at Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:15:48 GMT in >,
(Bunny McElwee) wrote :

> How do I know how much cocoa butter is in a particular chocolate?

That's pretty easy, with dark chocolate. Look at the "nutrition facts"
label on the wrapper. It will list the "total fat" content. Then by simply
dividing that number by the portion size listed on the same label (be
careful that you do *not* divide by the package weight because typically
the portion size isn't the same as the package size) you get the cocoa
butter percentage.

With milk chocolate, OTOH, you are in for a more difficult challenge. Milk
chocolate consists, essentially, of 3 basic ingredients: chocolate, sugar,
and dry milk. The chocolate in turn is defatted cocoa solids + cocoa
butter. Now, defatted cocoa solids are 75% carbohydrate, 25% fat. Sugar is,
of course, 100% carbs. Whole dry milk (and it's typical that one is dealing
with whole milk) is about 30% fat, 42% carbs, and 27% protein. With these
figures in hand, and a lot of algebra, you can arrive at the following
formula for the percentage of cocoa butter. In the formula, G is the total
grams of the portion size listed under the Nutrition Facts, F is the total
fat grams, P is the total protein grams, C is the total carbs grams, and S
is the sugars grams (the nutrition facts label should break down sugars
under the carbs subhead)

% Cocoa Butter = 100/G*(((27*F-30*P)^2-(10*(C-S)*(27*F-30*P)))/((729*F-810
*P)-690*(C-S)))

(I hope I didn't make any algebraic or parentheses mistakes here!)

The formula looks horrible but it's simply a matter of plugging in the
numbers.

Some manufacturers are also explicit in the amount of cocoa butter they
use, and others will let you know, if you give them a call and ask nicely.
(Since it's possible to figure it out, based on the Nutrition Facts label,
they shouldn't balk at giving you the figures over the phone)


> I
> am
>not near any decent shops that sell chocolate and I only have one store
>in my area that sells a variety of bar chocolates, such as Lindt,
>Godiva, Pergua (?)

Perugina

> and one other brand that I can't remember the name
>of. None of them say on the packaging how much cocoa butter there is in
>them. I am looking for some good chocolate to use in a chocolate
>fountain I receive at Christmas. It's a cheao brand, but hey, it was a
>present, what can I say. I would like to use this for an upcoming Wine
>party I am having, but would rather not have to use the 3/4 c oil to 24
>oz. chocolate chips ratio (bleck!) they give in the book.

The best chocolates for chocolate fountains would be Hachez, with an
astonishing 55% cocoa butter for the Cocoa D'Arriba and 88% bars. Maracaibo
Milk 55% also has plenty of cocoa butter. These are all extraordinarily
fluid and should give you no problems with your fountain. All can be bought
from http://www.chocosphere.com, and it's more reliable that trying to go
with what your shops carry.

That said, the Lindt 85% also has enough cocoa butter that it should work
OK.

> And the only
>way to avoid doing that, they say, is by using Belgium Chocolate or
>chocolate with a high cocoa butter percentage in it. Without spending
>$40 to order a couple of pounds off the internet,

Be aware that by ordering bulk blocs or chips from internet sites, you can
save plenty over what you'd pay retail for your chocolate. If price
concerns are a primary motivation, Guittard's Coucher Du Soleil 72% is 45%
cocoa butter, and again readily available from Chocosphere for $17.95/kg.


--
Alex Rast

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