There is a debate, especially among enthusiasts, according to which white chocolate is not “real chocolate”. The reason would lie in its composition, very different from that of dark and milk chocolate. The latter in fact contain the entire cocoa mass, including the cocoa solids, which give the product its dark color and characteristic bitterness. These components include polyphenols, alkaloids such as theobromine and compounds formed during roasting, which are fundamental to the typical taste of chocolate.
White chocolate, on the other hand, is produced exclusively with cocoa butter, sugar and milk, and is therefore free of all other components. This is why it is lighter, sweeter and less aromatic. It is precisely the absence of cocoa solids that is at the basis of the idea, widespread especially among those with a more “purist” vision, that white chocolate is not “real chocolate”. From a scientific and legal point of view, however, cocoa butter is a derivative of cocoa and European legislation officially recognizes white chocolate as chocolate, provided it complies with specific compositional requirements.
- 1White chocolate vs dark chocolate: what changes?
- 2A different aroma
- 3But is white chocolate real chocolate?
White chocolate vs dark chocolate: what changes
For dark and milk chocolate, the entire cocoa mass is used – obtained from cocoa beans which are fermented, dried, toasted and ground. Instead, for white chocolate it uses exclusively cocoa butter – the lipid part of the cocoa mass composed of various fatty acids, such as palmitic acid and oleic acid. The components of the cocoa mass that determine the dark color in dark chocolate are the so-called cocoa solids, i.e. the non-fat fraction made up for example of polyphenols, alkaloids, natural pigments and products of the reactions that form during the fermentation and roasting of the beans, such as melanoidins. The latter are above all responsible for the shades ranging from brown to almost black in the various types of dark chocolate. In milk chocolate the presence of milk partially lightens the color, but the cocoa solids still remain present and visually dominant.
Inside white chocolate, however, cocoa solids are absent: the product is obtained exclusively from the lipid fraction extracted from the cocoa mass. Since cocoa butter is naturally clear and free of the pigments and compounds responsible for the dark color, the final product maintains a white (or rather, ivory) hue, further accentuated by the addition of sugar and milk.
Different characteristics and aroma: sweeter and more delicate
It’s not just a question of color, but also of taste: white chocolate is decidedly sweeter and more delicate than dark chocolate. The explanation lies once again in the different composition: in dark chocolate (and also in milk chocolate) the presence of cocoa solids makes the taste more intense. The main culprit is theobromine, an alkaloid that is part of the xanthine group (the same to which caffeine also belongs), which gives chocolate bitter notes.
In white chocolate, however, the sensorial profile is dominated by cocoa butter, which together with milk and sugar gives sweet and creamy notes, very distant from the intense flavor of theobromine and the other components of cocoa solids, absent in this type of product.
But is white chocolate real chocolate?
Precisely these differences in composition and aroma are at the basis of the debate according to which, for some (experts and otherwise) white chocolate is not “real chocolate”: in fact it contains only part of the cocoa mass, the lipid one, and lacks the fraction that defines the colour, taste and aroma typical of dark chocolate. From a scientific and regulatory point of view, however, cocoa butter is in all respects a derivative of cocoa: for this reason white chocolate is considered a full-fledged chocolate, as long as it contains at least 20% cocoa butter, as established in the European Union Directive 2000/36 EC.
