Need help choosing which melting chocolate to use? In this article, we discuss what chocolate is good for melting, whether you’re setting up a fountain, making fondue, sauces or coating fillings.
If you’re making chocolate fondue, sauces, molding, coating fillings or setting up a chocolate fountain, then you need the best melting chocolate for the best results. While you could purchase your chocolate from the local supermarket, if you’re preparing melting chocolate for a special occasion or for a client where the quality of your product will impact the professional image of your business, then investing in good quality melting chocolate is worth it.
In this article, professional chocolatier Simon Knott explains what chocolate is good for melting, including types and brands recommendations, and tips for using and preparing your melting chocolate correctly for a range of applications.
What Chocolate Is Good For Melting?
How to Choose the Best Melting Chocolate for Your Needs
Article by Simon Knott, Professional Chocolatier
Chocolate fountains, fondues and sauces must have a strong visual and taste impact. Consequently, the chocolate you choose must wow customers with these two characteristics.
So, what chocolate melts best? What chocolate is good for melting?
Luckily, the chocolate market already has a ready-made solution: couverture chocolate.
In the 17th century, some of the earliest chocolatiers in Europe started experimenting with adding extra cocoa butter and cocoa solids to chocolate to see how its qualities improved. They were impressed with its easier melting, thinner viscosity, and more intense flavour, which were particularly useful in dipping and moulding tasks. Today, couverture chocolate is still a versatile staple in chocolate products, which can be used in various applications.
Chocolate Fountains – What chocolate is best for melting and using in fountains?
A Canadian company popularised chocolate fountain machines in the early 1990s. Their novel and dramatic presentation grabbed attention, so interest rapidly spread worldwide.
In a chocolate fountain, the visual impact and flavour of the chocolate are paramount. The chocolate fountain recipe must contain high-quality couverture chocolate and a small amount of vegetable or coconut oil to lower the viscosity, creating an even curtain of chocolate flowing down the fountain.
Chocolate Fountain melting chocolate recipe
- 1kg high-quality couverture chocolate
- 60mL vegetable oil, coconut oil or cream
Usually, a ratio of 60 ml of oil per kilogram of chocolate will create the best viscosity with little impact on the flavour. Some prefer heavy or double cream to lower the viscosity, although this produces a particularly rich dipping combination, more like a fondue.
Milk Chocolate
Milk chocolate is chosen as the most popular flavour for the chocolate fountain. This is because it has a more acceptable taste profile and pairs particularly well with a large range of dipping foods, such as fresh and dried fruit slices, biscuits, cake, brownie pieces, and more conventional dipping items like marshmallows.
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate is a more grown-up, sophisticated choice and is best paired with strong-tasting fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, and bananas, along with other tropical fruits. These stronger fruit flavours don’t get overwhelmed so easily by the flavour of dark chocolate. Saltier pairings like chips and pretzels also contrast well with dark chocolate.
White Chocolate
White chocolate is an option for some, but carefully choosing which items to dip is important. With no cocoa solids to moderate white chocolate’s sweetness, dipping sweet brownies and fruit pieces into white chocolate can make for an overwhelmingly sweet taste. Some reports suggest that with white chocolate, it is more difficult to get the required fluidity as the chocolate flows down the fountain, although a little extra oil should remedy this problem.
For more tips on using and setting up your chocolate fountain, check out our chocolate fountains complete guide.
Chocolate Fondue – What chocolate is good for melting and using in fondues?
In New York in the 1960s, a Swiss restaurant owner wanted to add a dessert version of cheese fondue to his menu. He came up with the chocolate fondue, and for his first recipe, he used a combination of quality milk chocolate, heavy cream, and a little Kirsch to flavour it.
The pot of melted chocolate fondue is served on the table over a portable burner or a candle to maintain the temperature. Guests use long forks to spear cubes of fruit, brownies, and macaroons, which are then dipped in chocolate and eaten. Like the chocolate fountain, the fondue is a sociable dessert to share among friends and family.
A good quality couverture chocolate works best with the fondue, where the higher cocoa butter and cocoa solid content formulate the required viscosity and strength of chocolate flavour.
Chocolate Sauce – What chocolate is best for melting and using in sauces?
Chocolate sauce and chocolate syrup are often used interchangeably; however, there are distinctions between the two.
- Chocolate sauce: High quality couverture
- Chocolate syrup: Cocoa powder
Chocolate sauce is made using high-quality couverture chocolate with heavy cream and butter. In contrast, chocolate syrup is more water-based and made with cocoa powder, sugar, and water.
What Chocolate is Good for Melting?
The process of melting chocolate is widely used in products for confectionery and baking. When assessing what chocolate is good for melting, a variety of characteristics need to be considered:
Couverture Chocolate
Couverture chocolate is formulated to contain a higher percentage of cocoa butter, often between 32-39%. This gives the chocolate its characteristic smooth-flowing properties and distinctive glossy shine. A richer cocoa butter content melts the chocolate more smoothly, producing better fluidity for coating and dipping.
