What Is Ruby Chocolate?

What is ruby chocolate? It is a type of flavoured white chocolate, but flavoured with itself!

Ruby chocolate has been hailed as the fourth type of chocolate, but is it really? And what exactly is in ruby chocolate? I will get to that, but in order to better answer these questions I will have to break down and define a few things for you first.

There are only two types of chocolate

From an manufacturing point of view, there are really only two types of chocolate. Whole Nib Chocolate (dark chocolate, milk chocolate, etc.) and Cocoa Butter Based Chocolate (AKA white and flavoured white chocolate). Ruby chocolate is essentially a flavoured white chocolate, but flavoured with a cacao that was processed to be tart retain it’s pink colour - giving the ruby chocolate its characteristic look and flavour. Read on if you wish me to expand on this.

Whole nib chocolate

There is whole nib chocolate, where the whole cocoa nib is ground up and turned into chocolate. If it is ground up on its own without sugar, you have 100% dark chocolate (no sugar added, see Figure 1A). Most chocolate contains sugar, so if you were to add some sugar to this whole cocoa nib and grind them up together, you would get what we refer to as “dark chocolate” (Figure 1B) which is essentially just cocoa bean and some sugar. The ratio (percentage) of the cocoa bean to sugar can go up or down to a degree, but that’s essentially what dark chocolate is. The percentage generally doesn’t define whether it is dark chocolate or not (65%, 70%, 80%, 90% can all be dark chocolate)

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Figure 1. Bars A and B are what we consider dark chocolate made without sugar (A) or with (B). Bar C is what we refer to as either milk chocolate, gianduja, or another flavoured whole bean chocolate. On the bottom we see two types of white chocolate and their constituents. Bar E is ruby chocolate, where the only difference between D and E is that E contains a very small amount of cocoa bean that retains its pink colour and has an element of acidity to it, which is what gives ruby chocolate it’s pink colour and tart taste. Image by Bean To Bar World.

Flavoured Whole Nib Chocolate

Now, when this cocoa bean and sugar is ground up in the refiner, you can add a plethora of ingredients to make a flavoured whole nib chocolate (Figure 1C). It begins by grinding up the whole nibs into a thick liquid and then adding some sugar. Now, if you add milk powder to that, you are making milk chocolate. Normally we use cow milk powder, but one can use any milk powder such as goat, sheep, and so forth. If you add hazelnuts or other nuts to that mixture of whole cocoa nibs and sugar you are making a form of gianduja (Nutella is intended to be a form of spreadable “gianduja”). If you add coconut, you can have a “coconut milk” chocolate. If you add tea leaves, you can have a tea leaf chocolate bar. You can add milk powder and hazelnuts to create a milk chocolate gianduja. And keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to have sugar (there are bars out there that contain only cocoa nib and milk powder with no sugar, or cocoa nib and nuts without sugar) What you need as the basis is the whole cocoa nib.

The point here is that regardless of what you add to the cocoa bean in the refiner, it is still made from the whole cocoa nib, and the process of making it is the same. It simply becomes a flavoured whole nib chocolate. The process of making “dark chocolate” (usually just cocoa bean and sugar) is the same as making “milk chocolate” or gianduja or any flavoured dark or milk chocolate. It’s just that you are essentially flavouring the dark chocolate with other ingredients.

Now, you can call each flavoured chocolate a “type” of chocolate (milk chocolate, gianduja, etc.) That would mean we already have dozens or more types of chocolate. Is the milk chocolate made with different types of milk considered different types of chocolate altogether? And if this is what determines a “type” then gianduja would have already been a fourth “type” of chocolate a long time ago, before ruby chocolate existed. It does not matter whether you want to consider the array of flavoured whole nib chocolates as types or not, but point is, they are all made in the same way. They are all made form the whole cocoa nib. So what is the other type of chocolate then?

