ChocolateWhat's The Difference Between Dark, Milk And White Chocolate?
What"s the Difference Between Dark, Milk and White Chocolate?
All people have a favorite whether it"s white, dark or milk chocolate but what"s the difference between these three kinds of chocolate?
For starters white chocolate is not truly chocolate at all, in fact white chocolate is derived from cocoa butter and sugar and absolutely no cocoa liquor whatsoever. Many people who like white chocolate over dark or milk cite it"s sweetness and creaminess as the reason why.
Milk chocolate is lighter color than dark chocolate and contains significantly less cocoa liquor than dark chocolate. Milk chocolate is the most often used chocolate in confectionary and cited by most chocolate lovers being their favorite of the three types of chocolate.
The increased amount of chocolate liquor in dark chocolate compared to milk chocolate is what causes the bitterness of the chocolate. As the quantity of chocolate liquor used decreases the bitterness of the chocolate goes down as well.
So what is cocoa liquor? Cocoa liquor is a paste that"s formed when cacao beans are ground so finely that they turn in to a thick hot paste. Beans are ground in the mill where they undergo a number of grinding stones which cause the beans to heat up and grind into the cocoa liquor. When the paste cools down and dries it hardens.
How about cocoa butter? Cocoa butter is really a fat which is extracted from the cacao bean or from the cocoa liquor itself. Cocoa butter could be extracted via a press which literally squeezes the fat within the beans however the most effective technique of removing cocoa butter from cacao beans is to hang ground cacao beans in a warm room where the cocoa butter will drip from the hanging beans. This hanging method is termed the "broma process."
Of all the components in the three kinds of chocolate one of the most huge factor in determining what the outcome is, is the use of cocoa liquor.
Other great chocolate sites to check out:
how to make milk chocolate