Filled chocolate
Any chocolate with a distinct centre. Regulated in the EU to the extent that the coating must actually be chocolate and must make up a stated share of the whole.
What it is
Filled chocolate covers everything from a filled bar to a boxed assortment: a chocolate exterior around a centre that is not chocolate. The EU instrument sets a floor for how much of the finished product the chocolate coating must represent, which prevents a product being sold as chocolate when it is mostly filling.
The practical thing to know is that the filling determines almost everything the eater notices — the texture, the sweetness, the shelf life and the price — while the label usually describes the chocolate. A filled product's percentage refers to a minority of its mass.
- Category kind
- A confection form — this describes how it was constructed
- Legal status
- Legally defined, and defined differently by jurisdiction
- Also called
- filled bar, chocolate with a centre
- Texture
- creamy, smooth
What the percentage means here
Refers to the coating chocolate, which the EU floor requires to be at least a quarter of the product. A reader comparing a filled bar's percentage with a solid bar's is comparing a quarter of one product with all of another.
Legal minimums
These differ by jurisdiction, and the difference is real rather than technical: the same words on a wrapper describe different products either side of the Atlantic.
| Jurisdiction | Component | Minimum | Instrument |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Union | chocolate coating as a share of the finished product | 25% | Directive 2000/36/EC |
- European Union: The instrument requires filled chocolate products to consist of at least this proportion of the chocolate coating, so that a mostly-filling product cannot be sold as a chocolate one.
Related
Commonly confused with
- BonbonA bonbon is one way to make a filled chocolate. The EU floor for how much of a filled product must be chocolate coating applies to both.
An easier starting point than
- Ready-made chocolate shellsNamed on the Ready-made chocolate shells record as a place to start instead. Any chocolate with a distinct centre. Regulated in the EU to the extent that the coating must actually be chocolate and must make up a stated share of the whole.
- Dubai-style filled chocolateNamed on the Dubai-style filled chocolate record as a place to start instead. Any chocolate with a distinct centre. Regulated in the EU to the extent that the coating must actually be chocolate and must make up a stated share of the whole.
Covered in
- Halal chocolateWhere nearly every question in this guide actually arises.
Techniques that work with this
- Making chocolate cupsShells formed in paper or silicone cases rather than polycarbonate moulds. The accessible route to a filled chocolate.
- Storing finished chocolatesFilled chocolates keep for days to weeks depending entirely on the filling, not on the shell.
History and culture
- The Belgian pralineThe construction the Belgian praline is an instance of.
- Dubai chocolateThe construction — a moulded shell with a soft filling — which is what the product actually is.
An easier starting point
- Nama chocolateNo shell, no moulding and no tempering — which makes it the achievable first project for somebody who wants to make filled chocolates and is not ready to temper.
Sources
- ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)
- Directive 2000/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to cocoa and chocolate products intended for human consumption — European Parliament and Council of the European Union, 2000(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)