Kosher Law Focus: Kosher Issues in the Chocolate-Making Process

Generally, chocolate must contain the following ingredients: cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar, lecithin, vanilla extract, etc. Milk chocolate also contains whole-milk solids. White chocolate is actually a dessert made of milk, cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla extract. It has no chocolate flavor but, like other chocolate, has melting properties. On the other hand, if another fat replaces or is added to cocoa butter, this product is usually called compound chocolate.

(In fact, many chocolate products use substitute fat blends. Such blends are usually cheaper than cocoa butter, and producers can adjust the product's melting point and other properties. Pure chocolate is not pleasant in summer!) On the other hand, European countries' definitions of chocolate are much broader. Fats other than cocoa butter may be used in European chocolate. In fact, Belgians like to use animal fat in their chocolate because it gives the chocolate a softer texture. Clearly, what is chocolate to one person may be a nightmare to another.

And a nightmare is indeed the stuff of which trouble is made. While it is now clear that chocolate may contain obviously non-Kosher materials, many Kosher issues are hidden beneath the surface. For example, lecithin (a soy derivative) seems harmless, but it may actually contain animal-based fatty acids. In addition, many countries allow the use of fat emulsifiers beyond lecithin, some of which are extracted from animal fat. Whey, a by-product of cheese production, is often used in European chocolate as a substitute for skim-milk powder. Even milk powder may warrant close Kosher attention. Companies producing this material often use the same processing equipment to produce infant formula containing animal fat or veal feed, a spray-dried blend of milk and beef fat! Even butter can raise Kosher concerns. These ingredient issues relate to the chocolate itself, not to mention that chocolate-coated products may contain any questionable ingredient. Even if the chocolate itself contains no questionable ingredient, it may still be processed on equipment that produces non-Kosher food.

The art of making chocolate involves controlling the crystal structure of cocoa, fat and sugar so that it melts smoothly in the mouth. The first step is refining, grinding fat, cocoa and sugar into very fine particles. This mixture then undergoes a process called conching, which chocolate makers consider the true art of making chocolate.

Conching involves adding extra cocoa butter to the chocolate mixture, kneading it at temperatures over 150°F for 24 to 96 hours, finally making it smooth and rich and removing any residual moisture. (The word conching comes from the Latin concha, meaning shell. The conche originally used to process chocolate consisted of a flat granite bed on which heavy granite rollers attached to steel arms rolled back and forth over the chocolate. These ancient longitudinal conches looked like shells, hence the name.) Most modern conches differ in structure and use steel rollers, but the basic process that gives the product smoothness is the same.

The final step in making chocolate is tempering. As liquid chocolate cools and solidifies, the cocoa butter forms crystals. To temper the chocolate, it is heated and cooled under controlled conditions, forming a fine, uniform texture. Usually, chocolate at this stage is not heated above 115°F. Careful tempering can also reduce chocolate's tendency to bloom. When cocoa butter melts and recrystallizes, a hazy white mist forms on the chocolate surface. Lecithin, a natural emulsifier extracted from soybeans, is added to chocolate to reduce this problem, which can appear on chocolate stored long-term or refrigerated. However, Passover-certified pesach chocolate does not use lecithin and requires more (expensive) cocoa butter.

One feature of chocolate is that water interferes with cocoa butter's crystallization. During processing, the fine particles of chocolate are tightly arranged with the fat. If water is mixed into chocolate, it becomes a hard, brittle substance. Although mixing with milk can improve chocolate's taste, liquid milk is 90% water, so mixing liquid milk with chocolate is a serious challenge.

The thrifty Swiss were especially keen to find a way to add milk to chocolate to use their surplus milk. In 1875, a Swiss named Daniel Peter discovered the key to successfully making milk chocolate. By using milk powder, he was able to produce a coarse, dry milk chocolate bar. However, by 1897, Mr. Peter had perfected the process of producing an intermediate product called milk crumb with condensed milk. Milk crumb is made by cooking chocolate liquor with sweetened condensed milk, drying the mixture into a powder, and then mixing it with cocoa butter to make chocolate.

The use of milk powder may bring an interesting Halachik leniency. Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank ztl (Har Tzvi Responsa 103 and 104) holds that milk powder is not subject to the restriction of Cholov Akum, so even those who keep Cholov Yisroel may eat chocolate made from milk powder. As for chocolate made by the milk-crumb method, Rav Avrohom Shapiro holds that since most of the mixture is chocolate liquor rather than milk, it does not fall under this standard. However, others disagree. Still, it is certain that caramel and other non-pure-chocolate candy ingredients usually use liquid milk and do not enjoy this leniency.

Chocolate production's inability to tolerate water has another interesting Halachik implication. Many chocolate production systems are used for both milk chocolate and dark chocolate (non-dairy), and Kashering equipment from dairy to pareve (or from unsupervised milk to Cholov Yisroel) poses a huge challenge. Generally, chocolate makers are unwilling to let Kashering involve water. Water is harmful to chocolate production for two reasons, because it can react with chocolate to form a brittle block that is very hard to remove. Therefore, if flame heating (Libun) is impractical, some authorities rely on heating with cocoa oil or chocolate itself. Such Kashering has again become a topic of discussion among contemporary poskim. Besides the general Halachik question of Kashering with a liquid other than water, there is also the question of whether cocoa butter, which solidifies at room temperature, is considered a liquid in the first place.

Considering the difficulty of Kashering a chocolate factory, it is worth noting that at least one company has indeed succeeded in Kashering with water to produce truly Mehadrin chocolate. A well-known Swiss chocolate company has agreed to produce Passover Cholov Yisroel chocolate under special supervision. Before this, no Swiss chocolate company had agreed to add water to equipment. In this production process, all equipment is heated with flame or hot water, and equipment that proved hard to heat was replaced with equipment dedicated to Kosher production. The food industry has long considered the Kosher market significant and worth further efforts to enter. Recognizing the increasingly high expectations of today's Kosher consumers, companies are willing to make extra efforts to provide products meeting the highest level of Kosher. Fine Swiss mehadrin-style chocolate is just one recent example of the standards that can be reached by adhering to Kosher.

Chalav Yisrael:

A Kosher certification term referring to all dairy products, including cheese and skim-milk powder, derived from milk whose milking process has been supervised by a Jew.

Chalav Akum:

In Kosher terminology, this means the milking process must be supervised by a Jew to ensure that the milk of non-Jewish animals is not mixed in. Such supervised milk is called "chalav yisrael" ("Jewish milk"). Unsupervised milk is called "chalav akum" or "non-Jewish milk."

Kashering:

Kashering usually refers to a thorough cleaning treatment of non-Kosher equipment used to process non-Kosher products, so that after the cleaning treatment the non-Kosher equipment becomes Kosher equipment usable for processing Kosher products.