Chocolate is more ubiquitous than ever. You can find a chocolate-flavored version of just about any snack or bakery product. But successfully incorporating chocolate into a product requires careful ingredient selection from the broad array of chocolate ingredients offered by suppliers. Ever-evolving consumer preferences have also prompted chocolate manufacturers to innovate around sourcing and health.
Chocolate has a regulated standard of identity. Products that do not meet this standard cannot be labeled as chocolate. “Chocolate is made from cocoa ingredients,” says Bonnie Domingo, director of R&D, Kerry, Beloit, WI, “including cocoa butter, cocoa, chocolate liquor.” Chocolate-type products that do not conform to this standard—compound or confectionary coatings—have more flexibility, made with sugar, vegetable fat, cocoa, emulsifiers and flavors. “The main difference between compound coatings and chocolate is the source of fat—vegetable fat versus cocoa butter,” she says.