Perhaps the most beloved and popular dessert on our planet is chocolate. Everyone adores him, regardless of age, social status and income. There are many types and varieties of this magnificent delicacy - black and creamy, tiled and bars, hot and in the form of figures of favorite fairy-tale characters. However, unconventional white chocolate raises the most questions. What is it made of? Why is it that color? And is it even permissible to call it chocolate?

Composition, calories and nutritional value

An amazing novelty of a popular product was invented in the 20th century, in the stylish 50s, in Switzerland. The Nestle confectioners experiment turned out to be very successful - chocolate bars of unconventional white color appealed to fans of this product. Today, neither his recipe nor the light shade is a secret.

The fact is that the composition of this chocolate includes products that have a white color - milk, sugar, vanilla, cocoa butter. The absence of a powder of cocoa beans, having a rich brown color known to everyone, determines the main feature of white chocolate. The taste of this product also does not feel the traditional bitter notes, just a barely noticeable, light aroma of cocoa that interrupts vanilla.

So what is white chocolate made of?

Its correct composition, directly indicating the quality of an international standard product, is offered below:

  1. Cocoa Butter - 20 percent.
  2. Powdered milk - 14 percent.
  3. Fats - 4 percent.
  4. Sugar - not more than 55 percent.
  5. The emulsifier is lecithin.

Calories - 541 kcal. Color - ivory. The taste is creamy with a hint of caramel.

However, not all manufacturers in the world adhere to such high standardization. And instead of cocoa butter in a bar of white chocolate can be much cheaper hydrogenated fats, artificial flavors that mimic the smell of cocoa, dyes and emulsifiers.

Only a specialist or a big fan of this sweet product who has tasted a variety of varieties from well-known manufacturers can distinguish such a surrogate in taste.

Varieties and popular brands

Today, almost all manufacturers of chocolate produce its kind of white color. However, the leaders in this industry are still the Swiss - Nestle, DeLaffe, Dolce Albero.

Their eternal rivals are the Austrian companies Alpen Gold, Milka. In Germany, Schogetten, Ritter Sport, Lindt products are very appreciated by sweets lovers. The Italian company Maestrani occupies a worthy place in this market, along with the French Valrhona and the Spanish Valor.

Great Britain traditionally conquers the sweet tooth with the help of Sadburu, while the United States is famous for the products of Mars and Hershy’s.

Russia today has also become one of the best producers of the sweet industry. Therefore, its confectionery companies produce high-quality products, which are in their market serious competition to foreign manufacturers.

These are the brands “Red October”, “Rot Front”, “Odintsovo Confectionery Factory”, “Babaevsky”, “Russia”, “Russian Chocolate”, “Victory of Taste”.

Moreover, Russian buyers and residents of the countries of the former USSR can evaluate the quality of white chocolate when buying in a store not only by brand names, but also by Gosstandart certificates. On each tile, product indicators are indicated using special markings that determine quality.

Here are these notations:

  • TU GOST 6534-89 "Chocolate";
  • TU "Chocolate".

This means that the products comply with state standards of the Russian Federation.

Types of white chocolate in their composition, and therefore taste, do not differ much.

Therefore, its varieties are classified by form, not content:

  1. Tile is a cast version of a rectangular shape. White chocolate is airy, porous.
  2. Patterned - produced in the form of animal figures, fairy-tale heroes.
  3. Figured - flat figures in the form of various objects, for example, coins and medals.
  4. Bars - filled with caramel, nut, fruit, etc. It is made, sometimes, from a combination of different types of chocolate - milk and white, including chocolate paste.
  5. Pasta - a mass with all kinds of inclusions, including from different types of chocolate.
  6. Glaze is a special liquid chocolate that is used to make various culinary products.

White chocolate can be produced both in pure form and with fillers in the form of nuts, dried fruits, candied fruits, coconut shavings and its pulp, pieces of fruit and fruit jelly, syrups, biscuit chips, waffles, mixed with other types of chocolate and even with petals roses.

How to make white chocolate at home

White chocolate, unlike its dark counterpart, it is quite possible to make at home with your own hands. They can decorate almost any pastry, even Easter cakes.

This will require the following products:

  1. 100 g of cocoa butter. It can be bought at the pharmacy. The final product of this component will be contained even more than in the tile from the store - as much as 30 percent.
  2. 100 g of milk powder;
  3. 100 g of powdered sugar;
  4. Vanilla to taste.

The algorithm of actions before primitivism is simple:

  1. Melt cocoa butter in a water bath first.
  2. Then slowly introduce powdered sugar into it, stirring.
  3. After that, also, little by little, mix the milk powder and at the end - season with vanilla.

The hot mass must be poured into molds, which must first be greased with butter. Nuts can be added to each of them at will. Cool in the refrigerator for an hour.

With this homemade chocolate you can pour any confectionery of your own production.

