Chocolate Percentages from Different Manufacturers

Chocolate Percentages from Different Manufacturers
By Renee Shelton

Working with one chocolate manufacturer or company, a pastry cook may be familiar with a name or varietal of chocolates in that chocolate company's family. When switching manufacturers, or finding an equitable replacement from another company, you want to be sure you have the same cocoa solids so that the finished product will be similar. Also, it is helpful to know what the cocoa percentage is of the chocolate you're working with to guide you in handling and preparation. A higher percentage will give you deeper notes.

Here is a simple chart of different chocolate manufacturers with the name of the chocolate or varietal and the percentage of cocoa inside. Not all the chocolate products are named but some of the more popular are listed, along with noting what type of chocolate it is, such as dark, milk, etc. The percentages come from manufacturers' literature or the blocks of chocolate themselves; you may find some distributors list a few of the chocolates as having a different percentage.

The key to substitutions with chocolates in enrobing, dipping, mousses or other entremets, is to find a chocolate with a similar percentage so the finished result will be the same. You may find chocolates of the same percentage from different companies wildly different in smoothness and fluidity, but generally (and for example), if you are using a chocolate of 70 percent in a mousse, you can easily substitute another brand with the same percentage without too much difference in the setting up of the finished product.

Manufacturer	Chocolate Name or Varietal	Type	Cocoa Solids, Cacao %	Notes, Production Info, Etc.
Valrhona	Guanaja	Dark	70	*South America*
	Pur Caraïbe	Dark	66	*Caribbean Islands*
	Manjari	Dark	64	*Indian Ocean, Madagascar*
	Equatoriale	Dark	55	Couverture
	Extra Noir	Dark	53	Fragrant
	Guanaja Lactée	Milk	41	Couverture
	Jivara Lactée	Milk	40	*Equador*
	Equatoriale Lactée	Milk	35	Couverture
	Ivoire	White	35	Ivory color
Cocao Barry	Fleur de Cao	Dark	70
	Extra-Bitter Guayaquil	Dark	64
	Elysée Lenôtre	Milk	37.8
Carma	Grenada 'Origine Rare'	Dark	70	Couverture, Grenada
	Venezuela 'Origine Rare'	Dark	70	Couverture, Venezuala
	Madagascar 'Origine Rare'	Dark	64	Couverture, Madagascar
Guittard	Ambanja Bittersweet	Dark	65	*Madagascar*
	Sur del Lago	Dark	65	*Venezuala*
	Quevedo	Dark	65	from Nacional Forastero beans, Ecuador
	Chucuri	Dark	65	from Trinitario beans, Columbia
El Rey	Apamate	Dark	73.5
	Mijao	Dark	61
	Bucare	Dark	58.5
	Caoba	Milk	41
Amedei	Toscano Black 70%	Dark	70
	Toscano Black 66%	Dark	66
	Toscano Black 63%	Dark	63
Callebaut	Kumabo	Dark	80.1	*Africa: Tanzania, Ghana and Sao Thomé*
	Satongo	Dark	72.2	*Africa: Tanzania, Ghana and Sao Thomé*
	Fortina	Dark	65.1	*Ecuador*
	Strong 70-30-38	Dark	70.5	Couverture
	Excellent 815	Dark	56.5	Couverture
	Refined 835	Dark	54	Couverture
	Select 811	Dark	53.5	Couverture
	Select 823	Milk	33.5	Couverture
	Excellent 845	Milk	32.5	Couverture
	Select W-2	White	22.5	More viscose
Scharffen Berger	Semisweet	Dark	62
	Bittersweet	Dark	70
Hawaiian Vintage - HVC	Fine Dark Chocolate	Dark	60 or 64
	Fine Milk Chocolate	Milk	28
Cluizel	Grand Noir	Dark	85
	Noir de Cacao	Dark	72
	Grand Lait	Milk	45
Ghirardelli	Twilight Delight	Dark	72
	Citrus Sunset	Dark	60	with orange bits and caramel
Hershey's	Extra Dark, Pure Dark Choc.	Dark	60

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