Author: Danielle Pacheco

Have you ever wondered where chocolate comes from? Not everyone knows that chocolate comes from cacao, which is a fruit that's cultivated exclusively in tropical regions. This fruit grows directly from the trunk of the cacao tree from tiny, delicate flowers of which less than 10% will go on to become cacao pods.

The cacao pod has an elongated shape measuring 10-32 cm and can come in a variety of colours, shapes and textures. Inside, it contains 30-60 seeds, which are what we use to make chocolate.

If you've never been to a cacao plantation, it can be a little difficult to imagine what the interior of a cacao pod looks like. We managed to get our hands on a fresh cacao pod here in Barcelona and we cracked it open to see what's inside!

Mucilage: source of flavour

Cutting open the cacao pod, we see a fairly thick exterior layer, with a membrane protecting the inside. Inside the membrane, the first thing we notice is a slimy white substance. This substance is called mucilage and despite its less-than-appetizing appearance, it's actually delicious. We tried it and we'd describe the flavour as acid, fruity and slightly sweet, with notes of lychee and passionfruit. The flavour can vary depending on the type of cacao and the origin.

This mucilage is what imparts the flavour to chocolate during the fermentation process. Once the fermentation is completed, the mucilage is usually discarded, although in cacao-producing countries, sometimes people make a drink out of the fresh mucilage or eat the seeds with the mucilage directly from the pod.

Cacao beans: from nibs to chocolate

Inside the cacao pod we find several dozen seeds, commonly called "beans," more or less comparable to an almond in size and shape. Each bean is covered in a layer of mucilage.

After removing the mucilage we see the cacao bean, and if we break it open we'll see cacao "nibs" inside. These nibs are what we grind up to make chocolate. The colour of the nibs depends on the cacao variety. Usually they're purple, but the nibs of the criollo variety are a paler white, which is a sign of a finer-tasting cacao.

Cacao beans contain approximately 50% cacao butter and 50% cacao solids. Cacao solids are known for being high in antioxidants and other healthy compounds, while cacao butter supplies the texture and melting point responsible for chocolate melting in your mouth. These two components are separated by pressing them during the chocolate production process.

The exterior shell of the cacao bean is usually discarded, although it can also be used to make cacao infusions.

Cacao is unique among fruits in that we eat the seeds and throw away the flesh. Nowadays, many people are investigating different ways of using the other components of the cacao pod to minimize waste. We're starting to see mucilage in ice cream, drinks and other chocolate creations. It can also be freeze-dried and used as a natural sugar, while the husk of the cacao pod can be pressed and made into paper for chocolate boxes.

Many customers enter my chocolate shop asking if I sell "Belgian chocolate." When I say no, they look disappointed, and some people even leave without buying anything, just on the strength of that one statement.

Cacao doesn't grow in Belgium, so this question always takes me a little by surprise. Are they asking what format I sell my bonbons in, or are they interested in the origin of the chocolate I use? When you hear the term "Belgian chocolate," what is it that you picture?

Short history of Belgian chocolate

Cacao arrived in Europe in the mid-sixteenth century. Several centuries later, chocolate makers in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Great Britain had innovated new techniques for producing chocolate as we know it today. Belgium's great contribution to the chocolate world was the invention of the moulded bonbon or"praline"in 1912 by Jean Neuhaus Jr., from the famous eponymous Belgian chocolate company.

For the first time, this innovation allowed chocolatiers to easily fill a solid chocolate shell with a softer filling, a technique that enabled the creation of bonbons with varying textures and flavours (it's interesting to note that the truffle was invented in France around the same time, using a similar concept but in the form of a sphere).

The concept of the praline was quickly copied by other chocolatiers in Belgium and then around the world. Nowadays, Belgian chocolate still enjoys renown thanks to this contribution it made to the world of chocolate over 100 years ago.

Legal definition of Belgian chocolate

No strict legislation regulates the use of the term "Belgian chocolate." Of course, cacao, the raw material from which chocolate is made, does not grow in Belgium or indeed in any part of continental Europe.

Choprabisco, which represents about 90% of Belgian chocolatiers, tried to implement a Belgian chocolate code in 2007-2008 to regulate the use of the term. Under this code, chocolate can only call itself "Belgian" if the last steps of chocolate processing are carried out in this same country. However, in practice, this protocol has no legal weight and only applies to the companies who have signed the accord.

As for the definition of chocolate itself, Belgium is bound by the same Europe-wide rules as other European countries when it comes to defining white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, etc.

