why has American made chocolate quality declined so steeply?

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Specifically what products are they using now that have saved some money but altered the taste?

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12 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

so chocolate is a very vague term. technically, any food that contains any amount of the cocoa bean is considered chocolate. the FDA does somewhat regulate what can be called chocolate. but there’s a wide range of what will fall into this category. generally. the less milk solids/cocoa powder the lower the quality chocolate. things that replace it are typically water, sugar, and flavoring to create some low quality chocolate. because in general, the usa doesn’t really have much of a luxury chocolate market as maybe compared with other countries.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Too be clear it was never any good in the first place; sugar and butyric acid (rancid butter effectively) are behind the decline. They are adding more sugar as a relatively cheap ingredient and the butyric acid comes from preserving the milk.

Anonymous 0 Comments

so chocolate is a very vague term. technically, any food that contains any amount of the cocoa bean is considered chocolate. the FDA does somewhat regulate what can be called chocolate. but there’s a wide range of what will fall into this category. generally. the less milk solids/cocoa powder the lower the quality chocolate. things that replace it are typically water, sugar, and flavoring to create some low quality chocolate. because in general, the usa doesn’t really have much of a luxury chocolate market as maybe compared with other countries.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I think I know what you’re talking about, and it isn’t down to how American chocolate is made or “just passing” products; in fact there is a single substance at fault.

[PGPR.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyglycerol_polyricinoleate)

Look in the ingredients list of the chocolate you’re talking about, there it will be. PGPR is a flavorless waxy substance with melting characteristics somewhat similar to cocoa butter. Cocoa butter you see, is very expensive, it’s used in more than just chocolate and there’s only so much of it. Cocoa powder by contrast is relatively cheap.

So what American regulators and chocolate companies have allowed is to substitute PGPR for a large segment of what would have been cocoa butter.

It makes their chocolate waxy, the melting characteristics suck, and there’s a loss of flavor.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Too be clear it was never any good in the first place; sugar and butyric acid (rancid butter effectively) are behind the decline. They are adding more sugar as a relatively cheap ingredient and the butyric acid comes from preserving the milk.

Anonymous 0 Comments

so chocolate is a very vague term. technically, any food that contains any amount of the cocoa bean is considered chocolate. the FDA does somewhat regulate what can be called chocolate. but there’s a wide range of what will fall into this category. generally. the less milk solids/cocoa powder the lower the quality chocolate. things that replace it are typically water, sugar, and flavoring to create some low quality chocolate. because in general, the usa doesn’t really have much of a luxury chocolate market as maybe compared with other countries.

Anonymous 0 Comments

afaik it was never that great ot begin with, but it mostly comes down to the ingredients in use

you are basically looking at specifically 3 ingredients, cocoa , sugar and fatty acids(generally from milk). the harder you lean on any single of these the more skewed the quality is. and among these 3 choice ingredients , sugar is the cheapest when ti comes ot industrial level production- hence over time he cholocate there started ot lean more on sugar content and in masking this with additives. As long as it has “some” amount of cocoa, the FDA will still determine that its chocolate and allow its sale for consumption.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I think I know what you’re talking about, and it isn’t down to how American chocolate is made or “just passing” products; in fact there is a single substance at fault.

[PGPR.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyglycerol_polyricinoleate)

Look in the ingredients list of the chocolate you’re talking about, there it will be. PGPR is a flavorless waxy substance with melting characteristics somewhat similar to cocoa butter. Cocoa butter you see, is very expensive, it’s used in more than just chocolate and there’s only so much of it. Cocoa powder by contrast is relatively cheap.

So what American regulators and chocolate companies have allowed is to substitute PGPR for a large segment of what would have been cocoa butter.

It makes their chocolate waxy, the melting characteristics suck, and there’s a loss of flavor.

Anonymous 0 Comments

afaik it was never that great ot begin with, but it mostly comes down to the ingredients in use

you are basically looking at specifically 3 ingredients, cocoa , sugar and fatty acids(generally from milk). the harder you lean on any single of these the more skewed the quality is. and among these 3 choice ingredients , sugar is the cheapest when ti comes ot industrial level production- hence over time he cholocate there started ot lean more on sugar content and in masking this with additives. As long as it has “some” amount of cocoa, the FDA will still determine that its chocolate and allow its sale for consumption.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Too be clear it was never any good in the first place; sugar and butyric acid (rancid butter effectively) are behind the decline. They are adding more sugar as a relatively cheap ingredient and the butyric acid comes from preserving the milk.