Chocolate vs Compound Chocolate.

 Have you ever wondered why some chocolates melt in your mouth and you melt as the flavor oozes into your pores while others are just "ok"?  I wondered because I've had both.

It more than just this chocolate vs that chocolate.  So back to the beginning.  In general, cocoa comes from a bean that is grown, fermented, then processes and dried.  At some point they are roasted.  It is the length and temperature of the roasting that effects the final flavor of the chocolate.

A quick rundown is that once the roasting is finished, they remove the outer shell to reveal the cocoa nibs which is about 50% cocoa butter.  The nibs are then ground into a cocoa liquor before it is pressed to squeeze out the cocoa butter leaving behind the cocoa cake.  The cake is then ground up into cocoa powder.

The cocoa butter is mixed with the cocoa powder and sugar to make chocolate.  The cocoa butter controls the melting quality of the chocolate.  When they add milk to the mixture, they make milk chocolate while white chocolate is made up of only the cocoa butter without the powder.  Sometimes they add flavorings such as vanilla, or stabilizers, or emulsifiers such as lecithin but it is the quality of these ingredients that determine the quality of the final product.  The more pure the flavorings, the better the product.

Not all chocolate flavored candies are classified as chocolate according the complex FDA rules because the FDA requires chocolate to have a certain amount of chocolate liquor.  If the product does not meet that minimum standard, it is labeled as chocolate flavored or chocolatey and is called compound chocolate.

Compound chocolate usually has chocolate powder for flavor but instead of cocoa butter, it uses some other type of oil, such as vegetable oil.  If you look at the ingredients, you'll see partially hydrogenated palm, soy, or cottonseed oil.  Without the cocoa butter, the chocolate does not have the same smooth, melty taste associated with the better quality chocolates.

Manufacturers use vegetable oil for two reasons. First it is cheaper and second, it is easier to work with because it does not have to be tempered in the same way cocoa butter is.  If cocoa butter is not properly tempered, the candy does not come out right.  In addition, when you see a percent listed on the wrapper, that tells the total amount of cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, and cocoa powder but it doesn't indicate quality.

So how do you tell more about the quality of the chocolate.  First, the chocolate needs to have a glossy surface, free of blemishes.  If it scared, cloudy, or gray, it is not a good sign because it might indicate the chocolate is old or it has been exposed to extremes in temperature.  Second, if the chocolate bends or crumbles rather than snapping cleanly when broken, it is either of low quality or its old.

Third, smell the chocolate for that chocolatey smell.  If it smells too much of vanilla or other added ingredients, it won't taste like chocolate.  In regard to chocolate, it has a tendency to absorb smells from its environment.  Finally taste the chocolate.  Does it taste rich and smooth or is it rather waxy, dense or unusually chewy.

So the next time you head out to buy chocolate, look at the ingredients list.  Look for the cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, chocolate powder, sugar, and not a lot of added ingredients for the best chocolate.  I prefer dark chocolate because its easier to take one piece and stop.  With milk chocolate, I could sit there and eat a pound.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.