As a founding member of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association (FCIA), Ecole Chocolat, with help from other FCIA members, volunteered to create the FCIA’s Chocolate Glossary using general industry terms from the Ecole Chocolate Glossary. We’ve used those basic terms below with some updates, modifications, and additions. We hope this glossary helps you with any unfamiliar words in this book and beyond. For more terms and information on different types of bonbons and confections please go to About Chocolate on the Fine Chocolate Industry Association at: https://www.finechocolateindustry.org.
Bonbon: An individual confectionery center, either enrobed with chocolate to cover or encased in a molded chocolate shell. Referred to as a “chocolate” in North America or “praline” in Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. We use this term in the book instead of “chocolates” to delineate a confection rather than bar or bulk chocolate.
Cabosse: The French term used throughout the industry for the fruit of the cacao tree.
Cacao: Can refer to the Theobroma cacao tree, the fruit it produces, or the fruit’s seeds. Once the cacao seeds are fermented and dried, they are then usually referred to as cocoa beans.
Chocolate: One of the end products of processing the seeds of a cacao tree. Other products include cocoa butter and cocoa powder.
Chocolate bloom: Also called “fat bloom,” a thin whitish, beige, or gray film, streaks, or spots that form on the surface of chocolate as a result of many factors such as incomplete tempering; incorrect cooling; enrobing or molding cold centers; presence of other fats in the centers or chocolate; and storing the chocolate in too warm conditions. Does not impact the taste or condition of the chocolate but does mar the appearance and texture.
Chocolate maker: Refers to those companies producing chocolate from fermented and dried cocoa beans in small batches and in limited quantities. Usually their chocolate is sold as retail bars direct to the consumer or wholesaled to specialty retailers, with very limited bulk quantities available for use by chocolatiers in their bonbons or confections.
Chocolate manufacturer: Refers to those large companies that produce a broad range of chocolate from fermented and dried cocoa beans to supply wholesale to mass-market and/or specialty restaurants, patisseries, bakeries, hotels and chocolatiers. While historically chocolate manufacturers never sold direct to consumers, with the increased interest in fine chocolate, some traditional chocolate manufacturers now wholesale their own retail-size bars through specialty and mass-market retailers.
Chocolate liquor: Ground cocoa nibs, whether in molten liquid or solid block form. The term “chocolate liquor” has nothing to do with alcohol; it refers to the fact that during the grinding process, the cocoa butter is released from the nibs, rendering the mass into a “liquid” state.
Chocolate or cocoa percentage: Refers to the percentage of chocolate liquor plus any added cocoa butter, cocoa powder and/or cocoa nibs in a chocolate. The cocoa percentage has no bearing on the quality of the chocolate. For example, different 70% chocolates may range from excellent to terrible. The only specific thing that we can say with any certainty about a 70% dark chocolate bar, prior to tasting it, is that it has about 30% sugar in the formulation.
Chocolatier: This term usually refers to a person who sources fine chocolate produced by chocolate manufacturers or chocolate makers to create unique chocolate products, bonbons, and confectionery.
Coating chocolate or chocolate-flavored coating: Some or most of the cocoa butter is removed from the chocolate liquor and is replaced with less-expensive vegetable fat to produce an inexpensive product that does not require tempering. Also called compound coating, decorator’s chocolate, confectioner’s coating, and pâte à glacer.
Cocoa beans: Seeds of the cacao tree that have been fermented and dried.
Cocoa butter: Cocoa butter is rare among vegetable fats because it is mostly solid at room temperature, but starts to very noticeably soften and melt at just a few degrees beneath body temperature, leading to its unique melting mouth feel. These interesting qualities are due to the fact that cocoa butter is polymorphic, with six somewhat overlapping crystallization and melting ranges. Cocoa butter resists rancidity, and can be stored for much longer periods of time than most vegetable fats without spoilage. Additional uses include pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes.
Cocoa nibs: The broken pieces of the fermented, dried, and usually roasted, cocoa bean, after the shell—actually the thin seed coat of the cocoa bean—has been removed via a process called winnowing. Cocoa nibs may be eaten out of hand or ground into chocolate liquor.
Cocoa powder: Once the cocoa butter has been hydraulically pressed from chocolate liquor, the remaining material is a compressed “cocoa cake.” This cocoa cake is then reground and sifted until it is a fine cocoa powder. Cocoa powder, though lower in cocoa butter than the initial chocolate liquor from which it is made, will still have from 10 to 22% cocoa butter content as defined by the FDA.
Conching: A texture and flavor improvement process similar to kneading, that is carried out by any of a variety of machines called conches or refiner-conches. The process, which generally follows refining, takes place over several hours or days, depending upon the machine, the chocolate maker’s vision regarding flavor and texture, and the particular cacao from which the chocolate is made. It is still not well understood what causes the significant flavor changes that occur within conched chocolate, though various food scientists throughout the twentieth century suggested that volatilization of certain flavor compounds, oxidation of others, and even the process of coating cocoa particles with cocoa butter, may play roles.
Confection: For the purposes of this book, refers to products that are not enrobed or shell molded, such as nut barks, turtles and clusters, dipped fruits and pretzels, molded lollipops or novelty items, and pastry or bakery recipes like macarons or brownies.
Couverture: The term usually refers to chocolate containing at least 32% cocoa butter that is made with concern for the overall flavor and texture of the chocolate. Couverture is generally used by chocolatiers to coat (enrobe) fillings or in the production of shell-molded bonbons, in which the fluidity of the chocolate is important in order to produce a thin shell or coating. Couverture comes from the French word couvrir, to coat or cover, and is pronounced koo-vehr-TYOOR. Sometimes referred to as fondant chocolate.
