White chocolate

 

Before modern white chocolate was created, some products were referred to as white chocolate, but the interpretations of this term differ and definitely was not white chocolate as we know today. For example, the "white chocolate" item in a list of supplies from 1783 could mean that it was lighter than other chocolate, to denote that it was made from what was then classified as a cacao variety Theobroma alba (white cacao),^[1] or alternatively it could be an ancient method of preparing chocolate named "white cacao".^[2]

The history of creation of modern white chocolate is unclear, but there is consensus that the first commercial white chocolate tablet, Nestlé Galak (known as Milkybar in the United Kingdom), was launched by the Swiss company Nestlé in 1936. Making white chocolate was said to be a way to use milk powder and cocoa butter, which were then produced in excess.^[3][4] According to Nestlé, white chocolate was originally a coating for a vitamin product they were making with pharmaceutical group Roche.^[5] Production of Milkybar was suspended in the UK in 1940 due to shortages of ingredients caused by WW2; it would take until 1956 before production resumed.^[6] Historically in the United Kingdom, white chocolate has been closely associated with children,^[7] and Milkybar has been marketed there as a chocolate for children.^[8] In fact, in 1961 Nestlé created "The Milkybar Kid", a blonde child sporting spectacles and a cowboy suit; it was only in 2010 that the character was portrayed by adults.^[9] As of 1992, the Milkybar constituted 80% of the £41,000,000 UK white-chocolate market.^[10]

In Spain, white chocolate became common in the early 1970s and by the late 1990s had four rival brands selling white chocolate. Since the late 1970s in Japan, White Day has been celebrated on March 14, following its promotion by chocolate companies. On this day, men give white chocolate to women who had given them dark chocolate on Valentine's Day a month earlier.^[11][12] In 1973, a white chocolate variety of Toblerone was created.^[13]

Around the start of the start of the 21st century in the United Kingdom, chocolate makers began marketing white chocolate to adults, with Cadbury releasing Cadbury Snowflake and Dream, and Nestle releasing white chocolate versions of Aero and Kit-Kat.^[14] Today, white chocolate is considered acceptable for adults to eat, as seen by its inclusion in assortment boxes.^[7] Since 2012, the French chocolate manufacturer Valrhona has sold "blond chocolate", invented around 2005 after white chocolate was accidentally left in a bain-marie for four days. As of 2024, Valrhona was lobbying the French government to recognize it as a separate type of chocolate.^[15]

While Hebert Candies says that they introduced white chocolate to America for the first time in 1956,^[16] white chocolate was not made and mass-distributed in the United States until 1984, when Nestlé released Alpine White, a white chocolate bar containing almonds, marketed to the "female indulgence" market.^[3][8] That decade, white chocolate gained popularity in the United States, as imports rose from Europe and white chocolate became trendy. Marketing associated the product with Europe.^[17] Growth was driven by perceptions of white chocolate as "lighter and more delicate" than other types of chocolate.^[18] By the 1990s, however, white chocolate had become unpopular and disliked; a contemporary online survey featured opinions that white chocolate tasted like "candle wax" and was "for communist spies."^[19] Nestlé discontinued Alpine White in 1993, and a year later The Hershey Company introduced Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme to the US market, a white chocolate product embedded with cookie chunks.^[20] Hershey's new launch and Nestlé's new White Crunch bar, however, failed to turn around sales.^[19]

 

Before the FDA adopted regulations about white chocolate, the Food and Drug Administration forbade marketing white chocolate as "chocolate" unless manufacturers held rare permits that had to be renewed every fifteen months.^[21][a] Just a year before, much of the "white chocolate" sold in the United States was made of palm kernel oils or hydrogenated fats and called "compound coating". It was sold as "ivory", "blanc", or just wrapped in clear plastic bags. Consumers had difficulty distinguishing white chocolate made with and without cocoa butter.^[19] In 2002, the FDA regulated a standard of identity for white chocolate for the first time, after extensive lobbying from the Hershey's and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association (now part of the National Confectioners Association).^[22][4] This was enforced from 2004, requiring white chocolate to be made of at least 20% cocoa butter for the first time.^[21] As demand for cocoa butter sent the prices doubling between 2005 and 2015, American chocolate makers switching towards making more high-quality white chocolate.^[4]

White chocolate does not contain cocoa solids, the primary non-fat constituent of chocolate liquor; these are replaced by milk solids. During manufacturing, the dark-colored solids of the cocoa bean are separated from its fatty content, as with milk chocolate and dark chocolate, but, unlike with other forms of chocolate, no cocoa mass is added back. This makes cocoa butter the only cocoa ingredient in white chocolate.^[23] As pure pressed cocoa butter has a flavor that can be considered unpleasant in some applications, before it is used in white chocolate, it is partly deodorized. This involves steam distilling the cocoa butter under vacuum^[24][25] or by using solvents.^[4] If cocoa butter were fully deodorized, it would lose all cocoa flavor; as a result, less deodorized (and therefore having a more full flavor) cocoa butters are used in dark chocolates, while white chocolates use more deodorized cocoa butter.^[25]

