart, brain and also give someone a good feeling.
Chocolate is made from a long process as it begins from the Theobroma cacao tree, which produces the cacao beans. These beans are dried, roasted, and ground to have cocoa butter and ground cocoa beans. You get different types of chocolate depending on the percentage of cocoa butter and chocolate liquor the chocolate contains compared to the rate of sugar, milk solids, and other ingredients. Four different types of chocolate you should try are;
- Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate is a form of chocolate that contains cocoa solids, cocoa butter, with or without butter in the milk chocolate, or any milk. It contains 30 to 80 percent of cocoa. Dark chocolate also has chocolate liquor and sugar. In most cases, it also has an emulsifier, lecithin, and vanilla to add flavor. To make the chocolate, three ingredients, sugar, fat, and cocoa, are combined.
Dark chocolate is made with little or no milk solids and contains more cocoa and less sugar. The sugar is added to counterbalance the bittersweet taste of cocoa. The semi-sweet chocolates are also, technically, dark chocolate and are usually used for cooking. The government uses varying standards to permit what may be labeled as ‘dark chocolate.’ Visiting with astorchocolate.com, you will confirm that there are many forms of dark chocolates. They come with different percentages of various ingredients and shapes.
- Semisweet Chocolate
The semisweet chocolate falls between bittersweet and dark chocolate. It is used mainly for cooking. It is a standard ingredient in the bakers’ must-have list as they use it to make chocolate chip cookies. It is, however, essential for the baker to be sure if the recipe has stated bittersweet, semisweet, or baking chocolate. There is no standard measure to specify what a bar of semisweet chocolate is.
Semisweet chocolate contains less than 50 percent sugar, unlike sweet chocolates, which have more than 50 percent sugar. There is a massive range of sweetness in different types of semi sweet chocolates. Some brands are much sweeter than others, whereas others are much smoother. The balance between cocoa’s bitterness and sweetness makes the semisweet chocolate versatile to suit almost all recipes. Milk chocolate can be too sweet, and dark chocolate is an overwhelming flavor to use in a dish.
- Milk Chocolate
In most countries, milk chocolate is the most popular form of chocolate. It’s a classic chocolate that’s well known and loved by many people. Milk chocolate contains 40 percentage cocoa, and the rest of the ingredients are sugar, vanilla, and milk. It is sweeter compared to dark chocolate and far much sweeter than semi-sweet chocolate. It tastes more like fresh milk or caramel. In color, the white chocolate is lighter than dark chocolate and has less chocolate taste.
The milk chocolate cannot be used for cooking as it is too sweet and overheats easily. In ingredients, it has at least 10 percent and highest at 45 percent cocoa. It also contains sugar, vanilla, at times lecithin, cream, or condensed or dried milk. Milk chocolate must contain at least 10 percent milk solids.
- White Chocolate
White chocolate is made of sugar, cocoa butter, milk, vanilla, and lecithin combined. This chocolate is sweet from the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. It has a sweet vanilla aroma from all the ingredients in it. White chocolate, unlike dark, milk, and semi-sweet chocolates, does not contain any cocoa solids. That’s why it’s not dark as the rest are since the brown color is usually from cocoa solids.
White chocolate contains at least 14 percent milk, 20 percent cocoa butter, and a maximum of 55 percent sugar. White chocolate contains ingredients from cacao that make it a bar of chocolate. White chocolate, apart from eating, is used for baking, decorating, and cooking. The dairy flavor in the chocolate adds a rich but subtle taste to any dish.
It’s exciting to try different forms of chocolates to enjoy the sweetness and the health benefits of this treat. The above four chocolates are a must-try as they are unique from each other, though all popular.
You will enjoy the richness of the dark chocolate from the cocoa solids and the semisweet, which balances the sweet and bitter taste. The milk chocolate that is a favorite of most is worth a trial too. Try as well as the white chocolate with the rich vanilla taste and aroma.
