Compound chocolate is a product made from a combination of cocoa, vegetable fat and sweeteners. It is used as a lower-cost alternative to true

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, as it uses less-expensive hard vegetable fats such as coconut oil or

palm kernel oil Palm kernel oil is an edible plant oil derived from the kernel of the oil palm tree ''Elaeis guineensis''. It is related to other two edible oils: ''palm oil'', extracted from the fruit pulp of the oil palm, and ''coconut oil'', extracted from ...

in place of the more expensive

cocoa butter Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, edible fat extracted from the cocoa bean. It is used to make chocolate, as well as some ointments, toiletries, and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter has a cocoa flavor and aroma. Its mel ...

. It may also be known as "compound coating" or "chocolatey coating" when used as a coating for candy. It is often used in less expensive

chocolate bar A chocolate bar (Commonwealth English) or candy bar (some dialects of American English) is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A flat, easily brea ...

s to replace enrobed chocolate on a product. Cocoa butter must be tempered to maintain gloss and coating. A

chocolatier A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients. Education and training Traditionally, chocolatiers, ...

tempers chocolate by cooling the chocolate mass below its setting point, then rewarming the chocolate to between for milk chocolate, or between for

semi-sweet chocolate Chocolate is a food product made from roasted and ground cocoa pods mixed with fat (e.g. cocoa butter) and powdered sugar to produce a solid confectionery. There are several types of chocolate, classified primarily according to the proportion o ...

. Compound coatings, however, do not need to be tempered. Instead, they are simply warmed to between above the coating's

melting point The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends ...

References

Types of chocolate {{confectionery-stub

See also

References