Terms A to Z
- Bloom
- A gray or white film on chocolate. Fat bloom comes from warmth or poor tempering. Sugar bloom comes from moisture. Both are safe to eat. See storing.
- Cacao
- The tree, its pods and its beans. On a label, cacao percentage means the share of the bar that comes from the bean.
- Chocolate liquor
- Roasted cacao nibs ground into a paste. Also called cocoa mass. It has no alcohol.
- Cocoa butter
- The natural fat of the cacao bean. It sets firm at room temperature and melts close to body temperature.
- Cocoa powder
- Cocoa solids ground fine after much of the cocoa butter is pressed out. Sold as natural or Dutch-process.
- Compound coating
- A chocolate-flavored coating made with other fats in place of some or all of the cocoa butter. Sets without tempering.
- Conching
- Long mixing and heating of chocolate during manufacture. It smooths the texture and mellows sharp flavors.
- Couverture
- Chocolate with a high share of cocoa butter. Melts thin and fluid, good for coating and molding.
- Dutch-process
- Cocoa treated with an alkali to make it darker, milder and less acidic.
- Emulsifier
- An ingredient, usually soy or sunflower lecithin, that helps chocolate flow smoothly when melted.
- Ganache
- Chocolate melted with cream. Thin ganache is a sauce or glaze. Firm ganache becomes truffles. See the recipe.
- Nibs
- Roasted, cracked pieces of cacao bean. Crunchy and bitter, used as a topping.
- Seed
- Chopped, already tempered chocolate stirred into melted chocolate to start good crystals forming.
- Seizing
- When a little water makes melted chocolate stiff and grainy. See melting.
- Single origin
- Chocolate made from beans grown in one country or region.
- Tabling
- A tempering method where melted chocolate is worked on a marble slab until it thickens.
- Tempering
- Melting and cooling chocolate under control so it sets glossy and snaps. See tempering.
- Working temperature
- The temperature at which tempered chocolate is kept while you dip or mold with it.
Peanut butter terms
- Natural peanut butter
- Ground peanuts, often with salt. The oil separates and needs stirring.
- No-stir peanut butter
- Peanut butter with an added fat that keeps the oil from separating. Holds its shape in fillings.
- Powdered peanut butter
- Roasted peanuts with much of the oil pressed out, ground to a powder.
- Seed butter
- A spread made from seeds such as sunflower, often used as a peanut-free swap. Check the label for shared-line warnings.
Units on this site
We give US measurements first, with metric weights and Celsius temperatures in parentheses. Chocolate and cocoa are easier to measure by weight, so a kitchen scale is worth having if you bake often. Temperatures are rounded, and the figures a chocolate maker prints on the package take priority over ours.
Where to read more
Start with the cacao percentage guide for label terms, the types guide for what to buy, and the tempering page for technique words. The allergen page covers label language for allergies.