Cocoa Butter Based (White) chocolate

The only other chocolate which is made differently from all the chocolates mentioned above is white chocolate. Many consider white chocolate not to be chocolate, but it is. I admit it is not the same caliber to dark other flavoured chocolate, especially when dealing with fine chocolate, and I will explain why.

Cocoa powder is made by pressing most of the fat out of the nibs. Those “dried” nibs are then pulverized into a powder to get cocoa powder. What is pressed out of the nibs is the cocoa butter. Keep in mind cocoa beans are about 50% cocoa butter. Half of the bean is this fat. To make white chocolate, this fat is melted and combined with milk powder and sugar. This is the basis of white chocolate (Figure 1D). The reason why chocolate can be formed into bars regardless of the type is because they all contain cocoa butter. Chocolate wouldn’t be chocolate without cocoa butter. If you ever purchase chocolate that has cocoa butter replaced with other fats, it’s not chocolate.

The cocoa butter, or fat of the cocoa bean, is very unique. It is unlike any other fat found in seeds from other plants. It has very unique properties that we all love. The way it is solid at room temperature and can be formed into various shapes. The way it melts just below body temperature into a liquid. The fact that this liquid fat is not greasy nor waxy, but what we may refer to as creamy. It has extremely favorable properties. There is no fat out there like it. And so, the cocoa butter is just important to chocolate as the cocoa solids. They are equally important.

For that reason, white chocolate is chocolate. It is made with half of the bean. Again, it is not the same caliber as whole nib chocolate because one does not require high quality cocoa beans to extract the pure fat used to make white chocolate. What gives chocolate and especially fine chocolate sold here at Bean To Bar World it’s flavour is the cocoa solids (the non-fat half of the seed). This is also why white chocolate is not the same caliber as other types of fine chocolates. However, it is still chocolate since it is made from the unique fat of the cacao plant. It’s like having an egg white omelet. Does making an egg white omelet make the omelet any less “egg” than using the whole egg? Of course not. In the same way, white chocolate is no less chocolate than whole nib chocolate (flavoured or not).

The reason behind this “white chocolate is not chocolate” is due to a few reasons. One being legal reasons. As countries trade, they need to have requirements for their foods. Some milk chocolate bars contain only 25-30% cocoa bean. The rest is all milk and sugar. Well what if one were to manufacture milk chocolate that is 15% cocoa bean, or 5%? At what point does it not become chocolate, but a confection with cocoa as an ingredient? So laws were put in place in various regions to determine the minimum cocoa solid (the dark part that is used to make cocoa powder) content for dark chocolate and milk chocolate to be considered chocolate. Well, white chocolate has no whole cocoa bean or cocoa solids, so many deemed it to be “not chocolate”. However, from the perspective of it as a food and ingredient wise, it is still chocolate.

White chocolate certainly is in a category of it’s own. I do consider it chocolate, but not at the same calibre as dark chocolate, even if made with pure cocoa butter from a fine chocolate maker. Since white chocolate does not essentially require the usage of fine cocoa beans, it does not really help sustain the essence of the fine chocolate industry, although it does have it’s uses that I won’t go into here. That said, there are makers using non deodorized cocoa butter pressed from fine cacao beans which do carry some very pleasant aromas where the white chocolate does not even require vanilla!

So this brings us to ruby chocolate.

Since ruby chocolate is marketed as the “fourth type of chocolate” let me use this definition of types, especially since this is how most people understand chocolate. So if we use this definition, then there is dark, milk, and white chocolate. Now let me quickly remind you how they are made. Dark chocolate is made by grinding up the cocoa nib (which is just the kernel or cotyledon of the cocoa seed) in a refiner and usually adding some sugar (again if sugar is omitted, it just means it is 100% dark chocolate). This mixture refines until it is very smooth, and then tempered and shaped into bars and such.

Milk chocolate is made the same way, but instead of only adding sugar, milk powder is also added. Other ingredients are often added too such as more cocoa butter and vanilla, but for argument sake that is not important here.

