where to buy cheap European-style chocolate?

[Eindhoven]

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Has anyone ever read how high the sugar content is on chocolate, if you don't care and have a sweet tooth, well, what can I say, noting the cheaper the chocolate, the higher the sugar content usually, no thanks.

 

Actually no, as baking chocolate will often have little to no sugar and can be cheaper than a chocolate bar.

But I agree sugar is added to many foodstuffs as it is a relatively cheap ingredient.

[asiacurious]

2 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Nope, you are wrong. A little research would have shown you this. It would have only taken you a few seconds.

 

The main difference is actually the sugar content. There may also be a differing ratio of cocoa butter.

 

 

I guess we'll have to disagree.  I've been cooking and baking with Chocolate for more years than I care to admit.  

 

If you're comparing 60% to 70% to 80%, or milk chocolate (about 10-20% cocoa) then yes, sugar content is different.  But chocolate with 70% cocoa is the going to be basically the same regardless of whether it comes in coins, blocks, or thin foil wrapped retail bars.

 

Of course there can also be a difference in the quality of ingredients, but as I've said, the Schmidt stuff is a good quality import from Europe.

[Eindhoven]

On 7/1/2020 at 10:55 PM, Trillian said:

High quality 100% cocoa powder, Tulip brand, is available in many supermarkets for about 125 baht per kilo. It makes excellent inexpensive drinking chocolate and if you really crave European chocolate bars, perhaps try making your own.

 

What is 100% cocoa powder? 125 baht per kilo? That stuff would be no good for making chocolate, 

[Eindhoven]

5 minutes ago, asiacurious said:

I guess we'll have to disagree.  I've been cooking and baking with Chocolate for more years than I care to admit.  

 

If you're comparing 60% to 70% to 80%, or milk chocolate (about 10-20% cocoa) then yes, sugar content is different.  But chocolate with 70% cocoa is the going to be basically the same regardless of whether it comes in coins, blocks, or thin foil wrapped retail bars.

 

Of course there can also be a difference in the quality of ingredients, but as I've said, the Schmidt stuff is a good quality import from Europe.

 

We can disagree, but I am right and you are wrong.

 

Baking chocolate can contain no added sugar at all, wherein high cocoa content bars will almost always have sugar added.

 

That is why it is call baking chocolate or cooking chocolate. Because it is different.

 

If it just a large piece of normal chocolate, then that is what it is. But baking chocolate and cooking chocolate is different.

 

Don't even get me started on cacao. I know my chocolate.

 

 

[Eindhoven]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

When it comes to chocolate, there's issues of taste, and then there's issues of health, which are entirely separate.

 

The sugary chocolate tastes great for those with a sweet tooth, but isn't very good for you in many ways.

 

On the other hand, the high-cacao chocolates (80-90%) have healthful properties if consumed in moderation.

 

If I remember right, ideally for health, you want the levels of protein and sugar to be about equal, 5g or so per serving....which is what you get with the 80-90% cacao varieties. But those also have a much more bitter taste than the typical store chocolates.

 

 

Interesting that you are comparing two completely different things. Which makes me thing that you are confusing them

 

Cacao and cocoa. Most commercial chocolate bars contain cocoa, not cacao. So I'll be interested in finding out to which bars you are referring, with 80-90% cacao.

 

I think certain companies just change the name for marketing purposes.

 

https://web.facebook.com/tulipchocolate/posts/cacao-vs-cocoa-what-you-need-to-knowcacao-cacao-is-the-purest-form-of-chocolate-/1742846232615015/

[4MyEgo]

17 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Actually no, as baking chocolate will often have little to no sugar and can be cheaper than a chocolate bar.

But I agree sugar is added to many foodstuffs as it is a relatively cheap ingredient.

Yes agree, I used to buy the 70% Cocoa baking chocolate in the usual form of a chocolate from Tesco/Lotus for about 62 baht and was quite enjoyable, sugar as you say was lower than the norm, but still b-a-d for this retired chocoholic ????

