What is the difference between good quality chocolate and cheap chocolate?

Question

There are many types of chocolate out there, some higher quality than others. What are the main differences between good quality chocolate and cheap chocolate? And in practical applications in baking and confections, what "benefits" do higher quality chocolate offer?

Asked by Jay

Answer

Good quality chocolate has a number of distinguishing features:

1. High cocoa solids content: less than 50% will have little real chocolate taste and one with more than 70% will have a much more complex and fine chocolate taste.
2. Actual cocoa butter as opposed to vegetable oils which are cheaper than cocoa butter (prices have increased in recent years due to demand in the cosmetics industry).
3. Smooth texture, this is from a longer conching period (in which the chocolate is crushed in a concher).

Poor quality chocolate will have a low cocoa solids percentage and vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter.

In baking milk chocolate and othe low cocoa solid chocolates are not appropriate as they have a weak chocolate flavor which dissipates during baking do a finer chocolate is necessary.

Milk chocolate may go rancid and taste of 'bad olive oil' as note here due to the fats in the milk going rancid.

In this image the cocoa solids go up from 0% in white chocolate to a maximum of 100% in the highest of quality chocolates. In white chocolate look for no vegetable oils and vanilla extract.

Answered by Sebiddychef

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