What to know before buying and cooking with chocolate

Chocolate liquor (also called cocoa liquor) is pure cocoa that’s made by grinding up the nib, or meat, so to speak, of cocoa beans. Contrary to its name, chocolate liquor does not contain any alcohol.

Cocoa solids are the dry, nonfat parts of the cocoa bean. It results from putting chocolate liquor through a press and separating cocoa solids from the fatty part of the bean.

Cocoa butter is the fatty part of the cocoa bean, which is separated from cocoa solids when manufacturers put chocolate liquor through a press.

Cacao percentage tells you how much of chocolate is made from components that come from the cocoa bean (cocoa solids, cocoa butter and/or chocolate liquor), versus how much of it is made from other ingredients, like milk, sugar, vanilla and emulsifiers, says David . It helps you determine where chocolate lands on the bitter to sweet scale — the higher the cocoa content, the more bitter and intense it is, and the lower the cocoa content, the sweeter it is, he says. For example, a chocolate bar with a 30% cocoa percentage is sweeter than a chocolate bar with a 70% cocoa percentage.

Regardless of what type of chocolate it is, cacao percentage is usually listed somewhere on a chocolate’s wrapper (often on the front or within the ingredient label).

Keep in mind that while cacao percentage gives you an idea of how bitter or sweet a certain variety of chocolate is, it cannot tell you much about how that chocolate will behave when you cook or bake with it, says David. That’s because cacao percentage doesn’t individually specify how much cocoa solids, cocoa butter and/or chocolate liquor is in a bar, just the total of all three put together. Thus, some chocolate may be drier, which is an indicator that it has more cocoa solids, and some may be runnier, which is an indicator that it has more cocoa butter, says David. “The best thing you can do is buy different chocolates, try working with them and compare what you like about them,” he says.

Chocolate is made from the fruit of cacao trees, which are called pods. There are cacao beans inside each pod, and once farmers harvest and ferment them, they become cocoa beans. Farmers send cocoa beans across the world to chocolatiers, who transform them into chocolate.

When chocolatiers get the cocoa beans, they crack them open to remove the shell and access the nib, or the meat of the bean, which is the part that actually becomes chocolate. Then chocolatiers grind the nib up into a paste called chocolate liquor, which, once dry, is a solid cocoa mass. Despite its name, chocolate liquor does not contain alcohol.

Once chocolatiers have the chocolate liquor, they either:

• Put the chocolate liquor through a press to separate cocoa butter, the fatty part of the bean, from cocoa solids, the dry, nonfat parts of the bean
• Leave the chocolate liquor as is and skip to the next step

Finally, chocolatiers mix a percentage of cocoa product — meaning cocoa solids, cocoa butter and/or chocolate liquor — together, plus add other ingredients like sugar, milk, emulsifiers (commonly soy lecithin) and vanilla. What ingredients they add and how much of each depends on the type of chocolate they’re making. Chocolatiers will then walk through a few last steps to turn chocolate into the confections we know and love, like tempering it and pouring it into molds so it sets in specific shapes.

“The taste of chocolate isn’t just influenced by where the chocolate is made,” says Grahm. “Where the cocoa is grown matters too.” Cacao trees primarily grow in the Caribbean, South America, Africa and Asia, according to the International Cocoa Organization. Each region has different climate, rainfall, soil and humidity conditions that impact tasting notes. Harvest timeline and cultivation methods can also differ between farms, even if they’re just across the street from each other. “Similar to coffee, every farm and region brings a unique taste to the table,” says Grahm.

After cacao beans are harvested, they’re shipped all over the world, and different countries and companies have different processing methods, which impact chocolate’s final texture and flavor, says David. For example, in Switzerland and Belgium, companies tend to conch chocolate for a long time, a process that blends all the ingredients together into a uniform mixture. A longer conching process leads to a finer, creamier and more melt-in-your-mouth texture, he says. But companies based in other parts of the world, like some in Latin America, don’t conch their chocolate for a long time, giving it a chewier texture. Companies also use various roasting methods, which impacts chocolate’s flavor as well.

Keep in mind that manufacturers often blend cocoa from different places together to make one chocolate bar, says David. So unless the chocolate you buy specifically says it’s single origin, meaning it’s made using cacao beans from one country or part of the world, you cannot attribute its flavor profile to one specific place. Experts recommend trying chocolate grown and processed in different regions to discover your preferences.

