Find out what’s behind your favourite sweet treat

Cocoa was first processed into edible, enjoyable forms by the Mesoamerican cultures in modern-day Mexico. Some source suggest they started consuming it as early as the 19th century BCE. Calling it xocolātl, they blended fermented, roasted and ground cocoa beans with spices, honey and vanilla to make tasty hot and cold drinks for celebration, ritual and indulgence.

Plus ça change. Nowadays, people all over the world consume chocolate in all its various modern forms and flavours for the same reasons. The UK, in particular, has a taste for the humble chocolate bar. Did you know the average resident munches through an estimated 11kg of the stuff per year?

This article is your handy, Hotel Chocolat guide to the modern chocolate bar. We’ll take you through the basic ingredients that go into nearly every bar of chocolate. This will help us explain the differences between the three main types of chocolate and the hallmarks of quality that set premium chocolate apart from its cheaper impersonators.

We hope it’s enough to make your mouth water!

Ingredients in milk chocolate

Milk chocolate is probably the most popular form of solid chocolate on the market. Packed full of multilayered cocoa flavours, this form of chocolate is at its best when slowly melted on the tongue. Milk chocolate is versatile, too. Many chocolatiers particularly like to work with it, and the major chocolate manufacturers pump out a dizzying variety of milk chocolate products.

Invented in Switzerland in 1875, solid chocolate usually involves combining cocoa mass (fermented, roasted and ground cocoa beans), cocoa butter (a rich, complex fat extracted during cocoa bean processing), sugar (of which there are many subtly-different kinds) and whole milk or dairy solids.

This latter ingredient provides milk chocolate’s unique, melt-in-the-mouth sensation. The added milk makes it less resistant to heat and lowers the chocolate’s melting point.

Despite its stubborn popularity and storied history, milk chocolate has gained a peculiarly unsavoury reputation in recent years. Some increasingly health-conscious, quality-oriented consumers have come to prefer high-cocoa dark chocolate. They consider milk chocolate to be a cheaper indulgence perhaps only to be enjoyed at Christmas or Easter.

It is certainly true that milk chocolate can be made on the cheap. However, in the hands of a knowledgeable chocolatier, quality, ethically-sourced ingredients can be transformed into wholesome, flavourful milk chocolate.

We certainly think ours can compete with high-cocoa dark chocolate on health, quality and flavour.

Ingredients in dark chocolate

Dark chocolate is the original form of chocolate. It’s the closest in bar form you can get to the original drink of the Aztec emperors. But there’s not just one type of dark chocolate. There is an array of possibilities, running along a spectrum from intoxicatingly rich and bitter to moreishly smooth and delicate.

Solid dark chocolate was first produced by British chocolatier Joseph Fry in the 1850s. Fry added cocoa butter and a pinch of sugar to cocoa solids, and our recipes still closely resemble his today.

The secret of dark chocolate’s complexity and versatility lies in its ingredients and in the techniques used in its manufacture. For example, our 85% dark chocolate hits all the deep chocolatey notes, but has surprisingly low levels of acidity and bitterness. This is down to its extra-long “conching” process, which is where the beans are stirred and mixed constantly. This – for reasons modern science is only just beginning to understand – gives it a smooth, mellow texture and rich flavour.

Dark chocolate generally has the highest cocoa percentage and the fewest ingredients of any type of chocolate. This also means it’s packed with the natural flavour of cocoa — and all of its potential health benefits too. 

Aspiring connoisseurs, sweet-toothed health gurus or those of a more sophisticated palate will soon find that each individual dark chocolate comes with a unique personality. Why not experiment with cocoa from different countries and continents, species and seasons, or percentages and processes?

Ingredients in white chocolate

White chocolate is the youngest of the three main types of chocolate we enjoy today, having only been invented in the 1930s. Sweet, light and indulgently sweet, this chocolate can be divisive — some find it irresistibly delicious, while others find it sickly.

White chocolate’s pale ivory colour and smooth texture comes from its unique composition. It consists of dried milk and sugar added to cocoa butter – no cocoa powder at all. The result is a bar of chocolate with rich creamy flavours, gently underlined by a hint of floral cocoa butter.

Just as in other forms of chocolate, the precise taste and texture of white chocolate varies based on its ingredients and manufacturing process. The good news is that this leaves ample room for experimentation. Take quality white chocolate, for example. It should highlight all of the natural flavour of cocoa butter with minimal sugar and no replacement fats or oils. That’s what we’ve achieved with our award-winning Single Origin Dominican White Chocolate, made with 42% organic cocoa butter.

Ingredients to add to chocolate for flavour

Chocolate is a powerfully flavoursome food all on its own. It has almost endless subtle variations between recipes and brands even without added ingredients. For us, it’s important to make sure that anything we add to our chocolate enriches and empowers its flavour, rather than distracting from it.

For this reason, it’s best to buy chocolate that doesn’t skimp on its flavouring. Try organic mint oil, rich vanilla or homemade cinder toffee – delicious!

The difference between ingredients for luxury vs. cheap chocolate

There are a variety of corner-cutting techniques for chocolate manufacturers. The “Dutch” method for extracting cocoa involves using alkali substances to chemically isolate a slightly altered form of cocoa liquor. While this is speedier than conventional processing, it results in a product that’s missing vital acidity, depth of flavour and antioxidant levels.

Another thing to watch out for is the legal-but-questionable bulking up of cocoa butter with vegetable fats. In the 1990s there was even a Europe-wide chocolate controversy over the practice. It caused large British manufacturers to clash with French and Belgian chocolate purists.

A quality chocolate uses natural cocoa as much as possible. At Hotel Chocolat, we use only the finest ingredients to give the richest and most complex taste, as well as to enhance any possible associated benefits to your health.

Finally, a high-quality chocolate can very often (but not always!) be picked out based on its cocoa percentage and manufacturer. A high cocoa percentage usually indicates that a producer is putting the chocolate itself front and centre. Some manufacturers (like us, we hope!) have a reputation for quality and dependability that precedes them. If in doubt, look for more cocoa and less sugar.

What to look for on your chocolate packaging

When it comes to chocolate, less is usually more. The best chocolate contains only the most necessary ingredients, leaving flavourings and artificial additives out as much as possible.

Another important consideration is your chocolate-ethic — in many cocoa-growing countries, large manufacturers pay perishingly small wages to ordinary farmers. These corporations then proceed to cut corners by bulking out their products with sugar and vegetable oils. Sometimes farmers use a variety of underhand methods to boost production. This can include intensive pesticide regimes, underpay staff and overtax their land, eating away at their farm’s long-term viability.

In these times, it’s essential to make sure your chocolate is made with ethically sourced – possibly even organic – sugar, milk and cocoa.
No matter the kind of chocolate you prefer, we hope this piece has proven informative, interesting and – most importantly – highlighted the importance of quality chocolate.