Dark Chocolate

Chocolate manufacturers are very secretive about their methods for blending chocolate liquors made from cacao beans from different regions of the world, from the highly prized Venezuelan beans to the more robust and plentiful beans from Africa and Brazil. Chocolate liquor is blended with sugar, emulsifiers such as lecithin (added to prevent the chocolate from separating), vanilla, and sometimes cocoa butter for additional creaminess. Dark chocolates can contain anywhere from 35 percent chocolate liquor all the way to 82 percent chocolate liquor.