Beyond cocoa butter, milk chocolate contains sugar, milk solids,^[26] emulsifiers (generally soy lecithin or PGPR),^[27] and flavors (such as vanilla). Manufacturers vary the milk solids used to create different effects. Some use yogurt powder as a milk powder, as the acidity masks the sweetness of the sugar.^[26] Other manufacturers substitute milk powder for "white" chocolate crumb (a mixture of sugar, milk and cocoa butter dried simultaneously^[28]), to give it a caramelized flavor, and others make white chocolate softer by using skimmed milk powder and milk fat instead of full cream milk powder.^[29] The ratio between cocoa butter, sugar and milk fat impacts the quality, and higher-quality white-chocolate recipes require less sugar with more cocoa butter and milk fat.^[30] In some chocolate, some cocoa butter is substituted for cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs) and cocoa butter substitutes (CBSs). CBEs are fats with similar triglyceride structures, such as palm oil and shea butter,^[31] while CBSs are fats with dissimilar triglyceride structures that are refined to have similar qualities of hardness, mouthfeel and flavor release. These include fully refined fats made from palm kernel and coconut oil.^[32][33]

 

The basic process of making white chocolate involves mixing, refining, conching, standardizing and tempering.^[34]

In the mixing phase, cocoa butter is combined with sugar, milk solids, emulsifiers and flavors.^[34][35] These ingredients are mixed until a rough paste is formed.^[34] After the ingredients are mixed, the mass enters a refining machine. This carries the mass through large steel rollers set to varying widths, turning the mass into a dry powder.^[36][34] White chocolate is then transferred to a conching machine.^[37] These machines mix and knead the mass, changing the flavor and texture.^[38] White chocolate is conched between 40 and 50 °C (104–122 °F), the lowest temperature of the traditional types of chocolate;^[39] conching at higher temperatures can give the chocolate undesirable flavors produced by the Maillard reaction.^[29][40] After conching, the viscosity and taste of the mixture is standardized by adding flavorings, emulsifiers or cocoa butter. This is necessary, given the use of automatic molding and enrobing equipment.^[37][38]

In the final step of production, the chocolate is tempered. While waiting to temper, the chocolate is kept in liquid-chocolate storage.^[41][42] Storing white chocolate for this time is particularly difficult compared to other types of chocolate, as it tends to thicken and caramelize at higher temperatures.^[43] To prevent this, the chocolate is constantly stirred while being held between 38 and 40 °C (100–104 °F).^[41][42] Before tempering, chocolate is heated to ensure all the cocoa butter that has crystallized has melted.^[44] In white chocolate, this occurs at about 40–45 °C (104–113 °F), lower than in milk and dark chocolates.^[44][43] During tempering, chocolate is cooled to the point where the cocoa butter can begin to crystallize, and then heated to ensure that of the various crystal structures, only the most stable remain. For white chocolate, the temperatures the chocolate is cooled to and then heated to are lower than those needed for other chocolates; up to 4 °C lower when compared to dark chocolate.^[45] High milk fat contents in white and milk chocolates reduces the temperature at which they solidify. As a result, they require longer cooling.^[46] The softness and viscosity of white chocolate makes working with it the most challenging chocolate for manufacturers to work with.^[47][48]

Regulations govern what may be marketed as white chocolate: since 2000 in the European Union, white chocolate must be (by mass) at least 20% cocoa butter and 14% total milk solids, of which enough milk fat is contained to make up 3.5%.^[49] Up to 5% of white chocolate's mass can be vegetable fats other than cocoa butter.^[50] In January 2022, the European Food Safety Authority banned the food coloring agent E171 (titanium dioxide), which had been used as a common whitener in some white chocolate products.^[51][52]

Since 2004 in the United States, the Code of Federal Regulations defines white chocolate as containing "not less than 20 percent by weight of cacao fat", "not less than 3.5 percent by weight of milkfat and not less than 14 percent by weight of total milk solids", and "not more than 55 percent by weight of a nutritive carbohydrate sweetener" (generally sucrose).^[53][54] Acceptable dairy elements when manufacturing white chocolate in the United States include evaporated milk, skim milk, buttermilk, and malted milk. White chocolate products may not contain artificial coloring agents.^[53] Compared to milk and dark chocolates, white chocolate is permitted to contain an unusually high amount of emulsifiers; up to 1.5% of the formula, 50% more than what is permitted for other chocolates. It is also the only chocolate to which antioxidants can be added, to prevent it going rancid.^[27] Unlike in the EU, products in the US containing vegetable fats other than cocoa butter cannot be labelled "chocolate".^[50]