Dark chocolate: Fine dark chocolate should not contain any ingredients beyond chocolate liquor [could be referred to on the label as cocoa, cocoa powder, cocoa solids, or cacao], sugar, and cacao [cocoa] butter. Optional ingredients may include lecithin, and vanilla. Dark chocolate can be further labeled as bittersweet, semisweet, or sweet chocolate. These are arbitrary labels except in countries such as the United States, where use of the labels is regulated by the government depending on cocoa percentage.
Dutch process: The cocoa cakes, powder, or nibs are treated with an alkali salt to increase the pH value and neutralize the acidity. While this process doesn’t change the flavor of the chocolate except for the acidity, it does deepen the cocoa powder’s color, making it appear richer, and improves its suspension in liquids.
Enrobage: The thin, hard covering of a coated bonbon.
Enrobing: Coating an individual confectionery center in couverture to create a bonbon. Can be accomplished by hand or with the help of a machine.
Fermentary: The area set aside for fermentation of cocoa beans postharvest. This could be as simple as a cleared space in the forest or as complex as a series of boxes where cacao beans are rotated as they ferment.
Fondeurs: Chocolatiers are called fondeurs or “melters” in France, as they melt large blocks of chocolate and temper it to cover bonbons or mold into filled or solid shapes.
Ganache: The classic artisan bonbon center, an emulsion of chocolate and liquid (typically cream). Ganache can be flavored with fruit, nuts, spices, herbs, and aromatic liquids such as liquors or teas. Ganache is highly versatile and can be piped, slabbed, or shell-molded, but its most recognizable form is semi-round truffles.
Gianduja: A smooth blend of roasted hazelnuts or almonds with milk or dark chocolate, produced commercially and used for bonbons and desserts. This confection (pronounced gyan-DOO-ya) was created in the Piedmont region of Italy by Caffarel during a chocolate shortage in 1865.
Lecithin: Lecithin, an emulsifier, can be added during the conching process to improve fluidity and decrease the viscosity of chocolate. Some fine chocolate makers use lecithin while others do not; that is the personal choice of the chocolate maker.
Melangeur: A grinding machine that incorporates round granite wheels spinning in a circular motion to crush seeds and grains. In chocolate making it is sometimes used for the first grind of roasted and winnowed cocoa nibs.
Milk chocolate: Fine milk chocolate should not contain any ingredients beyond chocolate liquor [could be referred to on the label as cocoa powder, cocoa solids, or cacao], sugar, cacao [cocoa] butter, dry milk or cream solids, milk or cream fat. Optional ingredients may include lecithin and vanilla.
Pistoles: Originally this French word referred to gold coins in use in European countries until the late nineteenth century. Now, in the world of chocolate, pistole refers to coin-shaped pieces of couverture.
Praline: Refers to a bonbon of filled chocolate (in Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland); a New Orleans pecan sugar candy (United States); or a blend of chocolate with nuts, usually almonds (France).
Refining: This is the second grind of the chocolate liquor with ingredients such as sugar or vanilla. All of these chocolate recipe ingredients are then ground together so the particles are rendered the same size, producing a smooth, velvety texture.
Roasting: Cocoa beans are roasted to develop the characteristic aroma and taste of chocolate. The length of the roasting process and its temperature vary, though for those familiar with coffee roasting, cocoa roasting times and temperatures can generally be said to be significantly longer and lower. Fine chocolate manufacturers/makers generally do not roast every origin of cocoa beans in the same way, but try to find the combination of time and temperature that best enhances a particular origin’s flavor.
Single origin: Cacao beans from a specific region, valley, farm, plantation, or orchard. There are no industry guidelines for the use of the term so it can mean any of the above.
Sugar Bloom: Water condensing on the surface is absorbed by the sugar in the chocolate producing white dots or tackiness. Difference between temperatures in storage and handling will cause surface condensation that precipitates sugar bloom.
Tempering: A process in which the temperature of the chocolate is manipulated for controlled crystallization of the cocoa butter to occur, thus allowing the cooled chocolate to have a good “snap,” glossy sheen, and smooth mouth feel. Chocolate manufacturers/makers include recommended tempering specifications for each of the chocolates they sell, as each chocolate needs different temperatures depending on its ingredients and processing. In addition to technical knowledge, fine chocolatiers must develop a highly refined understanding of the tempering process through experience because only this experience ensures that each chocolate product is perfectly tempered, even when automatic or semiautomatic tempering equipment is used. If real chocolate containing cocoa butter is melted for coating, enrobing, or molding techniques, it must be tempered before use to ensure it hardens properly. When tempered chocolate containing cocoa butter is then melted, it must be tempered again before use in coating, enrobing, or molding techniques to ensure it hardens properly.
Terroir: The French term terroir has been used in the wine industry for ages, and is also relevant when speaking of cacao. It refers to the various ways a particular place can have an impact on a given population of cacao, such as the effect of general and microclimates in the area, soil composition, and even the unique microbiology of the growing area and fermentary.
Truffle: A member of the ganache center family of bonbons. But the truffle has a unique history. Originally truffles were piped onto sheet pans, and once the centers hardened, they were shaped into balls and rolled in cocoa. Because of their uneven and rough surface, truffles were named after the real truffle, the fungus. Now truffle centers are hand formed, cut into squares and enrobed, or piped into molds or truffle shells.
White chocolate: Fine white chocolate should not contain any ingredients beyond sugar, cacao [cocoa] butter, dry milk or cream solids, milk or cream fat. Optional ingredients include lecithin and vanilla.
Winnowing: Separating the shell of the cacao beans from the bean itself. The beans are first cracked to help release the shell from the beans. Then, a person by hand or using a winnowing machine uses airflow to blow the lighter shells off of the heavier bean pieces.