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Ideal chocolate is made from 100% cocoa butter, a higher-quality and more expensive fat. Most brands, however, use other fats that are cheaper, mainly in the fillings. The quality is compromised, however.
Spain’s consumer organisation (OCU), has confirmed that this strategy is used by many well-known brands. The panel of pastry experts assessed colour, glossiness, chocolate thickness, filling and taste in order to determine which products are defective. OCU said that it is common to substitute sugar as the sweetener with glucose or fructose, even though they are cheaper.
When asked about chocolates, many would think of the popular Nestlé’s Caja Roja (Red Box). OCU says that instead of cocoa butter which melts at the body temperature, these famous Chocolates use a mixture of cocoa and palm, shea and anhydrous dairy fats. This box of chocolates is the most expensive one in the report, despite the fact that it contains less healthy substitutes (47.96 euro per kilogram).
Some famous brands fail the test
Lindt Lindor
Lindt’s assortment with its creamy filling is one of the most popular, but also gets a bad rating from OCU. It uses high-quality sugar, but not for the fats. Lindor chocolates substitute cocoa butter with coconut oil or palm kernel oil. They also use anhydrous milkfat. There are too many fats of poor quality in chocolates that cost 37.45 Euros per kilogram.
Gyulian SeaShell
The OCU also fails to approve these popular praline shells. The taste is what makes them less attractive. The taste and look of these sweets were not liked by the experts, possibly due to an excessive sweetness or a badly achieved texture. Again, the price of this sweet is excessive: 32.6 Euros per kilogram.
Trapa Sublimes
Trapa is a chocolate-based product that does not use any syrups. Instead, it contains butter, sunflower, and coconut oils instead of just cocoa. OCU testers were disappointed with the result. The price of the brand is slightly cheaper than its predecessors: 17.8 euro per kilo.
Factors that you should consider
Labelling was a key aspect of the report, in addition to taste. It is important that the brand informs its customers. Each label must comply with current regulations and include the number chocolates in a box, nutritional information for each chocolate, the Nutriscore (the five colour nutrition label), as well as an easy contact method.
The nutritional composition of a product is important, because it allows us to identify the healthiest foods. This allows organisations to check for fats and additives. The products with high levels of additives, or those that have undergone a high degree of processing (ultra processed ingredients), are subject to sanctions. Be on the lookout for ingredients that are highly processed, such as gluten, protein isolates, caseins, inverts sugars, syrups of all types, soluble fibers, etc.
