White Chocolate vs. White Confectionery: Differences & Uses
While flavors play an important role in the taste of the chocolate, the main ingredients impact the taste as well. Therefore, white chocolate and white confectionery are not the same. So, what are the differences between white chocolate and white confectionery, and what are their main uses?
White chocolate is made of cocoa butter, milk solids, milk fat, sugar, and lecithin. White confectionery has the same ingredients, excluding cocoa butter. While white chocolate has a creamy, delicious taste, white confectionery is only sweet, so it is mostly used for baking and decorating.
It is important that you familiarize yourself with the different features that various chocolates have, so you would know exactly what you are eating. This article is all about the differences between white chocolate and white confectionery along with their proper uses. You will also learn about the benefits of white chocolate, so you might consider adding it to your diet on a daily basis.
White Chocolate vs. White Confectionery: Differences
Many people consider white chocolate and white confectionery the same since they have similar ingredients. However, there are a few differences that make these types of sweets quite distinguishable from one another. Those who have great knowledge about chocolate may easily spot the difference between white chocolate and white confectionery.
The greatest differences between these two types of chocolate come from their ingredients. Therefore, below, I have discussed the main ingredients that are used in white chocolate and white confectionery, so you can easily see what makes them distinguishable.
Cocoa Butter
Real chocolate always contains cocoa butter, so it is clear that in white chocolate this is the main ingredient. This is also the main reason why is white chocolate called chocolate.
Cocoa butter is essentially the fat that is obtained from pressing cocoa beans. Since it is the main ingredient of white chocolate, you can say that white chocolate mainly tastes like cocoa butter. The other flavors you can taste are sugar and milk solids, since it’s hard to imagine white chocolate without them.
In contrast, white confectionery contains no cocoa butter. White confectionery includes different types of sugar and vegetable oils in addition to milk solids instead of white cocoa butter. The taste differs as a result.
However, vegetable oils and different types of sugars are used as substitutes for cocoa butter, so white confectionery would have a similar structure to white chocolate.
Taste
As I mentioned above, cocoa butter is responsible for the different tastes in white chocolate and white confectionery. So, the cocoa butter that is included in white chocolate gives you a high-quality, chocolate alike taste. Due to cocoa butter, white chocolate easily melts in your mouth leaving a delicate taste that lasts for quite some time after you have ingested it.
White confectionery contains artificial sugars, so the taste is of lower quality and leaves that “artificially sweet” aftertaste. White confectionery does not easily melt, and the taste disappears the minute you have swallowed the chocolate.
Color
White chocolate has, well, you would assume, a “white” color – to be more precise, according to Wikipedia, the color of white chocolate is pale ivory. If you are a chocolate connoisseur, you can easily spot the off-white color in white chocolate.
On the other side, white confectionary has a more “clear” white color, opposite of a bit more yellow color of white chocolate.
What Is White Confectionary Used For?
Since white confectionery does not contain cocoa butter, but a lot of sugars and vegetable oils, you can probably assume that you might skip this kind of chocolate for just eating. Due to its features, white confectionery is mostly used for cooking and baking sweet stuff. In addition, white confectionery can be used for toppings on sweet desserts since they look good as decoration.
White confectionery is edible, so you can definitely eat it, but the taste might not be as good as the one of real chocolate. You should consider the amount of sugar included in white confectionery before deciding to eat this kind of chocolate.
What Is White Chocolate Used For?
You can find different uses of white chocolate since this type of chocolate is used both for eating and for decorating. Chefs mainly use it for decoration since it creates a good contrast from dark chocolate. It is also used as an additive in many baked goods, such as scones, biscotti, and so on.
White chocolate melts well, so it is quite suitable for cooking. However, many people tend to eat white chocolate without any cooking or baking since they like the taste. Whether you will be able to eat white chocolate or not depends on your personal preference for chocolate and sweetness.
White chocolate is not the same as white confectionery, so these two should not be regarded as the same types of chocolate. While the former has healthier ingredients like cocoa butter, the latter is based on more sugars and oils. So, you have to take the ingredients into consideration if you want to make the real distinction between white chocolate and white confectionery.
