About the Four Types of Chocolates

Yes, the world now has four kinds of chocolates to nibble on. And each of them is exquisite in their own way.

By: Soumya Jain

There is hardly anyone I know in the world who doesn’t like chocolate. Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth, chances are, you’ll bend over backwards for a bar of your preferred chocolate. And while most chocolates either catered to the sweet or better – oops! I meant bitter – parts of your taste buds, there is a new variety which appeals to the tangy part of your palate.

So, according to Wikipedia, chocolate is a range of foods derived from cocoa, mixed with fat (e.g., cocoa butter) and finely powdered sugar to produce a solid confectionery. The several types of chocolate are classified according to the proportion of cocoa used in a particular formulation.

Here is the list of chocolates available in the world today:

1.      Milk Chocolate – This is solid chocolate made with milk added in the form of powdered milk, liquid milk, or condensed milk. Mostly, milk chocolate contains approximately only 20% cocoa solids. It is usually the most common and preferred kind of chocolate among children and families. Of course, those with lower affinity for sweet things don’t really care much for this kind of variety.

2.      Dark Chocolate - Also known as "plain chocolate", dark chocolate uses a higher percentage of cocoa with all fat content coming from cocoa butter instead of milk, Dark chocolate can be eaten as is, or used in cooking, for which thicker baking bars, usually with high cocoa percentages ranging from 70% to 100%, are sold. Semisweet and bittersweet are terms for dark chocolate traditionally used in the United States to indicate the amount of added sugar. Typically, bittersweet chocolate has less sugar than semisweet chocolate. Both must contain a minimum of 35% cocoa solids though. Apart from these two, there is also ‘tempered couverture chocolate’ – which contains a high percentage of cocoa solids and cocoa butter, and precisely tempered. It is used by professionals for dipping, coating, molding and garnishing ('couverture' means 'covering' in French).

3.      White Chocolate – Now you would think that White Chocolate wouldn’t have any cocoa any it since it’s so ‘white’. Well, that is kind of true. White chocolate is made of sugar, milk, and cocoa butter, without the cocoa solids. It lacks many of the compounds found in milk and dark chocolates. In fact, unlike the other two, it remains solid at room temperature as that is below the melting point of cocoa butter.

4.      Ruby Chocolate – This one has been grabbing headlines world over. Very recently introduced to the world in 2017, ruby chocolate is made from the Ruby cocoa bean, resulting in a distinct red colour and a different flavour, described as "sweet yet sour". To put it simply, ruby chocolate is tangy and fruity compared to the rest. And because of its naturally pink color, the current generation is quite obsessing over this flavor. But then again, not only might find the tangy taste palatable.

We won’t mind if food scientists come up with more varieties of chocolates. The world needs sweetness.

Soumya Jain is the Chief Editor & CEO of LuxuryFacts.com – the first and only luxury blog and magazine in India. She is also the Co-Editor of ‘The Luxury Market in India: Maharajas to Masses’, published by Palgrave Macmillan and launched in September 2012. The book is a window into the highly complex Indian luxury market. Soumya is also a visiting lecturer for luxury marketing and online journalism at leading educational institutes in India. She has been invited to speak at conferences and address industry colleagues about the Indian luxury market. Recognising her knowledge of the market, she has been quoted by media such as Fast Company, Wall Street Journal & Financial Times among others, while also contributing articles on luxury in various publications.