Chocolate Glossary

Bittersweet Chocolate - A slightly sweetened dark chocolate that is primarily used for baking. These bars usually contain 25-50% cacao content. It is a little sweeter than unsweetened chocolate, but has less sugar and more liquor than semisweet chocolate.

Cacao - A term used for a cacao plant and its seeds that produce chocolate (chocolate in it's natural and pure processed form).

Cacao Beans - There are 3 main varities of cacao beans used in chocolates. First, Criollo (bean of the Maya) is the most prized, rare and expensive. These beans are less bitter and require less roasting periods. Second, Forastero cacao beans are the most common and is used worldwide. Theses beans are significantly hardier than Criollo. Lastly, Trinitario cacao beans are a natural hybrid of Criollo and Forastero that originated in Trinidad. High quality Criollos and Trinitarios are used only 5% per year versus the common Forastero beans.

Cacao Liquor - Same as cacao mass.

Cacao Mass - The creamy paste resulting from grounding the roasted Cacao beans.

Cacao Paste - Cacao Mass after extra Cocoa Butter has been added and it has cooled.

Chocolate - A strict definition is any product that contains 100% cocoa solid and/or cocoa fat. However, it is used with a wide range of by-products to change the taste. A more general term is the product of the seeds of the tree Theobroma cacao L. used for making beverages or confectionery. Chocolate is the combination of the solids from the cacao beans and fat from cocoa butter. This is usually sweented with sugar and other ingredients and made into chocolate bars and sweets. The flavor of chocolate depends not only on the quality of the cacao beans but also on a complex process of grinding, heating, and blending. The Mayans hold the earliest record of cacao use as a drinking chocolate 2,600 years ago.

Chocolate Liquor - Unsweetened chocolate that is made from the finely ground nib of the cacao bean. It is also referred to as cacao mass.

Chocoholic - A true chocolate lover who is addicted to chocolate and could not see life the same without chocolate.

Chupon - The main stem of the cacao tree with pods and fans of leaves budding off.

Cocoa - Another term for "cacao" which may have been the cause of mis-spelling from 18th century English traders. Now, cocoa usually refers to the powder of the Dutch Process which removes all of the fat.

Cocoa Butter - The vegetable fat extracted from pure cacao paste during the process of refining. It used along with cacao solids to produce chocolate. 

Cocoa Mass - This is the finely ground nib of the cacao bean and is known as unsweetened chocolate. It is also refered to as cacao liquor.

Cocoa Pods - These egg-shaped cocoa pods (fruit) of the cacao tree measure between 6 and 12 inches and hang from the trunk and the largest branches. Each pod holds between 30 and 40 beans of about 0.5 inch in length.

Cocoa Powder - This poweder or unsweetened cocoa is the result of drying chocolate liquor (cacao mass) and grounding it into a powder. The creamy cacao mass is pressend into cakes to remove cocoa butter (fat) and grounded into a powder that comes available in different fat levels.

Couverture - High quality chocolate that is used to cover or coat confectionery and baked products. It usually used for dipping and coating truffles. It has more cocoa butter than regular chocolate and can come in a variety of flavors due to different percentages of sugar and chocolate liquor (such and semisweet and bittersweet).

Crillo - Cacao bean of the Maya. It is the most prized, rare and expensive of the different types of cacao beans. These beans are less bitter, require less roasting periods and are softer than Forastero cacao beans. This original Venezuelan cultivator accounts for 5% to 10% of all commercial cacao beans.

Dark Chocolate - Dark chocolate is chocolate without milk as an additive, sometimes called plain chocolate. The US Government calls this Sweet Chocolate, and requires a 15% concentration of chocolate liquor. In Europe, there are some conflicting reports in terms of the minumum amount of cocoa solids that should be in dark chocolate to consider it "dark." Some Europeans say a minimum of 35% and others say a minimum of 43%. Even others, label chocolate bars "dark" when it has above 50% chocolate content. A "70% cocoa chocolate" is considered quite dark while 85% and even 88% cocoa dark chocolates have become quite popular for dark chocolate lovers. The main ingredients of "true" dark chocolate are (the first having the highest concentrations): Cocoa liquor, Cocoa butter, Sugar and Vanilla (sometimes).

Dutching - Dutchman, Coenraad Johannes van Houten, in the early 19th century invented this "dutch process" of treating cocoa powder with alkali in order to neutralize its natural acids. This process created an digestible cocoa that could be easily preparaed and thus, large-scale manufacture of cheap chocolate became possible.   

Fondant - The French word for dark or "pure" chocolate (contrasts with milk chocolate or "Lait").

