Compound Chocolate

Compound Chocolate is chocolate that, in addition to or instead of the fat known as cocoa butter, has another fat — namely vegetable fat — added to it. In fact, most compound cooking chocolate sold at grocery stores to consumers does the full swap of vegetable fat in place of cocoa butter.

The vegetable fat might be cottonseed oil, palm kernel oil or soybean oil.

This makes this version of chocolate cheaper than top grade chocolate. It may be made from chocolate liquor, emulsifiers, vegetable oils, and powdered milk in place of fresh milk.

But, Compound Chocolate has its place.

It melts well, is good for dipping and moulds easily. It is easier to work with because it is less temperamental than regular chocolate. To give a shiny finish, it doesn’t need to be tempered as regular chocolate does, and because it has a higher melting point than regular chocolate, products moulded from it or coated with it are more stable in warmer weather.

But, it lacks a full chocolate taste, and still requires some care in handling: it will seize when melted if only even just a small amount of cold liquid is added to it.