Glossary of Terms

Learn definitions for common terms used in Chocolate and Craft Chocolate.

This page covers the most common questions about our chocolate, how it’s made, how to store it, and how we work. If you need something not covered here, we’re easy to reach — and always happy to help.

Terms are listed alphabetically

Acidity

A natural flavour characteristic in chocolate, originating in fermentation. Fresh cacao pulp is acidic, and fermentation generates acetic and lactic acids that penetrate the bean. A degree of acidity is desirable and reads as brightness or fruit; excess, usually from insufficient conching, reads as sharpness or sourness. Conching drives off much of the volatile acetic acid.

Alkalised cocoa powder

Cocoa powder treated with an alkali, typically potassium carbonate, to neutralise its natural acidity, darken its colour, and soften its flavour. Also called Dutch-process or “Dutched” cocoa, after the nineteenth-century Dutch chemist Coenraad van Houten. Alkalisation reduces the powder’s polyphenol content, and the darker colour can be used to imply a richer chocolate than the recipe delivers.

Antioxidants

Compounds that neutralise reactive molecules in the body. In cacao the relevant antioxidants are polyphenols, chiefly flavanols. Fermentation, roasting, and alkalisation all reduce their levels, so darker, less heavily processed chocolate generally retains more.

Astringency

The drying, mouth-puckering sensation caused by polyphenols, particularly tannins, binding to proteins in saliva. Distinct from bitterness, which is a taste rather than a tactile effect. Astringency is high in under-fermented or unroasted cacao and is moderated by good fermentation, roasting, and conching.

Ball milling

A refining method that reduces particle size using a rotating drum filled with metal balls. Fast and used at industrial scale, it generates localised heat that can drive off volatile aromatic compounds. Contrast with stone grinding, which works more slowly at lower temperature.

Bean-to-bar

A production credential describing a maker who controls every stage from raw cacao bean to finished bar — roasting, cracking, winnowing, refining, conching, tempering, and moulding — rather than buying ready-made chocolate. Bean-to-bar can occur at any scale, including industrial. As a movement it emerged in the mid-2000s and overlaps closely with craft chocolate; the term names the process, while craft names the principles behind it.

Bitterness

A basic taste, natural to high-cacao chocolate, arising from alkaloids such as theobromine and caffeine and from polyphenols. Distinct from astringency, which is a tactile drying sensation. In well-fermented, adequately conched cacao, bitterness reads as structure and depth rather than harshness.

Bloom

A pale, sometimes dusty film on the surface of chocolate. Fat bloom occurs when unstable cocoa-butter crystals migrate to the surface following temperature fluctuation; sugar bloom occurs when surface moisture dissolves sugar, which then recrystallises as the water evaporates. Both are harmless and are not signs of spoilage, though the texture may change. Fat bloom is more common in chocolate that contains no stabilisers to suppress it.

Cacao

The plant, Theobroma cacao, its pods, and its beans in a raw, unprocessed, or minimally processed state; also the general term for origin, variety, and quality. By convention “cacao” carries the botanical and provenance register, while “cocoa” refers to the processed ingredient. Both terms are correct, and the distinction is one of context rather than accuracy.

Cacao belt

The equatorial band, roughly twenty degrees north to twenty degrees south of the equator, within which cacao grows commercially. It spans West and Central Africa, Central and South America, and South-East Asia and Oceania.

Cacao mass

The paste produced when roasted cacao nibs are ground. Also called cocoa liquor, cacao paste, or cocoa mass, it contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter and sets solid at room temperature. It is the base from which most chocolate is built, and it contains no alcohol despite the name “liquor.”

Cacao nib

The cracked, winnowed fragment of the cacao bean, with the outer husk removed. Nibs may be raw or roasted, and are ground to make cacao mass.

Cacao percentage

The total proportion by weight of cacao-derived ingredients in a bar — cacao mass, any added cocoa butter, and any cocoa powder. A higher percentage means more cacao and, usually, less sugar. It describes composition, not quality: the figure says nothing about the cacao’s origin, fermentation, or handling. Because cocoa powder counts toward it, the percentage can be raised without improving flavour, fat content, or melt.