White chocolate is made by taking the pure cocoa butter, and mixing it with milk and sugar. Often vanilla is added, but this is the basis for white chocolate. There are many “white chocolates” out there that do not use real cocoa butter. Those are not white chocolate. Those are essentially a slab of fudge with artificial fats use to resemble (but not exactly duplicate) the properties of real cocoa butter.

Now, let’s look at the ingredients of ruby chocolate. The first three ingredients are the exact same for white chocolate. Cocoa butter, sugar, and milk powder. At the very end is “cocoa mass”. This is what makes ruby chocolate different. Keep in mind that white chocolate can be flavoured as well. You can add matcha powder into the mixture of the cocoa butter, sugar, and milk powder to create matcha flavoured white chocolate. You can add freeze dried fruits such as raspberry, and you can even add nuts, tea leaves, coffee beans, and the list goes on. As well, there are even white chocolates that are flavoured with a small amount of cocoa nib or cocoa powder to give it a “tan” effect, and impart a slight cocoa flavour while making them a little darker in appearance. These also are another type of flavoured white chocolate.

Ruby chocolate is essentially flavoured white chocolate (Figure 1E). It is made in the same way any flavoured white chocolate is made. You have your base of cocoa butter, sugar, and milk powder, but this time it is flavoured with itself. What does this mean? Cocoa mass is just ground up cocoa beans. But the kind of cocoa beans or cocoa mass is what makes ruby chocolate unique.

Cocoa beans go through a process of being fermented, dried, and roasted. This is what makes them brown and gives them their flavour that we come to expect from chocolate. However, before being fermenting (and sometimes after for some cocoa beans) the cocoa beans have a natural pink or violet hue to them. The more pink beans tend to contain less polyphenols, and the more purple violet ones tend to be higher in polyphenols. Also keep in mind that fermentation makes the cocoa beans acidic. You don’t want cocoa bens to be too acidic, but improper fermentation can lead to very acidic beans (along with how they are dried).

Now we don’t know exactly the “secret” behind achieving their pink tart cocoa mass, but it’s not hard to understand how they can come to this. Ruby chocolate is made by adding, to the white chocolate, a cocoa bean that has been treated to retain its very pink/purple hues along with the added acidity either from a form of fermentation or other. So to the mixture of cocoa butter, milk powder, and sugar, they add a very small percentage of pink/purple acidic beans. This is what turns the white chocolate into Ruby chocolate. It’s what makes ruby chocolate very pinkish and tart. Ruby chocolate is marketed as a fruity chocolate.

The flavour of Ruby chocolate

Although, if one were to closely analyze it and try and compare it to types of fruits they are familiar with, particular red fruits, one may find that it doesn’t taste like any fruit at all. Keep in mind that when we eat foods that are both sweet and tart, often times our brains go in the direction of fruit. When many people taste fine dark chocolate that has elements of sweetness and tartness, they automatically think fruit. They may be correct, or their brain may be landing on the most obvious answer. Add onto the fact that ruby chocolate is also pink. So we have a sweet, tart, pink confection, that is also sold as being “fruity and berry like”, and so many people “taste” a fruity chocolate. However, I myself get more green, verdure, herb, or earthy tones, with a sweet tartness overlap, as opposed to anything actually fruity. If you have some ruby chocolate, taste it again and see what you think

Conclusion

So there you have it. Fourth type of chocolate? Certainly not. A new type of chocolate? Sure, if you consider all the flavoured chocolates (milk, gianduja, tea, coffee/mocha bars) out there different types of chocolate. Fruity? You decide for yourself. Keep in mind that if you are enjoying chocolate for the health benefits, ruby chocolate has no more health benefits than white chocolate. The high amount of antioxidants and minerals found in chocolate is in higher percentage dark and milk chocolate bars. Is it a cool chocolate? Sure. As a chocolatier, one can appreciate another colour to add without the addition of synthetic food colorings. If you enjoy it, go ahead and enjoy it. But now you understand what it is you are enjoying.