Unsweetened chocolate is the best type of chocolate for baking, experts told us. You don’t want to add any additional sweetness to a dessert beyond the sweetener the recipe calls for, whether it be honey, cane sugar, brown sugar or maple syrup. Adding sweetened chocolate to certain desserts may make them taste overwhelmingly sugary, so using unsweetened chocolate avoids this, says Grahm.

While following a recipe, you should also pay attention to what form of chocolate it calls for, meaning chocolate chips or chunks, for instance. Chocolate comes in different shapes and manufacturers tend to add or subtract certain ingredients to the chocolate to do so. For example, chocolate chips need to keep their shape so they don’t melt into cookie dough when subjected to heat from the oven. Because of this, they’re typically drier in texture, made with a higher sugar content and have a lower percentage of cocoa butter. If you were to substitute a chopped chocolate bar for chocolate chips in a recipe, you’re likely to get chocolate streaks in the final products instead of a nice distribution of chips since the bar isn’t designed to keep its shape when chopped.

If a recipe requires you to use melted chocolate, like for brownies or a flourless chocolate cake, there’s a few melting methods you can use.

1. The double boiler method: This is a very gentle way to melt chocolate because you’re not subjecting it to direct heat, says David. You fill a saucepan with water and put it on the stove over medium heat. While the water comes to a simmer, you fill a heat-resistant bowl with chocolate and place it on top of the saucepan, ensuring that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. When the water starts simmering, lower the heat and stir the chocolate occasionally. The heat from the water warms the bowl and melts the chocolate. It’s fully melted when the chocolate is smooth, shiny and pourable.
2. The microwave method: Microwaving chocolate to melt it can be tricky, but it’s convenient and requires less dishes compared to the double boiler method. At first, David recommends microwaving chocolate in short 15 or 20 second intervals and stirring it well between each one. Then, when your chocolate starts to liquify, cut those intervals down to about 10 seconds and continue stirring between each one until the chocolate is smooth, shiny and pourable.

Cacao nibs are small pieces of crushed cacao beans, says Grahm. Manufacturers make them by removing the shell from cocoa beans and chopping them up, says Grahm. They have a rich, intense chocolate flavor since they are not cut with sugar, milk, cocoa butter or other ingredients, and are great to bake with, incorporate into smoothies or sprinkle on food like frozen yogurt and oatmeal.

Carob is a caffeine-free chocolate alternative. It comes from pods that grow on the Carob Tree, which is native to the Mediterranean. People who do not want to eat chocolate will often eat carob —which is available in chips, bars and powders — since it has a similar flavor but is naturally sweet, so there’s no added sugar or fat, says Grahm.

Yes, chocolate expires and goes bad over time, especially if you don’t store it correctly, experts told us. Check your chocolate’s packaging for a best buy date, which is when the manufacturer recommends eating it by. But generally speaking, chocolate should last for about two months once opened and stored in an air-tight container.

It’s best to store chocolate in a cool, dark, dry place in an airtight container or bag, says Grahm. Keep it away from heat and sunlight before and after you open it, like in a pantry or cupboard that’s not near a window or oven. Exposure to sunlight or high temperatures can lead to fat bloom, a murky, white film that covers the surface of chocolate as cocoa butter rises to the surface, says Grahm. Chocolate with fat bloom is still safe to eat, experts told us, although it can alter the flavor and texture of chocolate, limiting how you use it.

You should also be mindful of what ingredients you store chocolate next to because it easily absorbs odors, says David. The last thing you want is for your chocolate to taste or smell like garlic because you placed the ingredients next to each other.

No, you absolutely should not store chocolate in the refrigerator, says David. The refrigerator is a moist, humid environment, which usually leads to the formation of sugar bloom, star-shaped specks of crystalized water that coats the surface of chocolate in a white film. Like fat bloom, sugar bloom can alter the flavor and texture of chocolate, thus limiting how you use it, but it’s still safe to eat.

While you can freeze chocolate, David recommends against it. Chocolate can develop freezer burn and extremely cold temperatures can alter the chocolate’s texture and flavor.