Using "cocoa butter substitute" to impersonate chocolate? Be careful when buying chocolate!

A well-known brand of chocolate food has always been very popular, but recently it has caused a stir due to the controversy over "raw materials", and many consumers have said they will never buy it again. Because in July last year, the brand's mooncake promotion called its crust "chocolate crust", but a closer look at the ingredients showed that it was actually "chocolate crust with cocoa butter substitute".

A famous brand of chocolate food actually uses "cocoa butter substitute" | Tuchong Creative

So, what is cocoa butter substitute? Is it real chocolate? What kind of chocolate should we choose to show sincerity on White Valentine's Day?

Let’s start with the chocolate making process.

01 How is chocolate made?

Chocolate gives people the impression of being "silky and sweet". When you are in a bad mood, just taking a bite of chocolate will instantly change your mood and give you a full sense of happiness. How is such a magical chocolate made?

Traditional chocolate is really troublesome to make. The recipe is mainly based on cocoa butter, and you need to pick ripe cocoa fruits from the cocoa tree. The taste of cocoa fruit is actually sweet and sour, and the flesh is white and a bit sticky, a bit like mangosteen. Each cocoa fruit is wrapped with 25 to 40 cocoa beans.

▲Chinese Plant Image Library: Cocoa Fruit

After the cocoa beans with white pulp are picked out, they are fermented at room temperature. After a few days, the cocoa beans will ooze liquid and turn brown. Wipe off the liquid and dry them in the sun or oven. After drying, bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes, then remove the bean coats. The brown beans you get are cocoa beans!

Cocoa beans become like this after being processed | Tuchong Creative

The peeled cocoa beans are crushed into powder, heated over water to melt into a viscous liquid (you can also directly use the crushed cocoa beans and grind them for a long time), the liquid cocoa butter is poured into the mold, and then refrigerated to set, and traditional chocolate is ready.

However, the chocolate made in this way is generally bitter, so the taste of chocolate has been adjusted. In order to reduce the bitterness of traditional chocolate, the chocolate on the market not only has different cocoa butter contents, but also many products have added sugar to make the taste sweeter, and some chocolates have cocoa butter substitutes.

02 What are cocoa butter substitutes? What are the differences?

Cocoa beans are mainly produced in a narrow strip of land within 18 degrees north and south of the equator, so the source of cocoa butter for making chocolate using traditional methods is very limited. my country can only rely on imports to obtain raw materials, which is not only expensive, but also in short supply.

Therefore, cocoa butter substitute came into being, mainly to replace cocoa butter and reduce the production cost of chocolate. It is a kind of artificial hard fat, which is made from vegetable oil through hydrogenation process. Except for its similar state and physical properties to cocoa butter, other differences are very large.

① Ingredients: Although the main components of both are fat, cocoa butter is mainly stearic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid. Stearic acid can lower the cholesterol level in the blood. Cocoa butter also contains polyphenols, which have antioxidant effects and are beneficial for preventing cardiovascular diseases. Because cocoa butter has certain benefits for the body, it is used to evaluate the "gold content" of chocolate. [1]

Cocoa butter is very expensive, and its content determines the "gold content" of chocolate | Tuchong Creative

There are two types of cocoa butter substitutes: lauric acid type and non-lauric acid type. Since non-lauric acid type does not have an advantage in the chocolate processing process, lauric acid type cocoa butter substitute is more commonly used. [2] In food testing, whether lauric acid is detected can be used as a basis for judging whether chocolate contains cocoa butter substitutes.

② Trans fatty acids: The lauric acid in cocoa butter substitutes is obtained by selective hydrogenation of lauric acid oils (such as palm kernel oil), so they may contain trans fatty acids. Studies have shown that regular intake of trans fatty acids can increase blood viscosity, promote the formation of blood clots, increase low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, promote arteriosclerosis, and increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. [1]

I would like to remind everyone here that even if the nutritional label on the packaging of the cocoa butter substitute chocolate you bought says "0 trans fatty acids", it does not necessarily mean that there is none at all.

▲Image source: e-commerce platform

Because our country has regulations for pre-packaged foods that when the trans fatty acid content in food is ≤0.3g/100g, the words "0 trans fatty acids" or "no trans fatty acids" can be marked on the packaging. This does not mean that there is absolutely no trans fatty acid.

