Many times when we endeavor to try a new recipe or even try our hand at making our own chocolate truffles for the first time we run in to terms that can appear to be a little more confusing than they should be. Take chocolate for example, how many different types of chocolate are there really when it comes to baking and what is the difference between each one? Let’s take a look.
Baking Chocolate – This term is a synonym for “bitter” or “unsweetened” chocolate. Baking chocolate is made up of approximately 50% cocoa butter. Recipes for brownies and frostings often call for the use of this type of chocolate and it can be found in your local grocery store’s baking aisle in a large block. Most recipes that call for baking chocolate are referencing this type of 50% cocoa butter chocolate and not a sweetened or semi-sweetened chocolate.
Bitter Chocolate -This term refers to the chocolate mentioned above and if often referred to as baking chocolate. The term “bitter” comes from the fact that there are no sweeteners included in the chocolate and it therefore reflects the bitterness of cacao. Chef’s and bakers use bitter chocolate so that they can adjust the sweetness of their final product themselves, catering to the other ingredients in the recipe.
Unsweetened Chocolate – This term is also used to refer to “baking chocolate” and is a chocolate that contains 50% cocoa butter and represents the true bitter taste of cacao before it is sweetened.
Bittersweet Chocolate – This term refers to a dark chocolate that contains on average 30% cocoa butter, a minimum of 50% chocolate liquor and has been sweetened and flavored with sugar and often times vanilla. Bittersweet chocolate does not contain any milk product either dried or liquid. Lecithin is often added to bittersweet chocolate to prevent separation of cocoa and cocoa butter.
Semisweet Chocolate – This term refers to the same type of combination of chocolate as is listed above; however, in general semisweet chocolate contains a lower percentage of chocolate liquor (35%.)
