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Learn the language of chocolate with these terms, definitions & explanations.
Au bain-marie
This is the French term for the double boiler method. Chocolate is melted slowly in a pot that is heated by a bigger pot filled with boiling water.
Baking Chocolate
This type of chocolate is used for baking items such as brownies, cakes and cookies. Baking chocolate has an intense flavor and lower cocoa butter content and is less smooth than other chocolates.
Ballotin
The term comes from Belgium and has been in use since around 1912. It was traditional packaging for chocolates that allowed them to be given as attractive gifts.
Bitter Chocolate
Also known as Brut, baker’s chocolate or unsweetened chocolate; the chocolate must be at least 85% chocolate liquor to be classified as bitter.
Bloom
There are 2 kinds of bloom.
Fat Bloom – This is a condition in which the cocoa butter has risen to the surface of the chocolate, is whitish in appearance and is a result of a change in temperature. The chocolate tends to get soft but it is fine to eat.
Sugar Bloom – This is similar in a lot of ways to fat bloom. It is caused when cold chocolate sits in hot, humid conditions. Condensation forms on the chocolate which leaves the same dull white finish on the chocolate. The chocolate is perfectly fine to eat and even though the texture of the chocolate may change a bit, the taste is the same.
Bonbon
A small candy or sweet is called a bonbon in French. It is French for “good, good.”
Bittersweet Chocolate
Dark chocolate that contains a minimum of 35% chocolate liquor and is sometimes called semi sweet chocolate.
Blending
After roasting the cocoa beans and before grinding, the crushed beans are mixed to determine the distinct flavor required for a particular chocolate.
Cacao Tree
A tropical evergreen tree (Theobroma cacao) that is grown within 20° of the equator. It produces the beans from which chocolate, cocoa powder and cocoa butter are made. The genus name, Theobroma, is derived from the ancient Greek word for “god” (Theo) and “food” (broma). Theobroma Cacoa plants need 5 years to mature to fruit bearing and another 10 years to deliver good quality beans. They only grow well as understory and require "mother trees" (banana, palm etc) to shade them. Most cacoa plantations grow mixed crops and are small in size.
Chocolate bark
A piece of flat, irregularly shaped chocolate often containing chopped nuts and fruits. It is made from all types of chocolate. Its exterior is rough like tree bark.
Chocolate Chips
Miniature drops of chocolate used in baking which keep their shape in the finished product. Chocolate chips can be melted for recipes but contain less cocoa butter than regular chocolate so require butter to be added.
Chocolate Liquor
The basis of chocolate. This is the ground up "nib" of the cocoa bean. This liquor contains roughly 53% cocoa butter, but no alcohol.
Chocolatier
One who makes and/or sells chocolate.
Cocoa Beans
All chocolate and cocoa come from the seeds inside the cocoa pods that are fruits of the cacao tree. Originally found in South and Central America. The seeds
were spread around the earth by the Spanish in the 16th century. Now the trees can be found growing in Africa and Asia within 20 degrees of the equator.
Cocoa Butter
The fatty substance that is found in cocoa beans is essential in the making of good chocolate. A cocoa bean is approximately 50% cocoa butter. It is removed from chocolate liquor during the processing of chocolate, but it is added back later in the process to make the texture and flavor of the chocolate richer.
Cocoa Content
The amount of cocoa in a particular chocolate. In general, the higher the cocoa content, the more intense the chocolate flavor and the lower the amount of sugar present.
Cocoa Pods
The cocao pod is the fruit of the cacao tree. They are oval in shape and range in colors from green to bright reddish-orange and even purple. When ripe, they are cut off the trees with machetes and split open. Inside the pod is a pulp & about 20-60 seeds.
Cocoa Powder
After cocoa butter is pressed from the chocolate liquor, a powder is left. Cocoa powder contains no cocoa butter.
Compound Coating
Also know as Confectionery Coating, it contains hard vegetable fat in addition to or instead of cocoa butter. It can be a good choice for coating when making candy in hot weather, but can taste like wax. As the percentage of vegetable oil is adjusted the compound becomes easier or more difficult to melt. Also the more vegetable oil the less expensive it is to produce and the lower the quality of the final product.
Conche
The process in which heavy rollers or rotating blades plow back and forth through the liquid chocolate, kneading it to smooth out its texture. The resulting friction and aeration removes moisture as well as acidity and provokes chemical changes that develop and round out the liquid chocolate’s flavor and aroma. The amount of conching time is important, as well as precise for various taste profiles and proprietary labels. Some chocolate products are conched for days, further polishing the particulates to the finest mass
Couveture Chocolate
This is the highest quality chocolate and contains at least 32% cocoa butter which is higher than regular chocolate.
