Real chocolate vs. compounds

If you follow any chocolate news- or maybe if you don’t- you may have heard that the grandson of the founder of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups is making a lot of noise over what Hershey’s is doing to the classic treats that bear his family name (which they acquired in 1963). Brad Reese has raised the alarm after trying a Reese’s seasonal item and finding it inedible. After looking at the ingredients, he found that the product contained neither chocolate nor peanut butter. 

Peanut butter is a topic for another blog, but here I’d like to draw attention to the difference between real chocolate and what is used in “chocolate candies”, which usually use a compound or coating. Real chocolate and compound chocolate may look similar, but they are very different in taste, texture, quality, and nutritional value. The FDA defines chocolate in this way:

1. Dark chocolate must have at least 35% chocolate liquor (chocolate liquor is the industry term for cacao beans that have been roasted and refined down to a paste).

2. Milk chocolate must have at least 10% chocolate liquor, 3.4% milk fat, and 12% milk solids.

The reason the presence of liquor is important is because it contains the two components of the cacao bean: solids and butter. The cocoa solids give you the flavor and the nutrients, and the cocoa butter gives you that smooth mouthfeel, that rich flavor that coats your tongue, and those polyphenols present in healthy plant fats. Real chocolate requires tempering- an important process in chocolatiering that gives a chocolate bar its shine and snap.

Compound chocolate, on the other hand, replaces cocoa butter with vegetable fats such as hydrogenated palm kernel oil or coconut oil. It is easier and cheaper to produce because it does not need tempering. The main ingredients in compounds are sugar, vegetable oils, some other fillers, and a little cocoa powder to give it color and flavor. It is also generally accepted in the scientific community that hydrogenated palm oils have an adverse effect on cardiovascular health.

The biggest difference is in the taste. Real chocolate will melt on your tongue and will slowly release different complex flavors. Compounds are waxy, very sweet, and have no complexity. This is why eating real chocolate is a slow, sensory experience, and gives you a sense of satisfaction and fullness when you are done. When you eat a “chocolate candy,” you can mow through a bag without even realizing it, and you are left with an empty feeling, or worse, a tummy ache!

Mr. Reese was so effective in expressing his outrage that Hershey’s has announced that it will reintroduce dark and milk chocolate to all their Reese’s products by 2027. For Brad, this is too little too late. I agree.