A chocolatier shares how to decode ingredient lists and avoid fake cocoa products.
By Candace Nagy
- Real chocolate contains cocoa mass and cocoa butter as primary ingredients.
- Terms like “artisanal” or “fine” aren’t regulated and can be misleading.
- Cocoa alternatives and synthetic flavors are common in cheaper chocolates.
With the price of chocolate rising due to climate change and short supply, the ingredients being used in chocolate bars are changing too. Manufacturers are seeking ways to cut costs, and that means the chocolate they’re selling might not even be real chocolate. They’re turning to lab-synthesized cocoa and cheaper alternatives. And because there are gaps in the regulation of chocolate, you might not even realize what you’re buying is actually fake chocolate.
Fancy packaging and high prices don’t always mean what’s inside the wrapper is real, and neither do some of the words on the label. The Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory codes for cacao products are incomplete, creating an opportunity for some categories, including dark chocolate, to be misrepresented.1 So EatingWell spoke with a chocolate expert to find out the truth behind each bar and how you can ensure you’re buying the real deal.
Understanding Real vs. Fake Chocolate
Innovations in the chocolate manufacturing industry are increasingly driving the mass production of fake chocolate products by using synthetic ingredients and employing an emerging technology that manipulates cells from the cacao plant to create lab-grown chocolates. In contrast, authentic chocolate products require only a handful of natural ingredients.
Key Ingredients in Authentic Chocolate
“Good-quality cocoa is key, whether that is just cocoa butter in the case of white chocolate, or cocoa mass in the case of dark [and milk chocolate],” says Rhona MacFadyen, senior chocolatier, Hotel Chocolat. “Some sugar is usually necessary, too, unless your go-to cocoa treat is 100% dark.” She further explains that milk powders are added when making white and milk chocolate, providing a creamy texture and mellowing the intensity of the cocoa flavor, while plant-derived emulsifiers, though not always necessary, are commonly added in small amounts to improve the texture and mouthfeel.
- Cocoa butter is the fat component of the cocoa beans. “It’s what gives chocolate its smooth, glossy appearance, as it’s the element of chocolate that goes through tempering, which is the controlled process of heating and cooling to form stable cocoa butter crystals, creating the right structure for your chocolate,” says MacFadyen. “It forms part of cocoa mass but is also often added as a separate ingredient […] to help provide the right mouthfeel, melt and viscosity.”
- Cocoa mass—sometimes referred to as “cocoa liquor”—is a cocoa paste made from shelled and ground roasted cocoa beans. “It contains both cocoa solids, which provide flavor, and cocoa butter, which […] creates that ‘melt in the mouth’ experience and helps make it so smooth,” says MacFadyen. “Depending on how much cocoa mass you add, you can increase or decrease the intensity of cocoa flavor in your chocolate. As a result, dark chocolate tends to be more intense in flavor because it usually contains more cocoa mass.”