White chocolate

White chocolate

Bar of white chocolate containing pieces of rose petals
Type	Chocolate
Main ingredients	Cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids
Ingredients generally used	salt, vanilla extract

White chocolate is a chocolate derivative. It commonly consists of cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids and is characterized by a pale yellow or ivory appearance. The melting point of cocoa butter, its primary cocoa bean component, is high enough to keep white chocolate solid at room temperature.

White chocolate is chocolate that does not contain non-fat cocoa solids, the primary nutritional constituent of chocolate liquor—chocolate in its raw, unsweetened form. During the manufacturing process, the dark-colored solids of the cocoa bean are separated from its fatty content, as with milk, semi-sweet, and dark chocolate. But, unlike those other chocolate types, the cocoa solids are not recombined. As a result, this fat, cocoa butter, is the only cacao ingredient in white chocolate. Because it contains no cocoa solids, white chocolate contains only trace amounts of the stimulants theobromine and caffeine, while lacking the antioxidant properties or many characterizing ingredients of chocolate, such as thiamine, riboflavin, and phenylethylamine. Often, the cocoa butter is deodorized to remove its strong flavor. If prime pressed cocoa butter is used, it has natural anti-oxidant (vitamin E), but if deodorized it has none, as the deodorizing is a steam stripping step, often at 180 °C (356 °F).

White chocolate may include additional flavorings. Vanilla is a common additive.