The cocoa content of a chocolate is the total amount of cocoa liquor/mass plus any cocoa butter added during conching. In a dark chocolate (technically dark chocolate is any chocolate that does not contain milk solids) what is not cocoa is either sugar, vanilla, or lecithin (if used). In a good 72% cocoa content chocolate, 72% is the total amount of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. About 26-27% will be sugar, and the remaining 1-2% is vanilla or lecithin.

Cocoa butter is the naturally-occuring fat in cacao beans—about 50% of the cocoa bean is fat, by weight. Cocoa beans are first ground into cocoa liquor (it’s not alcoholic, however) also called cocoa mass. It is then (usually) refined to make the cocoa particles smaller. Sugar and vanilla beans (if used) are often added during the refining stage.

After refining, the result is actually quite powdery, and this substance is put into a conche for the final processing step. During the conching step, most manufacturers add some extra cocoa butter to improve fluidity and mouth feel. The exact amount depends on a lot of different factors, including whether or not the manufacter adds lecithin, an emulsifier used as an inexpensive cocoa butter replacement.

To make cocoa powder, cocoa liquor is put through a hydraulic press. The result is a cake of cocoa solids (the brown stuff) and cocoa butter. The cocoa powder is a solis mass called a press cake that gets ground up to create cocoa powder. (Most cocoa powder still contains some cocoa butter), usually anywhere between 12% and 22%.

The reason that ‘white’ chocolate is white is that there is no cocoa solids/powder in it.

So, if a chocolate contains 72% cocoa, what is the rest? Ideally, only sugar and vanilla (and milk powder if a milk chocolate).

Previous Questions and Answers:

1. Is it safe to believe chocolate labeled "dark" is free of milk solids? For lacose intolerent people, chocolate is usually off our food list.
   Posted by  on  07/25  at  09:37 AM
2. Who makes Vegan Chocolates? -- Barb: This was likely to be a common question I moved it to its own FAQ: http://www.chocolatecritic.com/index.php/critic/comments/faq-vegan/
   Posted by  on  07/26  at  09:56 PM
3. Karen: No it's not safe to assume that dark chocolate is completely and totally free of milk solids as most companies mold dark and milk chocolate bars on the same machines. While the machines are cleaned between batches, it's not possible to guarantee that all of the milk solids are cleaned. However, any remaining traces would likely be very, very low and depending on your level of intolerance, might be okay. If you're truly concerned about it, select Kosher Pareve chocolates, which would be guaranteed to be dairy free. A quick search using Yahoo! or Google should point you in the right direction ... I don't have any specific recommendations for Kosher Pareve chocolates. :Clay
   Posted by  on  07/27  at  11:00 AM