What's in a %?

Have you noticed that some chocolate bars have a percentage on the packaging? Why is it important to know what it means, and what is included in this percentage? Learn this, and you are one step closer to cracking the code of confusing chocolate packaging.

It is actually quite simple.The percentage shows the amount of cocoa product found in the bar vs. any other ingredient added. Let's imagine you're holding two chocolate bars in your hand. One is The Switchback Bar by Plains to Peaks Chocolate Co. and the other is Manjari by Valrona. Let's look at these together:

The Plains to Peaks bar reads 65% on the front. The ingredients are also listed on the front: cacao beans, coconut sugar. You can look at this bar and see that 65% of the bar is made from cacao beans, leaving you to figure out the math, that there is 35% coconut sugar in the bar.

The Valrhona Manjari bar is labeled as 64% cacao right on the front. Flip it over to read the ingredients, and you will find a longer list for this bar. Ingredients: cocoa beans from Madagascar, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier (soya lecithin), natural vanilla extract. The ingredient list is set up to read the ingredients in order from the highest to lowest percentage in which they make up the bar.

So, it's 64% cocoa beans from Madagascar, and 36% everything else, right? Not quite! Take a closer look and you will see "cocoa butter" listed. This is a product from cocoa beans, so it is included in the 64%. Remember, the percentage is the COMBINED amount of cocoa product found in the bar. The bar is made of 64% combined cocoa beans and cocoa butter, and 36% combined sugar, emulsifier, and vanilla extract.