Compound chocolate

Compound chocolate is a product made from a combination of cocoa, vegetable fat and sweeteners. It is used as a lower-cost alternative to pure chocolate, as it uses less-expensive hard vegetable fats such as coconut oil or palm kernel oil in place of the more expensive cocoa butter.^[1] It may also be known as "compound coating" or "chocolaty coating" when used as a coating for candy.^[2]

Compound chocolate

Pieces of dark compound chocolate cake coating
Alternative names	Compound coating, chocolatey coating
Type	Chocolate substitute
Main ingredients	Cocoa, vegetable fats or oils, sweeteners

It is often used in less expensive chocolate bars to replace enrobed chocolate on a product. True chocolate containing cocoa butter must be tempered to maintain gloss of a coating. Compound coatings, however, do not need to be tempered. Instead, they are simply warmed to between 3 and 5 °C (5 and 9 °F) above the coating's melting point.^{[citation needed]}

In the European Union a product can only be sold as chocolate if it contains a maximum of 5% vegetable oil.^[3][4]

See also

• Polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) an emulsifier made from castor beans commonly used in compound chocolate
• Types of chocolate