The different varieties of chocolate

Aphrodisiac, antioxidant, stimulant and good for everything: what are we talking about? Of course, we are talking about chocolate! It has now become a fundamental ingredient of pastry all over the world and, really, there is something for everyone. Let’s discover together all types of chocolate in the world, and make sure you have tasted them all!

The various types and qualities of chocolate

The varieties and qualities of chocolate are mainly 6, according to their cocoa and cocoa butter content. Let’s start with the classic, dark chocolate, which contains only cocoa paste, cocoa butter and sugar. In order to be defined as dark chocolate, the percentage of cocoa must be at least 45% and that of cocoa butter 28%. Moving on to extra-dark chocolate, made of 70% cocoa: it is one of the finest, with a perfect aroma for true connoisseurs.

Certainly, the most loved, and most sold, worldwide is milk chocolate: 25-30% cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar and milk, the latter at least 14%. Loved by the little ones, because it is the sweetest, it has a soft and fluffy texture thanks to the milk fat.

A chocolate that technically could not be defined as such is the white variety, because it does not contain cocoa inside. White chocolate is obtained by combining cocoa butter, sucrose and milk, or milk derivatives, and is ideal in pastry. The least known chocolate variety is bitter chocolate, not popular due to its powdery consistency. In reality it is a type of chocolate obtained by roasting cocoa, which is then reduced to powder. It does not contain added sugars or aromas, therefore it has an intense and bitter taste, a characteristic that makes it suitable exclusively in pastry. The last variety to be added to the chocolate family is that of the pink coccolato, called Ruby Chocolate, which owes its color to the bean from which it is made.

All chocolate based flavors

With all these types of chocolate, it is possible to play and create new combinations of tastes and flavors, which very often become real delicacies. An example is gianduia: it is simply the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts, which must be at least 40% of the final product. The same goes for flavored chocolate, which can be found on the market in many variations: citrus, chilli and truffle, for example. On the other hand, a very particular variety of chocolate, is the Modica chocolate, characterized by a specific cold processing that has allowed it to obtain the IGP certification.

In short, thanks to all these varieties of chocolate, everyone really likes it: not surprisingly, one of the most popular ice cream flavors in Italy, and in the world, is chocolate ice cream.

At this point, it is unconcievable not to taste the chocolate flavors of RivaReno ice cream shops: such as the dark variety, made with the best African cocoa, or the extra-dark variety with single-origin cocoa from Madagascar, and the other 18 chocolate flavors that only RivaReno can offer!