White chocolate
Name Variations[]
- white baking bar
- white baking chocolate
About White chocolate[]
Wikipedia Article About White chocolate on Wikipedia
Not really chocolate at all, white chocolate is typically a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, lecithin and vanilla. This product will never be officially classified as chocolate because there is no chocolate liquor in it, which means there's also very little chocolate flavor. White chocolate must be melted very slowly over low heat to keep it from scorching and dumping.
White chocolate is an ivory-white confection based on cocoa butter without the cocoa solids. It also includes milk solids, sugar, lecithin, and flavorings (usually including vanilla). Cocoa butter is the ingredient used in other chocolates so that they remain solid at room temperature yet melt easily in the mouth. Thus, white chocolate has a texture like that of chocolate but does not have the same taste. Some, however, find the taste similar to milk chocolate.
White chocolate was first made in Switzerland after World War I. It was first popularly distributed in America in 1984 with the introduction of Nestlé's Alpine White Chocolate bar, which contained white chocolate and almonds.
As white chocolate does not contain cocoa solids or cocoa mass, it does not meet the standards to be called chocolate in many countries. In the United States, since 2004, white chocolate needs to be at least 20% (by weight) cocoa butter, at least 14% total milk solids, and less than 55% sweeteners such as sugar. Before this date, US firms needed temporary marketing permits to sell this cocoa solids-free chocolate. In the European Union white chocolate needs to contain not less than 20% cocoa butter and not less than 14% dry milk solids.