Can you imagine a life without chocolates? It's a key ingredient in many food items. Think of brownies, chocolate truffles, cookies, hot fudge, cakes or even the humdrum milk shake- its chocolate that makes them so irresistible! However, very few realize that chocolates are of various kinds and each as its unique taste and applications. Let us glimpse through some of the most popular ones:-
White chocolate
An extremely sweet variety of chocolate, it is unique in not having any cocoa solids and thus often referred to as a chocolate derivative instead of traditional chocolate. It is formulated from a mixture of cocoa butter, milk emulsifier, sugar and flavourings like vanilla or any other. Absence of cocoa lends it the off-white or ivory colour. It can stay solid at higher temperatures than other chocolate varieties. While it lacks the chocolate's antioxidant properties, its mild and pleasant flavour is terrific for Chocolate Mousse, Panna Cotta and varied other desserts.
Milk Chocolate
Apart from cocoa butter and chocolate powder, it contains dry milk solids or condensed milk and sugar in varying proportions. They also have some butter fats. These are much sweeter than dark chocolates, a lighter hue and less pronounced chocolate flavour. These are difficult to temper and can easily overheat. These are most often consumed as a candy bar.
Dark Chocolate
This chocolate is hallmarked by minimal to no solid milk content. Its major ingredients are chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, lecithin, sugar and vanilla. If the solid cocoa component in chocolate ranges from 30 to 35 percent, it is deemed as dark chocolate. However, extremely dark bars can have content, even up to 70 to 80 percent. Often bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate are also considered a variety of dark chocolate. They show a classic brown or brown-black colour due to absence of milk content.
Unsweetened chocolate
This is commonly synonymous with baking chocolate. It is formulated from solid chocolate liquor and fat with no addition of sugar. Thus, its taste is quite bitter. It lends an amazing flavour in baked recipes like brownies or cakes.
Semi-sweet chocolate
Classified under dark chocolate, it is made with equal proportions if sugar and cocoa liquor and other flavourings like vanilla and emulsifying agents. They are prepared in the same way as unsweetened chocolate and are mostly used to make garnishes and fondues.
Sweetened chocolate
It is also counted under dark chocolate as it has no milk solids. But with more than half of sugar content, it is the sweetest form of dark chocolate with a rich and creamy texture. Various brands have different proportions of cocoa solids ranging from 20-40%. These are popularly used in manufacturing commercial candies and bars.
There are various other kinds of chocolate lying between these major types, used for different purposes.