When most people think of chocolate, they think of the rich brown sultry color of milk or dark chocolate. But during the process of making chocolate, there’s a point when two magical options are available, the rich dark chestnut of traditional chocolate, or the pure white angelic path that is the way of White Chocolate. White Chocolate Day is the perfect opportunity to learn about the origins of this delicious treat, and take a walk on the light side of culinary decadence.
History of White Chocolate Day
Chocolate has been around a very long time, it’s consumption as a beverage reaching back to 1900 BCE by the Mesoamericans, and was considered sacred to Quetzocoatl. So valuable was it during the Aztec empire that it was used as a form of currency, and was in fact the expected form of payment for the taxes levied on the people they ruled. It wasn’t until Christopher Columbus visited the New World for the 4th time in 1502 that chocolate was brought back to the UK, and the rest is history.
Well, almost…
You see, for all the time between then and 1930, the rich mahogany chocolate was all they knew and used, it had taken on a million forms and become the very definition of decadence, but it was still all the same color. All of that changed in 1930 when Nestlé invented the Milkybar in 1930.
White Chocolate was the result of separating the dark solids from the rich fat of the bean known as cocoa butter, a natural part of the manufacturing process, but instead of recombining them, the cocoa butter was left to shine on its own. It’s been an incredibly popular treat ever since.
White chocolate originates from the cocoa (cacao) plant, but it is not “chocolate.” According to the FDA, to be called ‘chocolate’ a product must contain chocolate liquor, which is what gives it the biter intense chocolate flavor (and color) to dark and milk chocolates.
- Because it has no cocoa liquor, white chocolate has very little caffeine compared to regular chocolate.
- White chocolate contains cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar, lecithin and flavorings (usually including vanilla).
- The melting point of cocoa butter, its primary cacao bean component, is high enough to keep white chocolate solid at room temperature, yet low enough to allow white chocolate to melt in the mouth.
- Cocoa butter is one of the most stable fats known, containing natural antioxidants that prevent rancidity and give it a storage life of 2 to 5 years.
- White chocolate goes well with lemon, berries, or milk and dark chocolate.
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