Chocolate's pointy little head

[thegreatdane]

What do manufacturers put in chocolate chips that make them keep their shape when heated? And why don't chips make good couveture? (I'm not talking about pistoles.) Does it have to do with the cocoa butter? Are they substituting lecithin?

[KarenS]

They do melt. To combine with a batter though- you would have to stir it. There are good choc chips, and there are cheap choc chips. Yes, cheap choc chips contain much lethicin.

[Moopheus]

What do manufacturers put in chocolate chips that make them keep their shape when heated? And why don't chips make good couveture?

Generally, chocolate chips have much less cocoa butter than regular chocolate, so they retain their shape better when melted. So they have the opposite property of couverture, which has a very high cocoa butter content, so it melts into a liquid quickly.

[cbarre02]

It also has a crap losd of veg oil in it. OH so tasty.

[Ganache]

They are made with hydrogenated shortening or tropical oils shortening which has a high melting point & keeps it's shape. They are made that way so they stay like that in a baked dessert.

[thegreatdane]

What are your favorite choc. chips for taste and texture after baking? I tried Guittard recently and was pleased. Thanks, all.

[andiesenji]

What are your favorite choc. chips for taste and texture after baking? I tried Guittard recently and was pleased. Thanks, all.

I prefer the Schokinag extreme bittersweet chips 75% choc liquor

http://www.schokinag.com/eng/default.htm

if you are going to buy in small amounts

Try the King Arthur Flour site.

They list them as Chocolate chips, extreme dark

http://ww2.kingarthurflour.com/cgibin/html...647618121140064

I also like the Guittard's bittersweet onyx wafers (buttons) 72% choc liquor

This is what I usually use for dipping candied peel and candied ginger, glacé fruits.

[Moopheus]

They are made with hydrogenated shortening or tropical oils shortening which has a high melting point & keeps it's shape. They are made that way so they stay like that in a baked dessert.

Most of the ones you might find in a supermarket--Nestle's. Ghirardelli, Guittard, etc.--do not have any vegetable oil. Only a really cheap b**tard or an Englisman would put vegetable oil in any kind of chocolate.