Cacao pod

The fruit of the cacao tree, harvested by hand from the trunk and main branches. Each pod contains roughly thirty to fifty seeds — the beans — surrounded by sweet white pulp that fuels fermentation.

Cacao variety

The genetic type of the cacao plant, and a primary influence on flavour. The historic groupings are Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario, with Nacional often recognised separately; modern genetic work identifies at least ten clusters. Variety interacts with the growing environment and with fermentation to shape the finished flavour.

Cane sugar

The most common sweetener in fine chocolate. Unrefined cane sugar retains some molasses and mineral content and carries flavour of its own; refined white sugar is close to pure sucrose. Sugar balances the natural bitterness and astringency of cacao.

Chocolatier

A maker who works with finished chocolate — melting, moulding, filling, and enrobing — rather than producing chocolate from beans. Distinct from a bean-to-bar maker, though in practice the two roles sometimes overlap.

Cocoa

The processed and familiar form of cacao: cocoa beans, cocoa butter, cocoa solids, cocoa powder. By convention “cocoa” names the ingredient as it enters or exists after processing, while “cacao” carries the botanical and origin register. Both spellings are correct.

Cocoa butter

The natural fat of the cacao bean, making up roughly half its weight. It sets in several crystal forms and governs melt, gloss, snap, and mould release, melting just below body temperature. Expensive relative to other fats, it is typically the first component industrial recipes replace to protect a margin.

Cocoa butter equivalents, substitutes, and replacers

Vegetable fats used to replace some or all of the cocoa butter in a product. Equivalents (CBE), from sources such as shea or palm, are compatible with cocoa butter; substitutes (CBS) and replacers (CBR) are not, and change the melt and texture. Their use is regulated, and above set limits a product may not legally be sold as chocolate in some jurisdictions.

Cocoa powder

The solid cake left after most of the cocoa butter has been pressed from cacao mass, then milled to a powder. Natural cocoa powder is acidic; alkalised, or Dutch-process, powder is treated to reduce acidity and darken colour. It is inexpensive relative to whole cacao mass.

Cocoa solids

The non-fat, non-sugar portion of chocolate derived from the cacao bean — the material carrying most of its colour, flavour, and polyphenol content. Distinct from cacao percentage, which also counts cocoa butter. A stated “cocoa solids” figure may or may not equal the total cacao percentage, depending on how it is expressed.

Commodity cacao

Cacao traded anonymously on global markets at prices set by exchange rather than quality. It is typically blended across many origins and farms, with fermentation and drying standards unknown to the buyer, and accounts for the large majority of world production.

Conching

A prolonged mixing, aerating, and heating of the chocolate mass that develops flavour, coats each particle in cocoa butter for smoothness, and drives off harsh volatile acids, chiefly acetic acid. Duration ranges from hours to several days depending on the maker and the bean. Adequate conching removes the need for emulsifiers to achieve flow and texture.

Cooperative

A producer-owned organisation through which smallholder farmers pool, ferment, and sell their cacao. Cooperatives can raise fermentation standards and bargaining power, and are a common counterparty in direct-trade sourcing.

Couverture

Chocolate with a high cocoa-butter content, made for melting, moulding, and enrobing by chocolatiers and pastry kitchens. It is often bought ready-made, which is what distinguishes a chocolatier working with couverture from a bean-to-bar maker who starts from beans.

Cracking

Breaking roasted or raw beans into pieces so that the nib can be separated from the lighter husk, ahead of winnowing.

Craft chocolate

Chocolate made on a small scale with flavour, origin, and ethics as the governing priorities rather than volume and cost. It is closely tied to the bean-to-bar movement: “bean-to-bar” names the process, “craft” names the principles and ethos behind the chocolate. It is not a legally defined term.

Criollo

A rare, historically prized cacao variety valued for delicate, aromatic, low-astringency flavour. Low-yielding and susceptible to disease, it represents a very small share of world production and is frequently found in hybrid form.

Direct trade

A sourcing model in which the maker buys cacao directly from a farm, estate, or cooperative, without commodity brokers or intermediaries. It supports traceability, closer control over fermentation and drying quality, and prices tied to quality rather than the commodity market floor.