Couverture chocolate is often produced in wafers or buttons with a much larger surface area than block chocolate, making it melt more evenly and quickly. A chocolate with a higher cocoa content, like couverture chocolate, will result in a smooth melted product with an intense, rich flavour.
Best Melting Chocolate Brands
Whether working with a chocolate fountain or fondue or making a chocolate sauce, choosing the best quality couverture chocolate you can afford is the best option. The extra cocoa butter content in couverture chocolate, around 32-39%, gives superior fluidity and shine, making it the best for melting.
Several commercial brands specialise in chocolate formulated for melting. Often, their brand names highlight the ease with which the chocolates melt, such as Whitakers Easymelt, Firetree Easy Melt, and Callebaut Easymelt Chips. Each brand has a higher cocoa butter content to achieve a lower viscosity melted texture.
Checking for chocolate labelled as suitable for melting or low viscosity is a good indicator.
Remember that different recipes and applications may require different types of chocolate.
Best Melting Chocolate Brands
Now, you may still be asking what chocolate is best for melting with regard to specific brands? Below are my recommendations for the best melting chocolate brands in the USA, UK, Europe and Australia. Check the manufacturer’s website to research the full product specifications to ensure you choose the most suitable brand and products for your specific needs, whether for melting for fountains, fondues, coating or sauces.
What Chocolate is Best for Melting? Brands and Specifications
TCHO Choco Charms 60.5% Dark Chocolate Hexagons
Product Website: tcho.com
- 60.5% cocoa solids
- Plant based
- Price Indication: 3 kg = $113.00
Callebaut Dark Chocolate Couverture Chips
Product Website: callebaut.com
A Belgian dark chocolate without bitterness due to a lower cocoa content. Suitable for a wider range of applications, and a higher cocoa butter content for smoothness in melting. These chocolate chips are ideal for fountains, fondues, enrobing, and mold-making.
- 70% cocoa solids
- Price Indication: 2.5kg = £28.04
Whittakers Easymelt Dark Chocolate Shards
Product Website: whittakers.co.nz
- 55% cocoa solids
- 32% cocoa butter
- Price Indication: 2.5kg = £18.75
Callebaut Milk Chocolate Couverture
Product Website: callebaut.com
High fluidity when melted. It has a rich creamy-caramelly indulgent flavour.
- 37.8% cocoa solids
- 34.7% cocoa butter
- 5.6% milk fat
- Price Indication: 2.5kg = $71.50
Belcolade 55% Dark Chocolate Buttons
Product Website: belcolade.com
These buttons have an easy-to-melt format with a mild bitterness and fresh fruity note. Good quality for a reasonable price.
- 55% cocoa solids
- Price Indication: 3kg approx. = $45.00
Tips for Using the Best Melting Chocolate
Once you have acquired the best melting chocolate brand you can afford, you want to make sure you use it correctly. There are common features among the recipes of each of the above three chocolate dessert styles (fountains, fondue and sauces):
- A slightly lower melting temperature ensures the chocolate recipe stays smooth and has low viscosity, making it ideal for dipping. If the chocolate is too thick, the dipped items will pick up too much, making for an overly rich mouthful.
- The higher percentage of cocoa butter in couverture chocolate helps the chocolate melt smoothly and helps the fluidity and the surface shine, which makes the chocolate so attractive on display.
- When tasted, chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa solids will have a more intense and rich chocolate flavour.
Couverture chocolate fits the bill on these three counts, creating an ideal base for fountains, fondues, and sauces. It’s also worth noting that its higher cocoa solids and cocoa butter content will likely make couverture chocolate a more expensive option, but ultimately more satisfying.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve enjoyed this article from Simon Knott on ‘What Chocolate is Good for Melting: How to Choose the Best Melting Chocolate for Your Needs’. By know you should have a pretty good idea of what chocolate to purchase for your needs, but to quickly recap…
What Chocolate is Good for Melting?
Couverture chocolate! Whether you want dark, milk or white, for the best quality results you should get the best quality couverture chocolate you can afford for your chocolate melting projects. Reliable brands to look out for are Callebaut, TCHO, Whittakers and Belcolade. You won’t find these in your local supermarket, but your local professional catering supplies store may stock it, and of course you have the option of buying online.
If buying online, make sure you buy from a reputable business and ensure that they are shipping the chocolate correctly to prevent your product from melting in the post. As a rule of thumb, place your order earlier in the week (Sunday or Monday) to avoid the risk of your package sitting in the post office over the weekend.
For more tips on choosing and using melting chocolate, check out our complete guide to chocolate fountains or tips for panning chocolates if you’re planning on using your melting chocolate for coating nuts, fruits or even popcorn and pretzels.
Happy chocolatiering!