Other studies have shown that consuming large amounts of cocoa butter substitute chocolate can cause methionine to promote the formation of arteriosclerosis, saponins to cause iodine deficiency, and purines to promote gout attacks. [3]

Therefore, you should really eat less chocolate with cocoa butter substitutes!

03 How to tell whether it is cocoa butter substitute chocolate?

If you don’t want to buy chocolate with cocoa butter substitutes, the most intuitive way to judge is to look at the ingredient list and product type on the packaging.

According to the provisions of the "Chocolate, Cocoa Butter Substitute Chocolate and Its Products" standard in my country, when making chocolate, if the amount of cocoa butter substitute added exceeds 5%, it should be marked "cocoa butter substitute chocolate" on the package.

▲Figure: GB 9678.2-2014

For example, the one shown below is a cocoa butter substitute chocolate:

▲Image source: e-commerce platform

The one below is pure dark chocolate:

▲Image source: e-commerce platform

04 What are the differences between different chocolates? How to choose?

Depending on the cocoa butter content, common chocolate on the market can be divided into three types: dark chocolate, white chocolate and milk chocolate.

Dark chocolate: Total cocoa solids must be ≥ 30%, dark brown or brown-black in color, and has a bitter cocoa taste. [4]

White chocolate: Contains more than 20% cocoa butter and more than 14% milk-containing ingredients, but contains no cocoa powder or cocoa solids. It has a stronger milky flavor and a sweeter taste. [4]

Milk chocolate: Dairy products are added to chocolate, with a milk content of more than 12%, a total cocoa solids content of ≥25%, a brown or light brown color, and a cocoa and milk flavor. [4]

▲Figure: GB/T 19343-2016

Compared with these three types of chocolate, dark chocolate is more recommended because it contains some ingredients that are beneficial to health, such as cocoa flavanols, theobromine, polyphenols, etc. If you really can't stand its bitterness, you can try dark chocolate with a total cocoa solids content of 70% to 75%.

For the other two types of chocolate, more white sugar is often added in the ingredients. For example, in the two chocolates in the picture below, white sugar is ranked first in the ingredient list. According to the "General Rules for Pre-packaged Food Labeling", the ingredient list of food packaging needs to be arranged in order of decreasing amount, that is to say: the higher the ranking, the more sugar is added.

▲E-commerce platform: a certain brand of white chocolate

▲E-commerce platform: a certain brand of milk chocolate

In addition, it is best to avoid foods such as chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake that everyone likes to eat. Most of these foods have chocolate coatings made from cocoa butter substitutes and also contain high levels of sugar and fat. If you really want to eat them, it is recommended that you look at the ingredient list first!

Summarize:

Although cocoa butter chocolate is healthier than cocoa butter substitute chocolate in terms of raw materials, it is not recommended to eat it frequently.

Because even pure dark chocolate still contains high fat and high calories. Even if you only eat 50 grams, the calories are more than 300 kcal. Eating too much will really make you fat! In addition, chocolate has a high oxalic acid content, so you should avoid eating it in large quantities.

References:

[1] Yuan Han, Ma Yue, Li Shuangshi. GC-MS Identification Analysis and Application of Cocoa Butter and Cocoa Butter Substitutes[J]. Food and Fermentation Industries, 2012, 38(08): 178-181. DOI: 10.13995/j.cnki.11-1802/ts.2012.08.011.

[2] Zhu Li, Tan Wei, Zhang Jiayan, Hou Lu. Research progress in analytical technology of cocoa butter and its substitutes in chocolate[J]. Applied Chemical Industry, 2017, 46(12): 2472-2475+2479. DOI: 10.16581/j.cnki.issn1671-3206.20170928.035.

[3] Yuan Han, Ma Yue, Li Xiaoyan, Song Jinhui. GC-MS analysis and nutritional comparison of cocoa butter and cocoa butter substitutes in chocolate[J]. Hubei Agricultural Sciences, 2015, 54(07): 1707-1709. DOI: 10.14088/j.cnki.issn0439-8114.2015.07.045.

[4] GB/T 19343-2016 Chocolate and chocolate products, chocolate with cocoa butter substitutes and chocolate products with cocoa butter substitutes

Author | Xue Qingxin, member of Chinese Nutrition Society, registered nutrition technician, health manager, public nutritionist

Review | Song Shuang, Associate Researcher, Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Editor | Jiang Fan

Editor | Ding Zong

This article was first published on Science Refutes Rumors