A Match Made in Chocolate

The Many Faces of Chocolate

Unsweetened chocolate. Sometimes referred to as baker’s or bitter chocolate, this chocolate contains no sugar. It is made from chocolate liquor and cocoa butter and is used as an ingredient in baking or cooking. Bakers and Hershey’s brands are available at grocery stores; Callebaut and Valrhona are at specialty stores.

Bittersweet/Semisweet chocolate. This refined chocolate is strong in flavor and fairly low in sugar. It contains 35 to 50 percent chocolate liquor and some cocoa butter. The most bitter may contain up to 70 percent cocoa solids, while the semisweet will contain more sugar. The sugar, cocoa butter, liquor, and cocoa–solid content varies with each manufacturer. Some good brands to look for are Guittard, Valrhona, Sharffenberg, Callebaut, Lindt, and Tobler.

Couverture chocolate. This high-quality chocolate is very high in cocoa butter, which results in a glossy appearance and a smooth texture. It’s often used as a coating.

Milk chocolate. Since this chocolate has milk solids added in place of, or in addition to, the chocolate liquor, it’s more sensitive to heat and is therefore less useful in cooking and baking. It’s generally sweeter and has less chocolate flavor than dark chocolate. This is the chocolate you find most often in candy.

White chocolate. Although this white confection has chocolate in its name, it has only recently been allowed to be called chocolate by law in this country, because it doesn’t contain any cocoa solids. It is made from cocoa butter (or other fats), sugar, and dairy products; it has very little chocolate flavor.

Cocoa.Cocoa powder is what is left when most of the cocoa butter is pressed from chocolate liquor. It contains between 10 and 22 percent cocoa butter, is slightly acidic, and has no sugar added. Dutch-process or European-style cocoa has been processed with an alkali to neutralize the acid, which makes it darker in color and easier to dissolve.