Boas Comidas

Glossário Culinário

Chocolate

Ingrediente

Origem
from Nahuatl xocolatl, language of ancient Mexico
Também chamado de
bar chocolate, cocoa powder

Chocolate is the sweet made from cacao, combining cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar in varying proportions. It is the base of brigadeiros, cakes, pies, pavés and fondues — and one of the most beloved ingredients in Brazilian baking.

Characteristics

Milk chocolate is sweet and creamy; semisweet has more cacao and less sugar, ideal for balancing desserts; dark packs even more cacao, with intense flavor. White chocolate carries cocoa butter, milk and sugar, with no cocoa mass. There is also cocoa powder, with more cacao and less sugar than chocolate drink mix, plus sprinkles for coating truffles and chips for cookies. The higher the cacao content, the less sweet and the more intense the flavor.

Uses in the kitchen

It shows up in cakes, brownies, pies, pavés, mousses, brigadeiros, chocolate kiss truffles, fondues, ganaches, syrups and hot drinks. As ganache — chocolate melted with cream — it becomes a filling and frosting for pies and cakes. Compound or coating chocolate is handy for dipping sweets, while couverture demands more care when melting.

  • Chocolate cakes, brownies, pies and pavés
  • Brigadeiros, truffles and spoonable Easter eggs
  • Fondues, ganaches, syrups and hot drinks

Substitutions

Across types, swapping works by adjusting the recipe’s sugar: trading milk for semisweet calls for a little more sugar, and the reverse calls for less. Unsweetened cocoa powder replaces cocoa powder in cakes with a deeper flavor. Carob is the alternative for anyone avoiding cacao, but it has its own taste. Chocolate drink mix is not the same as cocoa powder: it is sweeter and less concentrated.

Fun facts

Chocolate should melt in a double boiler or in the microwave in short bursts, always with no splashes of water — a single drop can seize it all. Cacao reached Europe from the Americas and turned into candy with the addition of sugar. To store, keep in a cool, dry place: the whitish film that sometimes appears on the surface is cacao fat rising, and it does not mean it went bad.

Recipes with chocolate

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