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 Post subject: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 9:24 pm 
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I got a few CBs lately that have recipes that call for white chocolate, so I had to order some. I ordered 1 kg of Guittard (my favorite standby for a lot of chocolates) wafers, plus I ordered a bunch of samples of other brands, and a bar of Godiva and Ghirardelli, just to compare them all, and see if I could find an even better kind.

I did a taste test, and only one topped the Guittard - the Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean, which is more of an eating chocolate, and is about 2 1/2 times as expensive. And, it was only a little better, IMO. I was surprised that the Callebaut did so poorly, as I have had good results with the dark chocolates of that brand.

I also got the Guittard Cocoa Powder - Jersey Cocoa Powder, Full Dutched Process (Darker Color) 22-24% Cocoa Butter, which smells wonderful, and is about as dark as Bensdorp. Haven't made anything with it yet, however.

Here are the results, the number on the left being my rating out of 10, and the % being the amount of cocoa butter in the chocolates.

10 Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean 31% - This has the vanilla bean in the chocolate, thus its name. The best of the bunch, with a good flavor of the milk solids, as well as the vanilla, and a really good, long aftertaste (like a wine tasting with these things!).

9 Guittard white chocolate wafers 31% - good, immediate taste of the milk solids, with a good aftertaste, like the Godiva, but not quite as good. The best of the baking chocolates, for sure.

6 Cacao Barry 29.2% - Good, but not as much flavor, and the flavor is gone sooner. Sweeter, too.

5 Ghirardelli 4 oz bar (no % given) - Baking bar available in most supermarkets. Fairly good flavor, but too sweet, for me.

4 Barry Callebaut 300 count chunks 25.9% - Good flavor, but way too sweet. I actually looked back on the link to see if I had gotten some sugarless chocolate here, with artificial sweetener. May be OK baked with, but I'll stick with the Guittard.

4 El Rey 34% - good flavor, and the least sweet of all. The thing I didn't like about this was that it was waxy - like I had chewed a piece of lip balm! It just didn't want to come off of my tongue. Due to the highest cocoa butter amount, but maybe less lecithin, or something else, too. Might be OK baked with, but why bother?

2 Belcolade 28% - Instant "off flavor", like plastic, or something like that. Flavor left quickly, after which, the flavor was good, but the same thing happened tried a couple days later, so there is something not good in it.

2 Callebaut white chocolate chips 25.9% - Another with that initial off flavor, which left even quicker. Very sweet, however, like the chunks, which did not have that flavor, so something is added to the chips to hold the shape, or whatever.

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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 9:59 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:05 pm
Posts: 1191
Location: Chico, CA
Thanks Dave, I love your taste tests and always use to go back to them in TOBB. Now I wish I had copied them so I could refer back to them. I just copied this one. Once at the local Raley's I got some Nob Hill Chocolate Chunks (I think Nob Hill is or was the Raley's brand). I was surprised at how good they were. I've not seen them since that year (made peppermint bark with them).

Have you tried TJ's?

I don't think I've seen Guittard white chocolate, but their semi-sweet chips are my absolute favorites for chocolate chip cookies. I will look for the white chocolate.

I used to dislike white chocolate because it was way too sweet, but now like it in some applications e.g. in cookies with dried cranberries and for savory applications.

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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:39 pm 
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Posts: 954
Location: Northern California
Thanks Dave! I don't often use white chocolate ( I like real chocolate :D ), but this will be useful.


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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:31 pm 
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Alina,

Guittard's chips are what got me trying other items of theirs - they are my favotites, too. Worldwide chocolates seem the cheapest, but sometimes there will be deals from others, esp. for free shipping.

Phoenix,

I much prefer real chocolate, too. I would never run out of real chocolate, as I did the white. :D But I did see some really good sounding recipes with it.

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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:10 am 
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Although I basically hate white chocolate, I've needed to use it here and there for certain recipes, such as raspberry "mousse," etc. I didn't find El Rey to be waxy, just very buttery/cocoa buttery. But, the best part is that it tastes closer to real chocolate than the others. (Of course, needless to say, no white chocolate can taste anywhere near the taste of real chocolate, but again, this one was closer). The reason is that it's not deodorized, as are all, if not most of the others. The deodorization process takes away a lot of the taste.
Here's some interesting info about the process:

"Deodorized Cocoa Butter
Before cocoa liquor is molded into blocks of couverture, it must first receive a little extra cocoa butter in the conch. This is done to increase the fluidity and the mouthfeel of the finished chocolate. But cocoa butter—after it has been pressed and separated from the beans—often has a strong and undesirable taste, which can negatively affect the flavor of the finished chocolate. Thus, manufacturers will deodorize, or remove, the natural aroma and flavor of the cocoa butter to produce a flavorless and neutral product. By deodorizing the cocoa butter, a manufacturer can combine cocoa butter pressed from different types of beans, and sell the amalgamated cocoa butter. Since, as noted above, the cacao bean is at least 52% cocoa butter, manufacturers of cocoa powder will have a lot of cocoa butter to sell!

