Published by Programme B
Chocolate is no doubt the most popular and most loved treat in the entire world. It is made from ground up cocoa beans, which are then liquified into cocoa liquor and processed into cocoa butter and cocoa solids. The cocoa solids are the ones responsible for the unique taste of chocolate and the different proportions of it (cocoa solids) together with cocoa butter and several other ingredients bring up the different types of chocolate with different taste sensations. This article is going to take you through the two main types of chocolate; Dark chocolate and white chocolate, its ingredients, their benefits and why one of them is more popular than the other.
Dark Chocolate
Of the two main types of chocolate, dark chocolate contains the highest percentage of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. It contains a minimum of 70% cocoa in its concentration. Due to a higher concentration of cocoa solids, this type of chocolate, like its name suggests, has a dark brown color. Dark chocolate is made from primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter with varied amounts of sugar. The different amounts of sugars bring up different types of dark chocolate; Unsweetened, bittersweet, and semisweet, which is the most common type of dark chocolate with higher amounts of sugar compared to the other two.
Apart from the dark brown color, the higher concentration of cocoa also gives dark chocolate a more pronounced chocolate taste with a rather bitter aftertaste.
Nutritionally speaking, dark chocolate offers various health benefits compared to the latter. This is because this type of chocolate contains lesser amounts of sugar with higher amounts of cocoa. Cocoa is known to contain natural flavonoids and antioxidants, which protect the body from harmful toxins. This also helps in lowering blood pressure and reducing cholesterol levels. Choosing dark chocolate helps to avoid the unhealthy side effects of sugar and milk.
White chocolate
There is a lot of hype going around that white chocolate is not really chocolate. So what is white chocolate? White chocolate is real chocolate. Just because it does not contain cocoa solids it doesn’t mean it is not chocolate. One of the ingredients of white chocolate is cocoa butter which is a natural chocolate product.
White chocolate is made from primarily milk, sugar, and a very small quantity of cocoa butter. While dark chocolate contains a minimum of 70% cocoa, white chocolate contains a maximum of 35% cocoa. Since this type of chocolate does not contain any cocoa solids, it does not really have the chocolate taste; however, the milk and sugar give it a certain creaminess and sweetness that many people crave for. If you compare the taste between the white and dark chocolate, you will most probably fall in love with the white one. It is no doubt one of the sweetest treats on earth.
White chocolate does not really offer many health benefits to the body. However, sugar and fats provide the body with plenty of energy. If you have the desire to build muscles, you could decide to consume this type of chocolate on a regular basis but be careful not to overdo it. As we all know, too much sugar is not good for the body. So little chunks of this delicious treat can go along way in providing enough energy to do extra routines while working out.
The sweetness and creaminess of white chocolate have made it very popular especially to kids and young women. It can be very hard to gauge which of the two chocolates is more popular than the other, but the various health benefits of the dark chocolate give it a little edge over the white one.