2.7 min. read
You’ll recall the hubbub earlier this year over Hershey’s attempt to palm off ‘chocolately’ coatings on its dedicated – and discerning – fans. Now, the US government has issued an official definition of what can be called ‘chocolate’…
There’s nothing else quite like that first bite of deep,
dense, delicious, pure dark chocolate flavour…
The Hershey’s kerfuffle all began when the grandson of the inventor of the Peanut Butter cup, Brad Reese, called the confectionery giant out over replacing 100 chocolate with ‘chocolately’ stuff…
Running backwards
Hershey’s didn’t just step back, or even walk back. It ran back to ‘100% chocolate’ in all its traditional candy treats, as a result of massive consumer backlash. But one problem remained. The was no offic-ial definition of what could be called ‘chocolate’, guiding how it should be differentiated on the label from the real deal.
Enter the FDA…
The US Food and Drug Administration is the agency – under the Department of Health and Human Services – that regulates all the foods and drugs sold in the US.
It provides official definitions of common food names and terms, each with terms and conditions those who use them to describe products must adhere to. Failure to comply can bring fines and even-harsher penalties. It’s all about protecting and informing the public.
What about ‘chocolate’?
The FDA’s standards governing the use of the word ‘chocolate’ use some terms that may not be familiar to folks outside the industry :
- Chocolate liquor: Finely ground cacao nibs, containing both cocoa butter and nonfat cocoa solids. Despite its name, it contains no alcohol.
- Cocoa butter: The natural fat in cocoa beans, also called cacao fat.
- Nonfat cocoa solids: The portion of ground cacao remaining apart from the cocoa butter, which contributes much of chocolate’s characteristic flavor and color.
The regulations clearly define several types of chocolate. Food & Wine provides a plain-English rundown:
Unsweetened chocolate
Unsweetened chocolate is another name for chocolate liquor. It may also be labeled bitter chocolate, baking chocolate, or cooking chocolate. It contains between 50% and 60% cacao fat by weight. Bakers often use it when they want to control a recipe’s sweetness by adding sugar separately.
Sweet chocolate
Sweet chocolate combines chocolate liquor with sweeteners, and may contain other permitted in-gredients. It must contain at least 15 percent chocolate liquor and less than 12 percent total milk solids.
Semisweet and bittersweet chocolate
Both must contain at least 35 percent chocolate liquor. That means the names alone won’t tell you exactly how sweet a particular brand will taste. Both are commonly used in chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and other baked goods.
Milk chocolate
Milk chocolate combines chocolate liquor, dairy ingredients, and sweeteners. It must contain at least 10 percent chocolate liquor, 3.39 percent milk fat, and 12 percent total milk solids by weight. Those dairy ingredients are an important distinction when reading labels.
Dark chocolate
The FDA doesn’t have a separate standard of identity for Dark Chocolate. Products sold as ‘dark choc-olate’ may fall within the sweet, semisweet, or bittersweet categories, depending on their formulat-ion. Check the ingredient list and cacao percentage for more information about what’s inside.
White chocolate
White chocolate contains cocoa butter, dairy ingredients, and sweeteners, but no nonfat cocoa solids. The FDA requires at least 20 percent cocoa butter, 3.5 percent milk fat, and 14 percent total milk sol-ids, with no more than 55 percent nutritive carbohydrate sweeteners. Its cocoa butter content is why white chocolate counts as ‘chocolate’.
My take
~ Maggie J.