3 Reasons to Like White Chocolate
By: Janice Harper
Published: March 19, 2011

Call me a white girl.  Not just because that’s what I am, for better or worse, but because I have finally gone to the other side and discovered that the wretched, putrid, sickeningly sweet stuff called “white chocolate” can, if made well, be absolutely delicious.  Here’s why. 

1. Most stuff that passes for white chocolate, the stuff called “white chips,” contains no cocoa butter and has more in common with a bar of soap than it does with chocolate.  But if you pay attention to what you buy, find a high quality white chocolate with around 30% or more cocoa butter, one that has been manufactured by a premium chocolate maker, then you have something worth eating. 

2. How you eat it matters.  If you find a high quality white chocolate bar by one of the premium makers, you can enjoy it straight out of the wrapper.  But there are also many decent white chocolates out there that might not be a thrill to eat on their own, but can be transformed into fantastic desserts – such as saffron truffles.  
3. The price of cacao beans is sky-rocketing, which may end up pricing the darks right out of the market for most people.  Developing a taste for premium white and milk chocolates might cushion the economic blow. 
The important thing to remember is that white chocolate is like dating: most of what’s out there isn’t worth a second glance, but when you find a good one, you’re in heaven.  And I fell in love when I found myself with a box of Guittard white chocolate and decided that rather than let it sit in the cupboard keeping the Jello company, I’d figure out a way to make it delicious.  
After scrounging around the internet, I found some recipes for saffron truffles and there was no going back.  Next I was infusing hot cream with lavender and chamomile and pouring that onto white chocolate and butter for another amazing truffle combination, and now I’m working on a green tea and roses combo that will soon be perfect.  What began as something I thought fit only for decorating real chocolate, became one of my favorite guilty pleasures. 
And it will be yours, as well, once you try the saffron truffles.  And just in case you doubt my newfound love of the White, check out the White Chocolate Chronicles for a review of the very best white chocolate out there.
Photos by: ChocolateReviews

Comments:
Susie
March 19, 2011

For years there has been a glut of cocoa butter because the cocoa powder is in such demand. White chocolate is luscious and a great base to play around with. You have a white chocolate compadre in me!
I love both Guittard and El Rey.