Dark Chocolate
Chocolate that contains more than 50% cocoa content. Besides chocolate liquor, it often contains added cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla, and often lecithin.
Dutch or Dutching
A treatment used during the making of cocoa powder in which cocoa solids are treated with an alkaline solution to neutralize acidity. Getting rid of the acid makes the eventual chocolate sweeter tasting. The process also turns the cocoa a darker color.
Enrobing
The process by which a filling is coated with chocolate. It can either be dipped in chocolate or the filling can be passed through a chocolate shower in an enrobing machine.
Fermentation
A natural process in which the cocoa bean, and the pulp from the cocoa pod, undergoes a reaction by which yeasts and temperature modify the composition of the cocoa bean and pulp to yield the characteristic sweet chocolate flavor.
Finesse
The measurement of the average particle size of the cocoa solids in the chocolate, expressed in ten-thousandths of an inch or in microns.
Ganache
Chocolate and cream are slowly heated up and stirred to a glossy sheen. When cooled slightly, ganache can be poured over cakes and other delicacies. When chilled, it is used to make truffle.
Gianduja
A paste that is made by grinding hazelnuts and mixing them with sugar. They are then mixed in with cocoa butter or chocolate. This process was invented in Turin, Italy and remains popular to this day.
Infuse or Infusion
A method of flavor extraction that incorporates flavors such as fruits & nuts by steeping and removing. For example, orange zest is added to cream that is heated and then is strained to remove the zest. The cream retains the orange flavor without actually possessing any of the orange itself.
 Lecithin
A natural product derived from the soybean that helps control flow properties in chocolate by giving it a smooth texture.
Mendiants
Discs of chocolate studded with nuts and dried fruits. The colors of the nuts & fruits traditionally reference the color of the monastic robes of the orders of the Augustinian (hazelnuts), Carmelite (almonds), Dominican (raisings) and Franciscan (dried fig) orders. Today a wider variety of fruits and nuts are used and are studded on the top of the chocolate to offer visual appeal as well as flavor. French for "mendicant" which means "beggar." One would gladly beg for a piece.
Milk Chocolate
Chocolate liquor to which milk, sugar, vanilla and often lecithin have been added. Quality milk chocolate should contain a minimum of 30% chocolate liquor.
Mocha
A mixture of chocolate and coffee.
Nibs
The bits of a cacao bean that are left after the hull is removed. They are ground to make chocolate liquor. Some companies sell cacao nibs for use in recipes and chocolate covered nibs for snacking.
Phenylethylamine
A chemical in chocolate that causes a feeling of contentment and a sense of well-being. Phenylethylamine is one of the compounds responsible for the feeling of being in love that is sometimes associated with chocolate consumption.
Press Cake
What is left after most of the cocoa butter has been pressed from the chocolate liquor. It is then crushed
to make cocoa powder.
Single Origin Chocolate
Chocolate that is made solely with beans from a single region of the world
Sheen
The pleasant shine on couverture and eating chocolate. High-quality chocolate usually has a bright sheen. A chalky face may be an indication of poor quality. But it may also mean the chocolate has been exposed to extreme temperatures - from hot to cold to hot - which causes cocoa butter to separate and rise to the surface. This does not affect the taste
Tempering
A process of delicately heating, cooling and reheating melted chocolate so that it will solidify in a stable crystal form. Proper tempering, when followed by proper cooling, provides shine and good eating properties. The temperatures involved are between 85° and 105°, and need to be precise as different cocoa butters behave differently when they melt. A well - tempered chocolate will break cleanly, and be free of graininess.
Truffle
The crown of all chocolate creations, its namesake originates from the posh truffle mushroom
Unsweetened Chocolate
The basis of chocolate, this is the ground up "nib" of the cocoa bean.
Viscosity
A unit of measurement of liquid chocolate pertaining to its ability to flow
White Chocolate
Made from cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, it does not contain cocoa solids but must contain at least 33% cocoa butter to be considered a good quality.
Winnowing
Traditionally used to mean the process of separating grain from chaff, in the chocolate industry it refers to the separation of the dry shells of the cacao bean from the cocoa nibs, which are then ground to make chocolate.
Xocoatl
Pronounced shock-WA-tel, Xocoatl is the original name the Aztecs, Toltecs, Mayas and Incas gave to a stimulating drink they brewed from cocoa beans. It was a mixture of cocoa, maize (Indian corn) and water.
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