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Chocolate Talk
Let’s break it down. Thanks to our community of chefs & foodies, we received quite a few inquiries about couverture. Heading into the weekend, we thought we’d get a little wonky and break it down by the numbers.
Understanding couverture percentages
Couverture is a professional quality chocolate made with premium beans, ground to a very fine particle size, and rich in cocoa butter. The differences in couverture quality and application are quite prevalent. Let’s have a look!
Most couvertures are labeled with percentages (i.e., 73%, 58% and 37%) that represent the amount of bean in the couverture. Since dark couverture is largely made up of the bean component (fat and non-fat solids) and sugar, it stands to reason that the higher the percentage of cocoa, the lower the sugar content.
All couverture is not created equal
The quality of fine couverture is determined by both, the quality of the ingredients and the style of preparation. Even if couvertures from different manufacturers have the same percentage (i.e., 73%) the quality of the couverture may yield tremendous variation. Thus, two different brands of 73% yield different taste profiles. And so, the key to understanding this distinction is to understand the composition of cocoa solids vs. cocoa butter.
For example, if couverture A may be identified as 73% (31% cocoa solids and 42% cocoa butter); Couverture B may also be identified as 73% but it consists of 27% cocoa solids and 46% cocoa butter. Couverture A, which consists of 15% more cocoa solids, will have a stronger chocolate flavor and a greater viscosity than couverture B. Thus, the intended application and final results will vary greatly.
Final Twist
Understanding couverture percentages is an important factor in understanding the personality of the couverture of our choice. Most specialty pastry suppliers have done their homework in providing us with a detailed breakdown of their couvertures as well as the applications for which the couvertures are recommended. Bear in mind there’s more to this story. Couvertures will also yield a different character/personality depending on the origin of the beans and the manufacturing process itself. Look for more on this topic in our new blog post next week. Until then… drop us a line. pastryteam@auifinefoods.com.
-- AUI Pastry Team