El Rey Icoa Chocolate
El Rey Icoa is the only chocolate bar made with undeodorized cocoa butter, which gives it a true chocolate flavor.
Deodorized cocoa butter is perfect for milk chocolate and dark chocolate (most of what any manufacturer produces). But it makes white chocolate, which has no chocolate liquor to provide flavor, taste more bland. This is why many experts feel that El Rey’s white chocolate, Icoa, is the finest in the world. Its cocoa butter has not been deodorized and retains its natural flavor. Icoa is the only white chocolate in the world made with undeodorized cocoa butter.

The economical benefits derived from deodorizing cocoa butter are sensible, but the practice can lead to relatively similar-flavored white chocolate bars. Some disparities will exist in bars according to brand, however, but for the most part these differences can be too subtle in a casual tasting, which is how white chocolate is most often consumed.
http://www.thenibble.com/zine/archives/ ... olate3.asp

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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:49 am 
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Merstar,

I was truly expecting the El Rey to be better, given things I had read about it, but I really couldn't taste even a hint of the real chocolate flavor, from that undeodorized cocoa butter. The milk solids flavor, which is most of the flavor in white chocolates, was mild in this. But that waxiness was there all three times I tasted it, and it was the only chocolate that I noticed this in (I have noticed it in some chocolates with very high cocoa solids, like 80%, but it would disappear after a minute or so chewing/melting in my mouth). As I said, however, in a cooked dish, this would probably not matter at all.

One time, out of curiosity, I ordered some undeodorized cocoa butter, called "virgin", by that company back then, and the chocolate flavor in it was very mild - I could tell it was chocolate, but just barely. It was light tan in color, and very hard, for a fat. If cocoa butter has a "strong and undesirable taste" before deodorizing, I couldn't tell in that - maybe it's just the cocoa solids filtered out that are undesirable in flavor (until sweetened!). And that very mild chocolate flavor would probably be covered up by other flavors in the white chocolate, but then, it seems more would use it, as it must cost them more to deodorize it, wouldn't you think? What would be the "economical benefits" of deodorizing it, to add back into dark chocolates? Must be some things we don't know about, like maybe deodorizing also increases shelf life?

Whatever, for eating as is, I'll stick with dark chocolate, and for cooking, I'll buy the Guittard, even though the Godiva is a little better for eating as is.

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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:48 am 
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Hey Dave,
I've tried several white chocolates, but haven't tried Guittard or Godiva - will have to check them out if I need to use white chocolate to mix with something (which is about once every 5 years!). Thanks for the review!

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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:22 pm 
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Ditto Alina's comments, Dave. All of your tests are very helpful/interesting. Understandable too, which works great for my grossly non-scientific nature.

So I've been pondering another chocolate question -- related to cocoa (sorry in advance if I'm committing thread hijacking.) KAF now no longer sells natural cocoa -- they sell their usual dutched brands and a "blend" that they say works for any recipe calling for natural OR dutched. Of course I can still get natural cocoa from other sources, but I'm just curious if you guys would consider switching to the blend. (In other words, am I being my typical purist (aka anal) cook or should I loosen up and get flexible with my powder? :lol:

Emilie

p.s. For everyone who doesn't like white chocolate, give some oatmeal/cranberry/white chocolate cookies a try. The white chocolate flavor is subtle and they are sooooo good!


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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:41 pm 
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Emilie,
I'm all for the compulsive thing. I also really appreciate Dave's side by side comparisons because I want all the information that I can get in order to find the best tasting ingredients (am I anal or what!) :D


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 Post subject: Re: White Chocolate taste test
PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:49 pm 
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Emilie wrote:
Ditto Alina's comments, Dave. All of your tests are very helpful/interesting. Understandable too, which works great for my grossly non-scientific nature.

So I've been pondering another chocolate question -- related to cocoa (sorry in advance if I'm committing thread hijacking.) KAF now no longer sells natural cocoa -- they sell their usual dutched brands and a "blend" that they say works for any recipe calling for natural OR dutched. Of course I can still get natural cocoa from other sources, but I'm just curious if you guys would consider switching to the blend. (In other words, am I being my typical purist (aka anal) cook or should I loosen up and get flexible with my powder? :lol:

Emilie


I've been using Saco cocoa powder, which is also a blend of Dutched and Natural, and I like it a lot - it has the best of both worlds. I haven't tried KA's, but I say, go for it.

P.S. I tried Valrhona cocoa powder the other day, which is one of the few cocoa powders I hadn't tried before. (I've tried everything from Droste to Pernigotti to Callebaut to Cacao Barry to Scharffen Berger to El Rey, my favorite, which of course, has been discontinued..., etc). I did a side by side taste test of hot chocolate, using the same recipe for both Valrhona and Saco. I loved Saco, but I hated Valrhona - it was vile. I just don't understand the hype about this company. I find Valrhona chocolate to be just so-so, and the cocoa powder is absolutely horrible. Even the humble Hershey's cocoa powder tastes much better than Valrhona. (Sorry about the hijack)!

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