Chocolate 101: dark, milk, and white

We see it in the store, in the windows of See's or Godiva (more on that later), and in little kids' Halloween baskets. Most of us probably know that the darker the chocolate, the more "real chocolate" there is inside - and there's even debate as to whether white chocolate is true chocolate. In order to differentiate the different types (a must-know for any chocolate lover), we need to know where chocolate actually comes from. Here's an abridged version of the real chocolate production process:

1. Chocolate comes from the cacao bean, which grows on trees in large pods. Most (almost 2/3) of the world's cacao supply comes from Western Africa; the most common cacao bean (of 3 types) is called forastero.
2. The cacao pods (typically orange or similar in color) are harvested when completely ripe and then left to ferment, giving the beans the chocolate flavor we all love.
   
3. After drying, cleaning, and roasting the beans, the central "nibs" of the cacao bean are extracted from their white shells and ground and liquefied into a pure liquid chocolate, known as chocolate liquor or unsweetened chocolate.

Some other useful things to know - cocoa butter is a pale yellow or off-white natural fat with a mild chocolate flavor, taken from the cacao been; cocoa powder is the nonfat portion of chocolate, which is generally bitter in taste and reddish brown in color - it's essentially powdered chocolate liquor without any fat content.

Though the different chocolates aren't as black and white (or should I say, brown and white) as the photo above, here's a quick rundown of the different types of chocolate and their basic ingredients & differences.

Unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor, also known as baking chocolate.

Dark chocolate is produced by adding cocoa butter and sugar to chocolate liquor, and is the only chocolate without milk content. (Bittersweet chocolate is chocolate liquor with a very low sugar content - typically one third as much as dark chocolate, and semisweet chocolate has about half as much. Both are used for baking.)

Milk chocolate is made by adding cocoa butter, sugar, and milk powder (or condensed milk) to chocolate liquor - the use of condensed milk was first used in the 1800s by Henri Nestlé.

White chocolate - a type of couverture (chocolate rich in cocoa butter), white chocolate is made of sugar, cocoa butter, and milk - no chocolate liquor or cocoa solids.

As to the health content of dark chocolate - soon to come!

The Chocolate Chronicles
photocredit1: cacaolatino.com
photocredit2: chocolatecantina.com