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Oct 27, 2008 10:00 pm US/Central
Does Cocoa Butter Make Your Chocolate, Chocolate?
NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 News) ―
It's sweet, melts in your mouth and on Halloween, your children will have a lot of it. But is the candy your child brings home really chocolate, or has it been fudged?
A chocolate covered controversy over ingredients has been melting in many people's mouths recently. Tim Correa, owner of the Schakolad Chocolate Factory in Plano, says there's only one true way to make chocolate.
"Its cocoa, and cocoa butter, sugar, and vanilla is allowed," says Correa.
But recently, some candy companies have been fudging the recipe, replacing cocoa butter with certain vegetable oils like palm, shea and sunflower.
"Cocoa butter is more expensive, but to call it chocolate...it's cocoa butter," Correa says. "If you use vegetable oil, fine, but don't call it chocolate."
The Food and Drug Administration, which sets food ingredient standards, was brought into the fight after a group of candy makers petitioned to change the standard to include the cheaper vegetable oils. Chocolate manufacturers protested, though, and so far the FDA hasn't made any changes.
"This is how chocolate's made, this is what you call chocolate," Correa explains. "This you could say is something like chocolate, but you can't use them synonymously."
CBS 11 News found several candies made with the vegetable oil on North Texas store shelves. A bag of Hershey's Miniatures is a favorite Halloween treat. Some candies in the bag are made with vegetable oils palm, shea and sunflower. Mr. Goodbar lists the same oils on its ingredient list. In White Reeses, the third ingredient listed is vegetable oils.
Neva Cochran, a registered dietitian with the Dallas Dietetic Association, says consumers should look carefully at the ingredients, specifically oils like palm, which is loaded with saturated fat.
"That kind of fat does raise blood cholesterol levels," Cochran says. "On some of the candies that I looked at, the palm oil is the first oil listed which means that it's there in the largest amount."
Can chocolate lovers taste the difference between a piece of chocolate made with cocoa butter and one made with vegetable oil? CBS 11 News set up a taste test in Dallas to find out.
Reactions to the two chocolates varied, but the majority of people did taste some difference between the two. Most of our random testers also agreed that the taste difference didn't matter to them. "No, I still like both of them," said one taster. "It's still chocolate."
For chocolatier Tim Correa, though, he says there's no question which one is better. "The chocolate we use in here is chocolate with cocoa butter and it never will have vegetable oil in it."
Hershey spokesman, Kirk Saville, issued a statement when asked about the new recipe. It read: "Hershey is chocolate. We've made the worlds best chocolate for more than 100 years. As the leader in the North American chocolate market, Hershey offers consumers far more milk and dark chocolate than any of our competitors. Our favorite iconic brands including Hershey's, Hershey's Kisses, Hershey's Bliss, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, York and Almond Joy, just to name a few, are made with dark and milk chocolate. In fact, the vast majority of our portfolio -- about 85% -- is made with pure cocoa butter."
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