The Different Types of Wholesale Chocolate

If you are looking to purchase wholesale chocolate to resell, you will no doubt come across a huge range of varieties in your research. Whatever you ending up ordering, it pays to know a thing or two about the product you’re going to be selling.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the types of chocolate you may encounter.

Bitter

This is made up of pure, 100% cocoa solids with no sugar or milk whatsoever. It is only used for baking, since it is extremely bitter and unpleasant to the taste when consumed on its own. Only by adding sugar can it become bitter in a more appetising way. You can often find large bags of bitter wholesale chocolate, thanks to its use as a cooking and baking ingredient. It can also be known as baking, unsweetened or pure chocolate.

Bittersweet

This is the ‘darkest’ of dark varieties that can be consumed, and is composed of at least 35% cocoa solids and very little sugar. Higher-quality variants contain anywhere between 60% to 85% cocoa solids. It can be eaten as is or used in baking, although the depth and intensity is an acquired taste when consumed straight from the packet. It's also known as European dark chocolate.

Semi-Sweet

This is the dark type you find commonly stocked on retail shelves. It's composed of at least 35% cocoa solids, but has enough sugar mixed in to the point where it actually becomes delicious enough to be enjoyed on its own. It can still be used for baking and cooking, especially for pastries. It's also known as sweet dark chocolate, although the actual sweetness varies on the sugar content.

Milk

This variety is popular around the world for its mild, creamy flavour and relatively low price. It's composed of at least 25% cocoa solids in the EU, with a 'family' variant in the UK coming in at 20%. It also has a lot of milk and sugar mixed in. It's often consumed as is, but some variants are used as toppings for various sweets and cookies. Some variants have a somewhat sour taste, where butyric acid is added into the mix. This sourness is typical in American wholesale chocolate products.

Couverture

This is a very high quality variety that is composed of at least 32% cocoa butter. Intense flavour, a low melting point, a brittle snap when bitten and a pretty low melting point make it ideal for sweets, coatings and dips. Be prepared to pay top price for this kind of wholesale chocolate. It comes in variants of dark couverture with more cocoa solids, milk couverture with whole milk solids, and sugar and white couverture with plenty of milk and sugar.

Compound

This variety uses vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter, although you would probably be strangled if you call it ‘chocolate’ in the presence of chocoholics! The vegetable fat makes it a lot easier and cheaper to work with, but often results in a drastic reduction in the nutty flavour of the authentic type. It's often used as a coating, but there are variants that can be consumed as is. It also does not shine like other types that use cocoa butter.

White

This is not really a chocolate at all, and uses cocoa butter combined with sugar, milk solids and other flavourings to produce a distinct kind of confectionery. It cannot legally really be called chocolate, but the name has stuck and has been left as is.