In the present day; the concept of Belgian chocolate has grown to encompass not just moulded chocolates but also various chocolate products such as chocolate bars and moulded creations.

Is Belgian chocolate better-quality than other chocolate?

With no exact definition and no set of criteria that defines it, Belgian chocolate is not considered inherently better than any other type of chocolate.

You'll find plenty of poor-quality industrial Belgian chocolate; you can also find Belgian chocolatiers that make excellent chocolate using fine-quality traceable beans. Regardless of how meaningless the label is, it's very common to see chocolatiers from around the world proudly announcing their "Belgian chocolate" to give the impression of a superior product.

Ok, so if a chocolate isn't Belgian, where's it from?

There are many ways to define the origin of a chocolate, but in reality, it's rare to be able to say that a chocolate was 100% produced in one specific country. Cacao only grows well in tropical areas, and it needs to be fermented and dried really quickly after being harvested. This means that those processes are usually carried out on the or near the plantation itself.

In the case of a huge multinational company like Barry-Callebaut or Nestlé, farmers usually sell the dried cacao beans to an intermediary, who takes them to the village and sells them to another intermediary, who sells it to an export company, and so on and so forth until it finally ends up in the hands of a European or American corporation.

Once the cacao beans are safely dried, the next steps of toasting and grinding can be carried out anywhere in the world. In large companies, it's not uncommon for each step to be carried out in a different country. When you see labels that say "Swiss chocolate" or "French chocolate," it basically just means the last steps were carried out in those countries.

At Danielle Pacheco Chocolatier, we try to shorten the supply chain as much as possible. With fewer intermediaries, we pay less of a markup, but above all, it helps us sleep better at night knowing that a greater proportion of our money is going to the actual cacao farmers. This system also offers better traceability, so we have a firmer grasp on where our chocolate is from. Farmers who earn a fair wage and who maintain close relationships with the chocolate processers are better equipped to care for the cacao plants and post-harvest practices, which translates to better-quality cacao with more interesting and well-developed flavour profiles.

We primarily use chocolate from Xoco Gourmet, who runs plantations in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. The beans are processed into chocolate in the company's installations in Costa Rica under the careful guidance of chef chocolate maker Diana Cruz. We also work with chocolate by Original Beans, which sources its cacao from cooperatives in the Esmeraldas Coast, Ecuador as well as from an ethical women's cooperative in the Virunga mountains of Congo. The beans are imported to Switzerland for processing.

Depending on the flavour we're looking for, we select one or the other of these many types of chocolates to realize our artisanal aquí en Barcelona por una inmigrante canadiense. Puedes decir que nuestro chocolate es internacional 🙂

It's an issue that's had people up in arms for a while now: is white chocolate technically chocolate?

It's pretty likely that at some point, a friend or family member has observed you eating a piece of white chocolate and felt the need to say snootily, "white chocolate isn't real chocolate." I know it's happened to me tons of times! (or is this an occupational risk of owning a chocolate shop?). But today we're not here to judge, nor to make anyone feel stupid. We're obsessed with the world of chocolate, and we love learning, so today we'll be tackling this interesting topic from both sides of the conversation.

Is white chocolate really chocolate? Well, the answer depends on what you're looking for in the concept of chocolate, how you define the taste of chocolate and the specific ingredients of the chocolate bar in question. We'll analyze this theme from different angles to help you draw your own conclusions.

A short history of chocolate and the invention of white chocolate

"Chocolate" is a relatively new concept. Chocolate is made with the beans of the cacao pod, which is the fruit of the cacao tree. In ancient times, the Mayas and the Aztecs drank cacao in liquid form.

Following the arrival of cacao in Europe in the 1500's, people continued to drink cacao in liquid form. It wasn't until the early 1800's that people started to develop techniques to obtain cacao in solid form – dark chocolate. Milk chocolate was invented in the late 19th century, and white chocolate as we know it was first sold on a commercial scale by Nestlé in 1936. Less than a century divides the invention of dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate.

This means the definition of chocolate is more or less ''made up.'' It's not as if chocolate were a naturally occurring food that we ''ruined'' by creating a white version. Chocolate in itself is the result of many centuries of innovation and machinery that have allowed us to create a new way of enjoying a plant that is thousands of years old.

