Couverture chocolate

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Name Variations

 * moulding chocolate
 * confectioners’ coating chocolate
 * confectioners’ chocolate
 * coating chocolate
 * compound chocolate
 * compound chocolate coating

About Couverture chocolate
Couverture Chocolate is a very high quality chocolate that contains extra cocoa butter (32-39%). The higher percentage of cocoa butter, combined with the processing, gives the chocolate more sheen, firmer "snap" when broken, and a creamy mellow flavor.

The total "percentage" cited on many brands of chocolate is made up of some combination of cocoa butter to cocoa solids (cacao). In order to be properly labeled as "couverture", the percentage of cocoa butter must be between 32-39%, and the total of the percentage of the combined cocoa butter plus cocoa solids must be at least 54%. Sugar makes up the inverse percentage, and up to 1% may be made up of vanilla, and sometimes soy lecithin.

Couverture is used by professionals for dipping, coating, molding and garnishing.

Do not substitute couverture when semi-sweet, bittersweet chocolate, or unsweetened chocolate is called for in a recipe. The increased cocoa butter content and the sugar content may alter the finished product.

Compound chocolate
Compound chocolate is the technical term for a confection combining cocoa with vegetable fat, usually tropical fats and/or hydrogenated fats, as a replacement for cocoa butter. It is primarily used for candy bar coatings, but because it does not contain cocoa butter, in the US it is not allowed to be called "chocolate." This is especially true for much candy passed as "white chocolate", which need not contain anything from the cacao bush at all. This can translate to poor taste, texture and possibly health concerns, particularly when partially hydrogenated oils are used to replace cacao butter.