Chocolate is a favourite treat for so many. It’s been called incredibly addicting and better than sex. Coming in the form of bars, truffles, and even drinks, chocolate has become the keystone in a sweettooth’s diet. Chocolate itself, milk or dark, has a wonderful range of rich browns. Sure, chocolate has vanilla in it, but what on earth is white chocolate?

The Other White Chocolate

White chocolate was first made in Switzerland after World War I. The chocolate was first produced in the United States by Hebert’s Candies after seeing it in Europe a year prior. Finally reaching popularity in the 1980s through the Alpine White Chocolate Bar distributed by Nestlé, white chocolate was raising eyebrows and encouraging chocolate lovers to step outside of the deep, dark box.

White Chocolate is comprised of sugar, cocoa butter, milk or milk powder, and vanilla. The lack of cocoa liquor and cocoa solids has limited it in some countries to not even be marketed as chocolate, and it’s because of this that the chocolate appears much more closer to white (although yellowed) than typical chocolate.

Dark Chocolate In contrast to white chocolate, dark chocolate contains sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and sparingly — if at all — vanilla. Dark chocolate can be described as bitter, depending on how much sugar has been added. Characterised by deep, rich browns, dark chocolate ranges from deep brown to nearly black. This is because it contains the most cocoa liquor and solids of all — at least 70% or more.

Milk Chocolate seems to be caught in the middle. A blend of yet again similar ingredients — sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, milk or milk powder, and vanilla — milk chocolate has been described as smooth and sweet. With cocoa contents up to 50%, it seems that milk chocolate is the middleman of all chocolate, having a mid-range of browns for colour. While it is the most common chocolate, dark chocolate is coming up in popularity.

Whether chocolate or not, connoisseurs have used white chocolate in a number of delectable treats in any amount from the main ingredient to decorations. Using stripes of dark chocolate on white chocolate, or vice versa, for example, make wonderful contrasts while milk chocolate and dark chocolate compliment each others’ warm, deep browns. Together, the chocolates make for soft, welcome colour combinations for whatever size your sweettooth may be.

Some Chocolate Colour Inspiration:

A recent popular combination, and one of my favourites, is to pair blue and brown. The combination has stretched from interior design to stationery. Using chocolate with a cooler colour like blue is a wonderful way to bring in a warm, grounded feeling while still retaining class.

An article over at Apartment Therapy provides a few examples, including this kitchen (below), which turns possible an over-powering robin’s egg into a cozy nest for breakfast.

What’s your favourite kind of chocolate?

What do you like to pair with chocolate as a colour?