White chocolate has an ivory color and can smell of biscuit, vanilla or caramel, but can also easily pick up undesirable environmental smells. This can give it undesirable smells of rancidity or cheese.^[55] White chocolate made from nondeodorized cocoa butter retain the aroma of chocolate, but have an unappealing taste to most consumers.^[b][56][57] Cocoa butter can contribute a yellow color to white chocolate, which can be considered undesirable.^[58] Milk fats in white chocolate carry flavors, serve as flavor precursors, and provide flavor, some of these produced throughout the production process.^[59] Undesirable flavors in white chocolate includes metal and paper or cardboard; the latter flavors can arise from exposure to oxygen.^[55][60] It has a reputation as tasting overly sweet.^[4] Compared to chocolates containing cocoa solids, white chocolate doesn't make consumers as thirsty.^[61]

As cocoa antioxidants that act as preservatives are mainly present in the dark cocoa material that white chocolate lacks, white chocolate has a shorter shelf life than milk and dark chocolate. The presence of milk fats in white chocolate also mean white chocolate cannot be packed in a transparent wrapper, as milk fat is delicate, and will decompose faster if exposed to light.^[62][59] Instead, metallized films are used.^[63]

White chocolate is 59% carbohydrates, 32% fat, 6% protein, and 1% water (see table). In a reference amount of 100 grams (3.5 oz), white chocolate supplies 2,250 kJ (540 kcal) of food energy, is a rich source (22% of the Daily Value, DV) of riboflavin, and a moderate source (10–15% DV) of pantothenic acid, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium (table). White chocolate contains only trace amounts of the stimulants theobromine and caffeine, as these are present in the cocoa mass but not the cocoa butter.^[23]

As of 2022^[update], white chocolate accounted for about 10% of the overall chocolate market.^[66] The smaller consumption of white chocolate compared to milk and dark chocolate has been attributed to white chocolate containing fewer aromatic compounds.^[67] White chocolate is also controversial among some members of the public as to whether it is "really" chocolate,^[68] contributing to a bad reputation added to by perceptions of it being too sweet and containing too many additives.^[4] During the 2010s, white chocolate consumption declined as consumers opted for dark chocolate in light of attention to claims made about health benefits.^[69] White chocolate, supplemented with fat-soluble colors and flavors, is often used to coat candies and cakes in the United States.^[70] In 2018, around half of the white chocolate was made of white chocolate bars, valued at US$19.18 billion.^[71] As of two years later, Nestle's Milkybar white chocolate was the most popular white chocolate sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[72] Manufacturers sell white chocolate varieties of classic chocolate products, including Twix, Kit Kat and M&M's.^[73]

Belgium is a popular producer of white chocolate,^[74] often mixing it with milk or dark chocolates as decoration.^[14] As of 2019, Brazil was the largest market for white chocolate in South America, where it was the second most popular type of chocolate behind milk.^[73] Craft white chocolate is popular, particularly in Japan.^[71][75] As of 2024, demand for artisanal white chocolate is increasing. This is a product of a general increase in demand for premium chocolate, driven in part by an increase in demand for organic, sugar-free, vegan and gluten-free chocolate. Beyond sales directly to customer, white chocolate is also sold industrially as compound chocolate, to be used by bakeries, confectioners and for making cookies and biscuits. The cosmetics industry also purchases white chocolate, based on beliefs that it can help with "skin renewal and rejuvenation". It is thus used in body lotions and wax.^[71]

According to a market research report released in May 2024, the white-chocolate market was projected to grow by US$9.11 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 4.87% for 2024–2028, driven by an increase in consumption in premium white chocolate. Europe was projected to account for 44% of this growth. These predictions were challenged by instability on the cocoa market that had occurred in recent years.^[71]

 

Sugar-free and reduced sugar white chocolate contain maltitol, a sugar alcohol, instead of sucrose. As maltitol is a laxative, some manufacturers combine it with a fiber blend and stevia.^[76] Alternatively, sorbitol or fructose are used as sucrose substitutes.^[77] Sugar-free white chocolate also substitutes milk ingredients for lactose-free variants.^[78] Other varieties of white chocolate include organic, vegan and gluten-free chocolate.^[71]

Blond chocolate is made by slowly heating white chocolate, which triggers Maillard reactions, creating a chocolate with light caramel flavor.^[15] White chocolate bars can be flavored and filled, including with butterscotch, caramel, coffee, fondant, honey, mint, nougat, nuts and vanilla.^[71]

• Chocolate in savory cooking
• List of chocolate bar brands