Most of us grow up hearing that white chocolate isn’t “real” chocolate (or at least, I did).
But I always remember wondering why it tastes so much like the real thing ― and how it got its name in the first place if it’s a completely different food.
Now I’m older, I like its sweet, creamy texture a little less (though I think I’d change my mind if Cadbury brought Dream bars back).
For the sake of my child self, though, I thought I’d look into what exactly white chocolate IS made from ― and if it really doesn’t count.
It uses cocoa butter, but no cocoa solids
According to craft chocolatiers Pump Street Chocolate, all chocolate products start the same way: “Cocoa beans are harvested, fermented, and dried in the origin country before travelling to a chocolate factory where they are sorted, roasted, cracked open and winnowed (to separate the cocoa nibs from their outer husk).”
After that, the nibs are processed in a machine called a conch machine which makes a paste.
That paste is then put through a hydraulic press to separate the cocoa solids (the nibs, drained of liquid to become cocoa powder) from cocoa butter (the fatty golden liquid that was in the beans).
Milk or dark chocolate uses both the solids and the cocoa butter; white chocolate just uses the cocoa butter.
It’s combined with sugar and whole milk, put back into the conch machine, and then tempered (heated and cooled to exact temperatures) before being placed into a mould.
So... is white chocolate chocolate?
According to chocolatiers Hotel Chocolat, “Traditional chocolate, be it dark chocolate or milk chocolate, primarily consists of cacao solids, cocoa butter, and sugar.”
White chocolate misses one of those ingredients, which is why some say it doesn’t count.
With that said, the main ingredient ― cocoa butter ― does, of course, come from the same plant. That means it’s definitely under the same umbrella as chocolate, Hotel Chocolat argues.
Indeed the Food Standards Agency in the UK says that white chocolate with more than 20% cocoa butter is, in fact, the real deal, legally speaking.
So if you’re tired of hearing your favourite chocolate type isn’t real, well, we’ve armed you with the petty facts you’ve always craved...