In the chocolate world, especially in the world of dark chocolate, it is common to find that chocolate makers lists percentages on their products such as 70%, 85%, 100%.  One of the most common questions we receive is, “What do those percentages refer to?”

Simply put, those percentages refer to the amount of refined cacao found in the bar.  In a 70% dark chocolate bar, that means that the remaining 30% of the bar consists of something else.  That something else is often the amount of sugar or sugar substitute.  In contrast, a 100% dark chocolate bar is an unsweetened chocolate bar and contains only refined cacao.  The higher the percentage the “darker” the chocolate is.  Since we are a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, the refined cacao found in our bars consists of two ingredients: cacao nibs and cocoa butter.  For chocolate makers who do not start with cacao beans, you will find cacao byproducts listed such has: cocoa mass, cocoa liquor, cocoa powder, etc.  We will post more on cacao byproducts another time, but for now suffice it to say that if you see cocoa powder in the ingredient list you likely have a very low quality product in hand.

How do you know what that remaining percentage consists of?  Look at the order of the listed ingredients.  Ingredients are required to be listed from highest to lowest concentration.  If you pick up a chocolate bar and the percentage of cacao is not listed, this should be the first red flag you are dealing with a low quality product.  Look at the ingredient list and you will often find that cacao or cacao byproduct is far down the ingredient list meaning that the bar contains very little actual cacao.  Often what you will find is that sugar is the first ingredient listed meaning sugar is the main ingredient in the bar.

While a lower percentage chocolate bar often is a sweeter bar, that is not always the case.  The perceived sweetness level is first and foremost determined by the flavor of the cacao itself.  Cacao naturally has varying levels of astringency and bitterness.  This can be enhanced or diminished based on how it is processed at the farm level and by the roaster.  Some higher percentage chocolate bars may taste just as sweet as a lower percentage chocolate bars.  We have some bars in the 80-85% range that taste just as sweet as a 70% bar.  Our goal is to use only as much sugar or sugar substitute as is necessary to tame the bitterness so that you are able to detect and appreciate the other flavors that make the cacao unique.  So far, we have not had or produced a bar darker than 85% that we have enjoyed, but our goal is to continue to try and produce one.