Cocoa Labeling Practices
It’s a sad, sad world when even chocolate becomes the subject of food label confusion. The Hartford Courant recently took on the task of decoding current chocolate labeling practices. Currently, American chocolate companies are highlighting the amount of cacao in the chocolate.
Cacao is defined as “that blend of cocoa solids and cocoa butter that combine to make chocolate - and make it so irresistible.” Apparently, European chocolate producers commonly label their chocolate according to cacao content, but some industry members worry that the number will become what’s important:
“Too much emphasis is being placed on the number,” says Robert Steinberg, cofounder of Berkeley, Calif.,-based Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, one of the nation’s leading premium chocolate companies and an early adopter of cacao labeling.
“It’s as if people are saying the higher the number, the better the chocolate. There are so many factors that go into quality in chocolate that it’s really misleading to just say, ‘Oh, I have an 80 percent chocolate. That’s better than a 70 percent chocolate.’”
However, it’s also important to note that what really defines the chocolate is actually the ratio of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. The cocoa solids provide the flavor and the cocoa butter provides the texture.
One Culinary Instiute of America professor really distills it all down and takes the wind out of the sails of those label-makers: “‘No label can ever tell anybody whether a chocolate is good or not, or whether they will like it or not,’ says Greweling.”
[Photo of Cocoa Beans in Cacao Pod from Wikipedia]