Dutch process

The treatment of cocoa or nibs with an alkali to neutralise acidity, deepen colour, and mellow flavour, producing what is called alkalised or “Dutched” cocoa. Named after Coenraad van Houten, who developed it in the nineteenth century. It lowers the polyphenol content of the cocoa.

Emulsifiers

Additives that reduce the viscosity of liquid chocolate so it flows through industrial equipment and moulds easily, and that can shorten conching time. Common examples are soya and sunflower lecithin, PGPR, and ammonium phosphatide. They are processing aids rather than flavour ingredients, and are not required in adequately conched chocolate.

Fairtrade

A third-party certification scheme under which producers meet defined standards and buyers pay a set minimum price plus a premium, in return for use of the mark. It was designed largely around commodity supply chains, notably West African cacao. It is distinct from, and not a prerequisite for, direct-trade or single-origin sourcing.

Fermentation

The stage, carried out at origin within days of harvest, in which beans and their surrounding pulp are held in boxes or heaps for roughly five to seven days. Wild yeasts first convert the pulp sugars to ethanol; bacteria then convert that ethanol to acetic acid, generating heat that triggers chemical changes inside the bean. Fermentation creates the flavour precursors — amino acids and reducing sugars — that roasting later develops. It is the single most decisive stage for flavour, and nothing downstream can replace what it fails to build.

Forastero

The hardy, high-yielding cacao group that supplies the majority of the world’s cacao. Robust and disease-resistant, it is generally fuller and more astringent than Criollo, and forms the basis of most commodity production.

Inclusions

Ingredients added to finished chocolate, such as salt, nuts, dried fruit, and spices. The technical challenge is integration and stability — ensuring the addition belongs to the bar rather than sitting on top of it, and does not introduce moisture or rancidity.

Laboratory-grown chocolate

Cocoa produced from cultured cacao cells grown in bioreactors on controlled nutrients, yielding cocoa solids and cocoa butter without farming, land use, or the geographical limits of the cacao belt. The term is sometimes extended to “cocoa-free” chocolate made by fermenting other plant inputs to mimic cacao. It is an emerging category and no longer purely hypothetical.

Lacto-fermentation

A fermentation driven by lactic-acid bacteria, long used to preserve foods and increasingly applied to fruit and other inclusions in craft chocolate. It develops acidity and complexity and can stabilise moisture-bearing ingredients.

Lecithin

A phospholipid emulsifier, usually derived from soya or sunflower, added to chocolate to lower viscosity and shorten conching. Effective in very small quantities and among the most common industrial additives, it is not required in well-conched chocolate.

Melanger

A stone grinder that refines and conches the chocolate mass between granite wheels and a granite bed over hours or days. It is common in small-scale bean-to-bar production. Also spelled melangeur.

Milk chocolate

Chocolate containing milk solids alongside cacao and sugar. Mass-market milk chocolate can be low in cocoa solids and high in sugar; higher-quality versions raise the cocoa content, often to between forty and sixty per cent, so that the cacao is tasted rather than the sugar.

Mouthfeel

The tactile experience of chocolate as it melts: its smoothness, thickness, and the cleanliness of the finish. Governed by particle size from refining, by fat content and type, and by tempering. A grainy, waxy, or greasy mouthfeel usually indicates coarse refining or substitute fats.

Moulding

Depositing tempered chocolate into moulds, where it sets. Correct tempering causes the chocolate to contract slightly as it solidifies, releasing the bar cleanly and producing surface gloss.

Nacional

A distinctive Ecuadorian cacao type known for a pronounced floral aroma, historically associated with the “Arriba” character. It is often treated as separate from the three classic groupings.

PGPR

Polyglycerol polyricinoleate, or E476, an emulsifier used to reduce the yield stress of liquid chocolate, allowing a lower cocoa-butter content while maintaining flow. Common in industrial chocolate and unnecessary in well-made bars.

Polyphenols

Naturally occurring plant compounds abundant in cacao, including flavanols and the tannins responsible for astringency and some bitterness. They are studied for their antioxidant activity. Fermentation, roasting, and alkalisation each reduce polyphenol content, so raw and lightly processed cacao retains the most.

