Chocolate is a dessert made primarily from cocoa paste and cocoa butter. It not only has a delicate and sweet taste but also possesses a rich aroma, making it highly popular among the masses in daily life.
Chocolate can be eaten directly or used in making cakes and ice cream. For example, common snacks like Dove Chocolate and Orion Apple Pie both contain chocolate.
Friends who usually enjoy eating chocolate might have noticed that the price of chocolate products can vary significantly, ranging from expensive to affordable.
In fact, observant friends should be able to spot that the packaging of chocolate in the market usually indicates the main ingredients, which are either cocoa butter or cocoa butter substitutes.
As mentioned at the beginning, chocolate is a dessert primarily made from cocoa paste and cocoa butter. So, what about chocolate made with cocoa butter substitutes?
Cocoa butter is the natural fat from cocoa beans, while cocoa butter substitutes are artificial fats that can melt quickly, with their triglyceride composition completely different from natural cocoa butter.
Although cocoa butter substitutes can mimic the taste of natural cocoa butter, their flavor still differs greatly. After all, the rich, multi-layered taste of natural cocoa butter is something substitutes cannot achieve.
Additionally, cocoa butter substitutes have been pointed out to potentially have adverse effects on the body. Long-term consumption of products made with cocoa butter substitutes can easily lead to digestive issues and other discomforts.
However, as of now, due to the ease of processing cocoa butter substitutes and their good product properties, such as not requiring low temperatures, many chocolate products on the market use cocoa butter substitutes as their main ingredient.
Moreover, cocoa butter substitutes are much cheaper than natural cocoa butter in the market, and their production volume is more abundant, making it easier to meet the current demand for chocolate.