January 2022: WHITE CHOCOLATE MATTERS
Systemic hierarchy among chocolates seems like an antithesis of institutionalized racism and colorism towards human lives in a sense that darker and more bitter chocolate products earn the conditioned privilege cards of consumer love and enthusiasm over the pale, light, and milky ones that, in turn, rank above niche sugary white chocolates. Insert the slightly tart ruby chocolates recently patented by Berry Callebaut into the diverse mix, and white chocolate could possibly and eventually fall farther down the market favorability ladder in the court of gastronomic opinion. A well-deserved justice, right? Perhaps so.
Unlike black lives and black bodies, however, white chocolate, to a certain extent, does warrant the controversial distaste and snobbery due to its high susceptibility to industrial counterfeiting. After all, the predominant chemistry of white chocolate relies on the flavorless vegetable fat extracted from roasted cacao beans, and the bright white color of the fat alone gives the confectionery its namesake. By introducing chemical alterations to cheaper plant oils, such as palm kernel or soybean, and the same usual additives of lecithin, milk solids, and sugar, features of authentic white chocolate become imitable and thus, exploit and fool the unaware consumer with the exaggerated misconception of buying the real thing at the expense of affordability and rancidity.
On the other hand, bonafide white chocolate does merit inclusion into the categorical politics of Theobroma cacao. True white chocolate, in spite of the literal name, leans heavily closer to ivory color compared to those labels sourced from other hydrogenated plant-based fats. Cocoa butter, the sole fatty component in white chocolate, comprises half the mass of raw chocolate and allows the suspension and lubrication of sugar into the chocolate, so it does not end up like a viscous pasty lump and flows smoothly upon melting.
Also, if we are going to the follow the logic of white chocolate being prone to industrial bastardization as a criterion for its disinheritance from its family birthright, then we must hinge that same argument to disqualify commercially available dark chocolate commodities made from cocoa solid-derived cocoa powder, which some industries blend with aforementioned chemically processed plant oils to arrive at the undesirable product, not so?
On the centrist standpoint, the formulation of a bittersweet dark chocolate can be perceived as white chocolate cocoa butter diluted with dark roasted cocoa solids, much like how we, humans, despite our differences in skin color and tone, possess at least a trace or below-detectable iota of the indelibly racial “black” gene inherited from our African ancestors. For this reason, a genuine white chocolate article has a stake in appeasing the chocophile taste.
The Kitchen Scholar will feature white chocolate-based sweets this month to exemplify the versatility of the ingredient in concocting fabulously decadent and exceptional desserts that include cookies, ice cream, soufflé, and mousses, to name a few. All recipes will use premium-quality and ivory-colored white chocolate, which can be efficiently screened by the crucially explicit indication of cocoa butter in the product packaging. I hope website readers and visitors will enjoy the recipes adapted from the published works of master chocolatiers, patissiers, and bakers. When all is said and done, white chocolate indeed matters!