Refining

Reducing the particle size of the chocolate mass until it can no longer be detected on the palate, generally below about twenty microns. Methods include roll refining, ball milling, and stone grinding, which differ in speed and in how much of the aromatic compound they preserve.

Roasting

The heat treatment that develops the flavour precursors built during fermentation into finished aromatic compounds, while reducing moisture and microbial load. The roasting profile — temperature, time, and airflow — is often set individually for each origin. Over-roasting flattens character; under-roasting leaves sharp, raw notes.

Secondary fermentation

A further, deliberate fermentation applied by the maker after the beans arrive, or applied to inclusions, to develop additional flavour. Distinct from the primary fermentation carried out at origin. Sometimes called double fermentation.

Single estate

Cacao sourced from one named farm or estate — the narrowest form of single origin, offering the highest traceability and the most specific flavour signature.

Single origin

Cacao from one country, region, producer, or estate rather than a blend of origins. It is a flavour decision: the character of one place is present in the bar undiluted. Single estate, naming a single farm, is the narrowest form.

Snap

The clean break of a well-tempered bar. A crisp snap and glossy surface indicate that the cocoa butter has set predominantly in the stable Form V crystal. A soft or crumbly break suggests poor tempering, bloom, or the presence of substitute fats.

Stone grinding

Refining and conching the chocolate mass between granite wheels and bed, in a melanger, at low speed and moderate temperature. Slower than ball milling, it is valued for preserving the volatile aromatic compounds that faster, hotter methods can drive off.

Tannins

A class of polyphenols in cacao responsible for astringency — the drying sensation produced when they bind to salivary proteins — and contributing to bitterness. Abundant in raw and under-fermented cacao, they are moderated by fermentation, roasting, and conching, and are associated with antioxidant activity.

Tempering

Controlling the crystallisation of cocoa butter so that it sets predominantly in the stable Form V crystal. Cocoa butter is polymorphic, able to set in six crystal forms, but only Form V gives gloss, a firm snap, clean mould release, and a melting point of about thirty-three to thirty-four degrees Celsius. Tempering takes the chocolate through a melt, cool, and slight-reheat sequence to seed Form V and eliminate the unstable forms, which would otherwise revert over time and cause fat bloom.

Terroir

A term borrowed from wine describing the influence of a growing environment — soil, altitude, rainfall, temperature, and microclimate — on a crop’s flavour character. Applied to cacao, it holds that the same variety grown in different places will taste different. The concept is contested within fine chocolate, where many hold that fermentation and processing shape a bean’s origin character at least as much as the growing conditions themselves.

Theobroma cacao

The botanical name of the cacao tree; the Greek renders as “food of the gods.” All chocolate is derived from its seeds.

Theobromine

The principal alkaloid in cacao, a mild stimulant related to caffeine. It is responsible for part of chocolate’s bitterness and its gentle physiological lift.

Traceability

The ability to identify where cacao was grown, by whom, and under what conditions. It is high in single-origin and direct-trade sourcing and largely absent in commodity supply, and is a basic expectation in fine and craft chocolate.

Trinitario

A hybrid of Criollo and Forastero, combining some of Criollo’s flavour complexity with Forastero’s hardiness. It is widely grown and a common source of fine-flavour cacao.

Vanillin

The compound responsible for vanilla flavour. Natural vanillin is present in vanilla pods; synthetic vanillin, produced industrially, is a cheap substitute often used to mask or bulk out low-grade cacao. It is distinct from whole natural vanilla.

Vegetable fats

Non-cocoa fats, such as palm, shea, and illipe, used to replace cocoa butter and reduce cost. Depending on type they act as cocoa-butter equivalents, substitutes, or replacers, and they change the melt and finish. Also called bulk fats.

Viscosity

The flow resistance of liquid chocolate, which determines how it moulds, coats, and enrobes. It is governed by cocoa-butter content, particle size, conching, and emulsifiers. Industrial producers use emulsifiers such as lecithin and PGPR to lower it cheaply.

Winnowing

Separating the light husk from the heavier nib after cracking, usually by air. Clean winnowing matters because residual husk introduces off-flavours and grit into the finished chocolate.