Cacao and white chocolate

 

With regards to the very controversial topic of cacao and white chocolate actually being a form of chocolate, there is definitely much to be said, as well as many different arguments to be made for both arguments. First, we shall ask the following question “is white chocolate actually chocolate, or is it a fake type of chocolate?” One perspective is that chocolate could mean anything that uses cacao beans, in other words meaning that as long as the cacao beans are used, it does not matter what it is made into, and a certain percentage of cacao beans is being used. Today, there are many people who would consider white chocolate as a form of chocolate, here is one form of evidence to take into account, in a hypothetical situation of a person consuming a white chocolate candy bar (the most popular one being the Hershey’s brand) almost everyone would unanimously agree that that the person is indeed eating a chocolate bar. On the other hand, some other people would say that since the milk chocolate bar is mixed in with other flavors which makes it white chocolate, it does not constitute as real chocolate, but there is one problem with that argument here is the counterargument. The counterargument is that if that is the case then would that not mean that regular milk chocolate is not chocolate as well since it is mixed with sugar? The reason as to why is that proponents of this argument say that anything mixed with cacao makes it a hybrid, and that may be true to some degree, but one counterargument is that how we constitute chocolate today is much different than what the early consumers of chocolate did in the past. At the same time, there are so many different flavors of chocolate today that have evolved so far away from the original type of chocolate, at this point the argument could also be made that white chocolate is indeed a form of chocolate, but it is not the original form of chocolate. A good comparison could be with jeans, originally jeans were made blue, but today there are jeans made in numerous amount of different colors. One other point of argument for people to remember is that in terms of legality in the United States, there exists a definition as to what constitutes as chocolate from the Food and Drug Administration. Beginning in the year of 2002 the Food and Drug Administration amended the standard of identity for the purpose of including white chocolate as an approved term, which takes the side of it being chocolate. According to the Food and Drug Administration for something to be labeled white chocolate, it must have at least 20% cocoa butter. Of course, when a person sees this it is a bit hard to think that if something only has 20% chocolate is actually chocolate since the percentage of chocolate is so low, but at the same time in legal terms yes white chocolate is indeed a form of chocolate. One comparison to use is putting the original chocolate next to white chocolate and seeing how much of a difference exists between the two, both with regard to the taste and with regard to the actual makeup of the two chocolates. In this regard, they would almost be two different things, and considering the fact that original chocolate does not have any added sugar, milk, or any other added ingredients which make up white chocolate the tastes between the two would be completely different. The Mayans definitely would not be able to recognize white chocolate as chocolate, because of the major differences that exist in taste. To summarize this blog, white chocolate is considered chocolate depending on who is being asked the question. The people and the entities who would answer yes to the question of whether or not white chocolate is a form of chocolate are the United States Federal government, specifically the Food and Drugs Administration defining the legality of it having to be at least 20 percent chocolate, as well most everyday average consumers of chocolate. The people who would not consider white chocolate to be a real type of chocolate are people who have tasted both types (both types being original chocolate and white chocolate), and especially the Mayans and Aztecs, considering the fact that they have historically been one of the first groups of people who have used chocolate. 

Bibliography

https://marich.com/blog/is-white-chocolate-really-chocolate/#:~:text=In%20Conclusion%3A%20Yes&text=At%20Marich%20we%20make%20chocolate,it%20really%2C%20truly%20is%20chocolate.