As a kid, I hated dark chocolate. Hersheys Dark was the worst part of any variety pack of candy. But as a grown-up, I now like dark chocolate… and almost every dark chocolate bar has a number on it that shows how “dark” the bar is.
But the number never made sense to me. Sometimes a 70% dark bar would taste sweeter than a 50% dark bar. What good was the number if it didn’t tell you how bitter the bar is?
Well, a chocoholic friend of mine finally answered that question for me. That number is the percent of chocolate, but it’s the combination of cocoa butter and cocoa solids. The butter is smooth and silky. The solids are bitter. So a 70% bar that is all butters will be sweet while a 50% bar that is all solids will be bitter.
You may also like...
