Understanding chocolate percentages

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Sep 15th 2009 at 5:33PM

Ever wonder about those percentage numbers on chocolate? It refers to the percentage of cocoa mass in the chocolate bar itself. The higher percentage, the darker color and the more intense the chocolate taste. Unsweetened or bitter chocolate is around 100 percent. Semisweet and bittersweet chocolates have added sugar which brings down the ratio. Good quality dark chocolate starts at about 50 percent but many bars are available in 70 percent, 85 percent or even higher concentrations. Milk chocolate has both sugar and dairy solids and so it runs lower, more like 30 to 40 percent. If you like your chocolate sweet stick to lower percentages. Many connoisseurs prefer the higher percentages because the richer flavors of the chocolate shine through.

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