Chocolate. Whether delectably creamy, or deliciously bitter, nothing comes close to it when you want to taste something luxurious and euphoria-inducing. Eaten alone, or combined with other ingredients in a cake or similar sweet treat, while it doesn’t always contain a lot of sugar, some chocolate does have a high sugar content. But does this mean it can be classed as candy?
Not sure how candy is defined? Unsure whether good candy bars can include chocolate?
Let’s take a closer look:
How is chocolate defined?
Chocolate is typically defined as being a type of food that is made from cocoa beans, which in turn, come from the cacao tree. In Greek, cacao literally means: ‘food of the gods,’ and during the chocolate making process, cacao beans are harvested from the trees before being turned into cocoa butter or cocoa powder. This product can then be incorporated into any number of different foods and drinks.
Cacao has a long and rich history, having first been cultivated by the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec peoples, more than 3,000 years ago, and widely used in ceremonies, as currency, and even as an item to be treasured which was sometimes buried with deceased dignitaries.
How is candy defined?
Without going into too much detail, candy can be defined as a sweet type of food made predominantly from sugar, and in the U.S., can include such sweet products as marshmallows, hard and soft candies with gelatin bases (such as Jolly Ranchers), candy corn, jelly beans, and even chocolate products that have been sweetened, chocolate fudge and chocolate chips.
What is cocoa butter?
Cocoa butter is a natural fat derivative of cocoa beans, and during the cocoa butter-making process, cocoa beans reveal the nibs of the plant through roasting. The nibs go on to be ground down to help extract something known as chocolate liquor, and cocoa butter; which is also released when the nibs are pressed. With a taste that is mildly sweet, it doesn’t contain any sugar, however, and is often found in chocolate and any number of haircare and beauty products.
What is cocoa powder?
Made from the chocolate liquor of the roasted cocoa beans – which has had its fat removed to make cocoa butter – and dried and ground until a powder is formed, cocoa powder can be either natural, or Dutch-process. The former has a much more intense flavor, which can almost be described as fruity, while the latter has a milder taste after being treated with alkali, and a color darker than that of cocoa powder in its natural form.
Chocolate: can it be classed as candy?
Largely, the state of the chocolate determines whether or not it can be considered as candy. For example, if a chocolate product is full of sugar, it can be classed as candy, but if it’s in its unsweetened form, such as cocoa products like powder and butter, it can’t technically be considered as candy.
In addition to this, different countries around the world have different ways of identifying chocolate. America, for example, calls the majority of chocolate products, candy, along with all sugar-based goodies and treats. In other countries, chocolate that has had sugar added to it is often referred to as ‘chocolate confectionary,’ while products with sugar as their base, are known as ‘sugar confectionary.’
Americans rate their top candy bars highly, and don’t tend to spend too much time debating whether something can be classed as candy or not; they just get on and enjoy it! Other countries may not have such a broad category for classifying candy bars (in fact, they may not even use the word ‘candy’), but certainly seem to enjoy their sweet treats as much as the Americans do, and who are we to stop them!