Legal definition of white chocolate

In many places, including Europe, the definition of chocolate is strictly regulated by law. These laws exist to ensure that certain quality standards are met, and minimize the use of cheap fillers like palm oil. There are specific laws for dark chocolate, milk chocolate... and, since the end of the 20th century, white chocolate.

Under European law, Spanish law and in many places around the world, white chocolate is defined as a product that contains at least 20% cacao butter and 14% powdered dairy, which can be in the form of milk powder, powdered butter or cream powder. In Europe, the dairy component must contain a minimum of 3.5% milk fat.

Just as with dark chocolate or milk chocolate, it's important to note that in order to be considered white chocolate, the product cannot contain more than 5% other fats that are not cacao butter. In addition, any non-cacao-butter fats must be clearly labelled. If you see a chocolate bar in the supermarket that carries 40% palm oil, this is not white chocolate (and if you look closely you might notice it uses alternate names like "cocoa fantasy" instead of "chocolate" to comply with regulations while tricking you into thinking it's chocolate.

The texture of chocolate

A cacao bean contains approximately 50% cacao solids and 50% cacao butter, meaning cacao butter often makes up more than half of the composition of the cacao bean. It's thanks to cacao butter's unique crystalline properties that chocolate is able to be solid and shiny at room temperature, yet melts in the mouth. This detail is fundamental to chocolate's success. Whether it's white or dark, "real" chocolate made with cacao butter will display this characteristic texture.

The taste of white chocolate

If I tell you something tastes like chocolate, you know immediately what I mean. We find this taste in drinks, chocolate bars, bonbons... it might vary depending on the cacao origin or the quality, but all "chocolate-flavoured" things have a certain flavour in common, and that's thanks to the taste of the cacao solids.

When we consider white chocolate, we have to admit it doesn't have the flavour we associate with chocolate. In fact, the vast majority of white chocolate on the market tastes like sugar and vanilla. This is because it's made with deodorized cacao butter. The cacao butter is pressed from the cacao beans, and then subjected to a process to remove the flavour and leave a neutral flavour.

That's a shame, because natural cacao butter actually has its own taste. If, instead of eliminating it, we decide to keep it, we see that white chocolate from different origins boasts different flavour notes, just like dark chocolate. The flavour depends on different factors such as the variety of cacao, the terroir where it grows, the proximity of other plants like mango trees, and other factors.

A good white chocolate is a unique and wonderful thing (if you've never tried a good one, we invite you to visit our store and we'll give you a sample of white chocolate grown and processed by Xoco Gourmet with single-variety cacao cultivated from a mother tree found deep in the jungle of Honduras near some Mayan ruins. It has an incredible nutty, caramelly taste).

Health benefits: white chocolate vs. dark chocolate

If we ignore its relatively high sugar content, dark chocolate has an intriguing nutritional profile thanks to its high content of flavonoids and other healthy components known to improve heart health and help prevent chronic disease.

By contrast, white chocolate has minimal levels of these compounds, since they are usually more present in the cacao solids rather than the cacao butter. Verdict: if you're looking for a "superfood," dark chocolate is a better option.

What to look for in a good white chocolate

If you like white chocolate, we have great news: there are hundreds of delicious chocolate bars waiting to be tried! We'll share a few points to look out for when selecting a white chocolate bar:

• Short ingredient list: A good white chocolate bar will never contain palm fat or other fats used with the intention of replacing cacao butter. Ideally, white chocolate should only contain cacao butter, powdered milk and sugar, in that order. The exception are chocolate bars with inclusions, like for example a white chocolate bar with chunks of caramel.
• Vanilla: On rare occasions vanilla is added purposely to add an interesting contrasting flavour note, but most of the time, vanilla is added to white chocolate to make up for the lack of flavour of a low-quality chocolate bar. If a chocolate bar does contain vanilla, check to make sure it's natural vanilla and not ''vanilla aroma'' or vanillin.
• Origin: Look for chocolate bars that offer information about the origin of the cacao. Cacao butter flavour varies from country to country and region to region, and the fun part of eating chocolate consists in trying chocolate from dfiferent origins to discover different flavour notes. Chocolatiers and chocolate makers who use high-quality cacao tend to establish closer relationships with the cacao farmers or producers, so they're often able to be more transparent about the cooperative or plantation where the cacao is grown.
• Transparency: In addition to the cacao butter origin, it's a good sign if a white chocolate bar offers more information about the post-harvest treatment and production process. How many days did the cacao beans ferment for? What temperature were they roasted at, and how long were they ground? Where is the milk from? What kind of sugar was used?