Seventy% - Topic: Semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Alex Rast on Semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:26:39 +0000

quote:

Originally posted by choccywoccydoodaa

Can anyone help?

I'm trying to use a US fudge recipe which calls for semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate. I'm finding it difficult to find a comparable product in the UK. Can anyone shed any light?

As I understand it semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate has added lecithin and sugar.

It doesn't need to have added lecithin, although most do. Nonetheless, most of the very top chocolate manufacturers don't use lecithin. It does , of course, have added sugar.

From the way you're wording this, however, I'm guessing that you're looking at "baking" chocolates - in the sense of chocolate packaged and marketed specifically for baking (and found in the baking section of somewhere like Tesco or Sainsbury's). That is in the first place potentially the source of confusion and in the second one way to end up most usually with a poor result. Rather like "cooking" wines are generally suitable neither for drinking nor cooking, being simply bad wine no matter how you look at it, most "baking" chocolate is simply bad chocolate, period. There is absolutely no reason not to use a high-quality eating bar that you'll find either in chocolate shops or if you must in the chocolate aisle of the supermarket. Do yourself a favour and get a better bar - you can use the reviews here to get an idea for better and worse bars, and brands. If the recipe calls for semi-sweet or bittersweet, I'd aim for a range of 60%-75% cocoa solids - almost always a figure published on the label, although be aware that there are some caveats involving using the cocoa solids figure blindly (search the site and you'll find extensive discussions on this point). The key point, however, is that there's nothing particularly special or exotic about semisweet or bittersweet chocolate - they're simply categories of dark chocolate.

Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com

gap on Semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:27:35 +0000

So for your recipe, just use any dark chocolate over 50%.

If you prefer 70% chocolate, this is probably closer to the implied meaning of bittersweet. If you prefer 60% chocolate, this is probably closer to semisweet chocolate. Really, it just comes down to what you prefer out of a dark chocolate.

Sebastian on Semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:43:26 +0000

there is no legal difference between the two. for the most part, industry self regulates to the standard of if the formula contains greater than or equal to 50% liquor, they'll term it bittersweet; however legally they don't have to, nor is there a definition that differentiates bittersweet from semisweet.

choccywoccydoodaa on Semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:45:05 +0000

Can anyone help?

I'm trying to use a US fudge recipe which calls for semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate. I'm finding it difficult to find a comparable product in the UK. Can anyone shed any light?

As I understand it semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate has added lecithin and sugar.

All help appreciated.

Regards

Simon