White chocolate

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This article refers to the food. For other uses, see White chocolate (disambiguation)

Chocolate most commonly comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, with cocoa solids contributing to the brown coloration.

White chocolate is a type of chocolate based on cocoa butter without the cocoa solids. It also includes milk solids, sugar, lecithin, and flavorings (usually including vanilla). Cocoa butter is the ingredient used in other chocolates so that they remain solid at room temperature yet melt easily in the mouth. Thus, white chocolate has a texture like that of chocolate but does not have the same taste. Unlike chocolate it does not contain caffeine.

1 Origin and production
2 Composition and ingredients
3 Use in baking
4 External links

[edit] Origin and production

White chocolate was first made in Switzerland after World War I. Hebert's Candies [1] was the first to produce white chocolate in the United States, having seen the product made in Europe just one year earlier. It was first popularly distributed in America in 1984 with the introduction of Nestlé's Alpine White Chocolate bar, which contained white chocolate and chopped almonds.

[edit] Composition and ingredients

As white chocolate does not contain cocoa solids or cocoa mass, it does not meet the standards to be called chocolate in many countries. In the United States, since 2004, white chocolate needs to be at least 20% (by weight) cocoa butter, at least 14% total milk solids, and less than 55% sweeteners such as sugar. Before this date, US firms needed temporary marketing permits to sell this cocoa solids-free chocolate. The European Union has adopted similar standards: white chocolate needs to contain not less than 20% cocoa butter and not less than 14% dry milk solids.

Some "white chocolate" is made with vegetable fat and not derived from cocoa. Vegetable fat derived white chocolate is white in color, whereas cocoa butter derived white chocolate is ivory colored.

[edit] Use in baking

White chocolate can be difficult to work with as occasionally when melted the cocoa butter can split and create an oily compound that cannot be recovered and must be discarded. As with any other form of chocolate, as soon as any water is introduced into the melted product it rapidly turns lumpy, grainy and unusable. It must then also be discarded. Some brands respond better to baking than others. Some have a tendency to brown from being baked.

Just like any other chocolate it can be bought in large or small bricks, but these can often be difficult to work with as one must cut off chunks with a knife, often resulting in inaccurate portioning. Pastilles (small chips) are often a more precise way to use white chocolate.

White chocolate can be used for decoration of milk or dark chocolate confections or in any way the chocolates might be used.