Forastero - The most common cultivar of cacao beans, accounting for 80%-90% of all commercial cacao production. Theses beans are significantly hardier than Criollo and are known to be of lesser quality than Criollo or Trinitario cacao beans.

Fudge - Fudge is a type of confectionery, usually extremely rich and often flavored with chocolate. It is made by boiling sugar in milk to the soft-ball stage, and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. Fudge was invented in the United States more than 100 years ago. The exact origin is disputed, but most stories claim that the first batch of fudge resulted from a bungled batch of caramels. One of the first documentations of fudge is found in a letter written by Emelyn Battersby Hartridge, a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NewYork. She wrote that her schoolmate's cousin made fudge in Baltimore in 1886 and sold it for 40 cents a pound. Miss Hartridge got hold of the fudge recipe, and in 1888, made 30 pounds of this delicious fudge for the Vassar Senior Auction. Thus, word spread of this great confection to other women's colleges.

Ganache - A rich, silky chocolate mixture made by combining chopped semisweet chocolate and boiling cream and stirring until smooth. The proportions of chocolate to cream vary, depending on the use of the ganache and can be flavored with fruits spices and different liquors.

Hot Chocolate - Drink that contains cocoa poweder and milk or water (usually has more sugar than chocolate). Originally, it refered to ground cacao beans in boiling water.

Lait - The French word for milk chocolate (contrast with dark/pure chocolate or "fondant").

Milk Chocolate - This best known chocolate is chocolate that has milk powder or condensed milk added. The US Government requires a 10% concentration of chocolate liquor. European rules specify a minimum of 25% cocoa solids. Generally cacao is the third of fourth ingredient. (Some fine chocolate manufacturers are making a 60% milk chocolate where the milk replaces the sugar instead of replacing the chocolate). The main ingredients of milk chocolate are (the first having the highest concentrations): Sugar, Milk or milk powder, Cocoa liquor, Cocoa butter and Vanilla.

Pure Chocolate - Also known as dark chocolate. European name for bars with greater than 65% Cacao content and no additives.

Refining - The process of removing the outer skins of cacao beans and leaving a nib after they have been roasted and blended. The ground nibs than can be used to create cocoa powder for cooking or drinking, or used to create a fine paste that is mixed with cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla and/or milk products. 

Seed - Seed of the cacao fruit pod that contains around 30-70 small purple seeds which are processed into chocolate.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate -  Chocolate that is made from chocolate liquid that is slightly sweetened during processing with varying amounts of sweetening and added cocoa butter. Can come in bar form, but mostly comes as pieces (blocks, squares, or bits).

Tempering - Process of heating chocolate to a certain temperature so cocoa butter reaches its most stable crystal form. It is important that one does tempering and cooling of the chocolate correctly for it to have a nice shine and good eating properties.

Theobroma cacao L. - A rainforest tree that originated from Venezuela whose seeds produce what we know as chocolate. Today, these trees are grownn in the tropics worldwide.

Trinitero - Trinitario cacao beans are a natural hybrid of Criollo and Forastero that originated in Trinidad. They account for 10%-15% of all commercial cacao beans versus the Forastero beans. These beans produce a fine grade of chocolate that has a spicy and complex flavor.

Truffle - A confection made of chocolate, butter, sugar and sometimes liquor that is shaped into a ball. Chocolate truffles are made by heating a blend of butter, cream, chocolate, and often a filling, and covering it with milk, dark or white chocolate couverture. Truffles are filled with every imaginable crème or flavor inside, from vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, key lime, coconut and raspberry to name a few. Also, finished truffles can be rolled and coated with cocoa powder, powered sugar, or finely chopped nuts. Chocolate truffles got its name from the exotic and expensive French mushroom because of its similar appearance.  

Unsweetened Chocolate - Chocolate that has no other added ingredients. This chocolate is mainly used for baking and contains up to 75% cocoa solids with no added sugar or milk products. Also known as baking chocolate, bitter chocolate or plain chocolate.

White Chocolate - Some people believe that white chocolate is not "true" chocolate because it does not contain chocolate liquor. However, others say it is "real" chocolate because it contains cocoa butter (at least 32% to be of good quality), which is derived from the cacao bean. White chocolate is made from combining sweetened cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar, and sometimes vanilla.

Xochiquetzal - Aztecs associated drinking chocolate with Xochiquetzal, the goddess of fertitily.

Xocoatl - A chocolate drink the New World consumed that contained vanilla, chilli pepper, annatto and pimento. This drink was said to be an acquired taste and was believed to fight fatigue.