Although it’s called chocolate, white chocolate isn’t really chocolate at all. A hybrid that does derive its roots from the same cacao plant, the white version involves a different process for creation. Be this as it may, those who crave the creamy vanilla taste of the white version of chocolate will probably not care about the semantics involved.
Chocolate making involves first the extraction of useable items from the ancient cacao bean. While dark chocolates use the cocoa powder ground from the seeds, the versions of white use only the butter. When chocolate making experts create a white blend, the butter is the only items used from the bean itself to create the end product.
Making chocolate of the white persuasion involves a process not dissimilar to making darks. Despite the similarity, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will even deem white chocolates as chocolates at all since chocolate liquor isn’t used in their creation.
Instead, makers of white varieties of chocolates use the cocoa butter, milk solids, vanilla, sugar and lecithin to make this creation. Those that use true cocoa butter create a higher-quality chocolate than those who don’t. Other makers will save money by substituting vegetable fat for the cocoa butter, but don’t be fooled, it’s not the same.
True white chocolates are ivory in color when they’re made. The taste screams of cream and vanilla and it simply cannot be matched with the white, white creations that come from vegetable fat. The consistency, taste and ability to store is vastly different between the two versions of whites made by chocolate manufacturers.
Delicate by nature, white chocolates melt quite easily and scorch even easier. Take care when melting for things like ganache or chocolate fondue. Also, due to the use of real cocoa butter in the creation of top quality whites, this chocolate can store for months without spoilage.
