What chocolate is made of
Chocolate starts with cocoa beans, fermented, roasted and ground into cocoa mass. That mass separates into cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Dark chocolate is cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar; milk chocolate adds milk solids; white chocolate keeps the cocoa butter and drops the solids. Lecithin helps the mix flow, vanilla rounds it. The defining ingredient is cocoa butter: it is what makes chocolate snap when cold and melt at body temperature.
What compound coating is
Compound replaces cocoa butter with vegetable fat, usually palm or a blend, and keeps the cocoa powder for flavour and colour. It costs less, does not need tempering, and tolerates heat better. It also melts differently in the mouth, and under most food-labelling rules it may not be called chocolate. On this site compound products sit in their own group on the chocolate page, with an open statement.
Why the label matters
Standards of identity define what may carry the word chocolate; the United States has its own, with minimum cocoa and milk contents for milk chocolate. A compound bar labelled as chocolate is misbranded. For private label this is checked before printing: the product name on your artwork must match the recipe on our technical data sheet. Getting it wrong is not a marketing problem; it is a compliance problem.
Which to buy
- Real chocolate for premium shelves, gift boxes, anything where taste is the sale. It travels at a controlled temperature; in the warm months a reefer is quoted.
- Compound for hot climates, children’s lines, coated novelty shapes and price-led ranges. It travels dry with fewer worries.
Many buyers take both in one container, because each line has its own pallet. The offer states which is which per product.
How to tell them apart on a data sheet
Look at the fat. If the ingredient list says cocoa butter, it is chocolate. If it says vegetable fat, palm fat or hydrogenated fat next to cocoa powder, it is compound. The data sheet comes with the quotation for every line; the samples page explains how to taste the difference before you order.
What the cocoa percentage tells you
The percentage on a dark bar is the share of the bar that came from the cocoa bean, mass and butter together. It is a measure of intensity, not of quality: a high number can be harsh and a lower one can be excellent, depending on the bean and the conching. On a milk bar the number is lower because milk and sugar take the space. On a compound product there is usually no percentage at all, because the fat is not from the bean. Read it as a taste guide and let the sample decide.
What to send
Start with the chocolate page: pick the lines, say how many and name the port. The written offer follows within two working days and states what each line weighs by the carton and what the minimum is.
Tasting first is normal — samples are free from running production, you cover the courier. The united states: what stays the same on every offer page lists what stays the same on every offer, and the private label for us brands page covers putting your own name on the pack.
Is compound coating bad?
No. It is a different product for different uses. The problem is only when it is sold or labelled as chocolate.
Can compound products be private label?
Yes, as one of our core services; the product name on the label is checked against the recipe.
Why does real chocolate turn grey?
Fat bloom: heat and cooling move cocoa butter to the surface. It is safe, and it is why chocolate travels at a controlled temperature.