The benefits and harms of a delicious treat

Any sweet product has its advantages and disadvantages. Cocoa butter is rich in healthy vitamins and minerals. These are, first of all, vitamins of groups B, E, K, PP, C, A. In addition to traditional sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium, this product also contains trace elements of metals - zinc, iron, copper. The presence of selenium, manganese and phosphorus is especially valuable.

Like any vegetable oil, it also contains a set of fatty acids necessary for the body.

Therefore, white chocolate has its own positive properties.

  • For example, vitamin K promotes better absorption of calcium. This means that almost all of this trace element will be successfully absorbed by the body.
  • A sufficiently large percentage of iron content will help restore its daily requirement.
  • Vitamin E has anti-aging properties.
  • Selenium enhances immunity.

White chocolate, like dark chocolate, can enhance mood.

But this does not cause nervous excitement, which causes caffeine and other similar substances that are present in cocoa powder and, accordingly, in dark chocolate.

However, there are also disadvantages. And the main disadvantage is a lot of sugar. This substance causes many diseases, up to type 2 diabetes mellitus, tooth decay, impaired joint function. White crystals provoke overweight and all the diseases associated with this condition.

Therefore, you should not include a bar of white chocolate in your daily diet. It is necessary to weigh all the pros and cons, coordinating them with the state of your own health. But to regain strength after an illness or at the time of physical or excessive emotional stress is perfectly acceptable.

A small amount of white chocolate will help create a festive or romantic mood.

The use of white chocolate in cooking

White chocolate in cooking is used in a variety of qualities - in the form of filling, fudge, glaze. Liquid - for adding to various drinks, mousses. Chips - for decorating various desserts. There are a lot of possibilities, you just need to apply a creative approach, and the usual homemade delicacy can acquire a new, more pleasant shade of taste.

White chocolate ganache to cover the cake

Ganache, or Ganache, is a French cream chocolate cream. It is good for cakes, sweets, and it is best used to make a great coating for the cake. The recipe was for many years the secret of French culinary specialists, and today it is available to any housewife.

White chocolate ganache for coating a cake is a thick paste with which you can create a flat surface. Its structure is plastic, all the pits, tubercles will be hidden under a layer of beautiful cream. It can be made from any kind of chocolate, but we present a recipe from white.

For cooking you will need:

  • a pound of white chocolate;
  • a glass of the heaviest cream.

Preparing a treat like this:

  1. Tiles need to be broken into small pieces or grated on a coarse grater.
  2. Boil the cream and pour into grated chocolate.
  3. Beat the mixer with the mixer until all lumps are completely dissolved into a single soft mass.
  4. Close the surface of the cream tightly with a film. You can’t leave even small air bubbles, since any contact with air turns the surface of the cream into a rough crust.

Warm ganache cleaned in the refrigerator for at least 8 - 10 hours, and preferably at night. It should acquire a denser consistency during this time. Then the cream should be removed from the refrigerator and allowed to warm for about two hours.

Now you can work with him, make out a cake.

How to make white chocolate frosting

Delicate, fragile icing made of white chocolate is a great addition to homemade cookies, cakes and even sweets.A cake coated with such a composition looks very attractive, almost professional. You can also cover Easter cakes with white chocolate icing.

Here's what you can cook from:

  • 2 bars of white chocolate;
  • half a glass of the heaviest cream;
  • 50 g of butter.

Cooking Algorithm:

  1. We rub the chocolate on a coarse grater, after holding it in the refrigerator.
  2. Heat the cream until it boils, and pour it into the chocolate chips.
  3. Dissolve the chocolate and stir well.
  4. Now the moment has come for butter, which will also go into this mixture.
  5. Next, beat the icing so that not a single lump remains - everything should turn into an even beautiful mass.
  6. Cool the icing lightly in the refrigerator for ten minutes, and then fill it with our confectionery - cake, cakes or something else.
  7. We wait until the icing hardens.

Cooking Cake Cream

White chocolate cream is very tender, its consistency is thin, resembles light silk.

It is perfect for cakes - baskets and tubes, but its main use is the decoration of cakes. It perfectly levels the surface because it is thick and elastic.

This cream will pleasantly surprise you with its delicate and silky structure. They can layered any cake, fill cakes, rolls and baskets. In general, this is literally an indispensable ingredient in the confectioner's workshop!

The following products will be required:

  • a bar of white chocolate;
  • a glass of the heaviest cream;
  • 4 egg yolks;
  • Art. a spoonful of butter.

And then everything is simple:

  1. We break the chocolate and send its pieces directly to the container with cream.
  2. We heat the composition and dissolve the chocolate in a dairy product.
  3. Shake the yolks until smooth and send them to the creamy mixture.
  4. Only now can it be boiled for a couple of minutes.
  5. The cream is almost ready, it should be cooled, stirring occasionally.
  6. In a slightly warm composition, put soft butter and beat the mixture with a mixer. At the same time, we select the largest power.
  7. When the cream changes color, it becomes lighter and more magnificent, you can complete the process and use the finished treat for its intended purpose.

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