A higher percentage of cocoa butter fat is another prime indicator of a premium chocolate. As a benchmark, Benson points to Europe's premium couvertures—professional-quality coating chocolates—which, by EU legal standards, contain no less than 32% cocoa butter.
A dark road ahead
Aside from containing more cocoa butter than mass-market chocolates, premium specimens also have a higher cacao content. Cacao content indicates the portion of the chocolate's weight that comes from ingredients derived from the cacao bean itself. These days, levels as high as 65%, 70% and even up to 99% are not uncommon. (Typical milk chocolate hovers around 35% to 40%.) Whatever falls outside this percentage is made up of sugar, vanilla, lecithin and milk, so the higher the cacao content, the stronger the chocolate flavor, the lower its sweetness and the more robust the finished product.
And, for many chocolate consumers, the higher the quality. "A lot of people do equate higher cocoa solids with a better product," says Frank Calabro, food technologist, David Michael & Co., Philadelphia.
"It's perceived as more adult, as well," adds Rachel Czapla, sensory & flavor insights analyst, David Michael & Co. "When we were children, we didn't like that bitter profile. But as adults, we do."
Dark chocolate courts ambitious flavor pairings, because it needs a bold partner to equal its heft. "Dark chocolate is pretty strong," Frame says. "It's pretty complex, like wine, with all sorts of notes. So, if you pair it with something that's too weak, the chocolate will be overpowering." For example, a mild, milky caramel would be swamped by a dark chocolate, she says; chiles and cinnamon, on the other hand, can go toe to toe.
Ginger is another punchy flavor that pairs well with dark chocolate, and it's showing up in more applications, both as a flavor note and as a bona fide inclusion. Suppliers offer ginger in a number of confectionery-ready forms, from crystallized and syruped pieces to pulps and cremes, and most have the advantages of functionality and a clean label—ginger, sugar and little else.
When working with ginger in chocolate applications, "moisture is critical, absolutely critical—and water activity, too," says Paul Ritchie, president, Buderim Ginger Limited, Yandina, Queensland. So, whether or not to use syruped ginger, which he says contains about 22% water, in an enrobing application, for example, will depend on the product's specific requirements. Syruped ginger "looks for small cracks in the chocolate, and the syrup seeps out, causing a sticky base and also causing the product to bloom," according to company literature.
In chocolate bars, add drained syruped ginger, ginger dices, pulped ginger or ginger creme—a fine pulped ginger with minimal fiber, temperature stability, and amenability to pumping, extrusion, and mixing with dairy. "It's like a whipped butter, but it's nothing but ginger and sugar," Ritchie says. The texture is smooth and creamy, and it works great in ganache fillings.