 

[balo]

The cheap Casino chocolate tastes too sweet, and does not contain much cocoa. 

I stock up on IKEA dark chocolate, maybe not the best in the world but better than a lot of the cheaper ones. 

[Eindhoven]

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

Yes agree, I used to buy the 70% Cocoa baking chocolate in the usual form of a chocolate from Tesco/Lotus for about 62 baht and was quite enjoyable, sugar as you say was lower than the norm, but still b-a-d for this retired chocoholic ????

 

 

I have some high quality single estate bars imported from U.K in my fridge. I just keep them to share. Don't eat that kind of thing on my own usually.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Eindhoven

[asiacurious]

9 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Actually no, as baking chocolate will often have little to no sugar and can be cheaper than a chocolate bar.

But I agree sugar is added to many foodstuffs as it is a relatively cheap ingredient.

 

Sugar is added to all chocolate, except of course unsweetened chocolate.  And while unsweetened chocolate is the core chocolate used when baking (since one adds sugar as a separate ingredient), it is absolutely not the only chocolate used when baking. 

 

An example.  Great brownies will use mixture of unsweetened, 75%, 60%, and milk chocolates  (could even sneak in some white chocolate (which isn't technically chocolate of course).  The unsweetened gets melted and mixed into the batter with sugar, flour....  The others get chopped up into pieces and added to the batter so they bake into gooey little pockets of chocolate. 

 

I've never heard of chocolate chip cookies using unsweetened chocolate.  A mixture of chocolates (excluding unsweetened) is the way to go.

 

Also, never try to melt chocolate chips sold in bags advertised with cookies on the label (Nestle, Hersey's, Ghirardelli, Tulip...).  They have stabilizers in them that help them to hold there shape when they bake (fine for cookies) but they end up a clumpy mess when melting.

 

 

[Eindhoven]

On 7/2/2020 at 12:35 AM, BangkokBoyJohnny said:

 

 

For 3 or 1 bars ?

 

https://www.bigc.co.th/casino-milk-chocolate.html

 

 

 

That's not the same chocolate bar as he has shown. Yours is Extra Fin

[asiacurious]

27 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

What is 100% cocoa powder? 125 baht per kilo? That stuff would be no good for making chocolate, 

 

Hey, we can agree on that!

 

17 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Interesting that you are comparing two completely different things. Which makes me thing that you are confusing them

 

Cacao and cocoa. Most commercial chocolate bars contain cocoa, not cacao. So I'll be interested in finding out to which bars you are referring, with 80-90% cacao.

 

I think certain companies just change the name for marketing purposes.

 

https://web.facebook.com/tulipchocolate/posts/cacao-vs-cocoa-what-you-need-to-knowcacao-cacao-is-the-purest-form-of-chocolate-/1742846232615015/

 

And we can agree on this too!  Amazing!

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by asiacurious

[Eindhoven]

On 6/30/2020 at 7:42 PM, dimitriv said:

 

16 Baht is 48 Euro cent.  For 48 cent you can buy a Mars or Snickers in Europe. 

 

When was the last time you visited Europe ?  50 years ago ?  ????

 

 

 

It's actually possible. LIDL sell Bellarom milk and plain chocolate bars for around £0.35p for a 100 gram bar. That is between 13 & 14 baht.

 

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/food-reviews/g669487/milk-chocolate/

 

 

[Eindhoven]

7 minutes ago, asiacurious said:

 

Hey, we can agree on that!

 

 

And we can agree on this too!  Amazing!

 

 

I like good food. ????

[Eindhoven]

16 minutes ago, asiacurious said:

 

Sugar is added to all chocolate, except of course unsweetened chocolate.  And while unsweetened chocolate is the core chocolate used when baking (since one adds sugar as a separate ingredient), it is absolutely not the only chocolate used when baking. 

 

An example.  Great brownies will use mixture of unsweetened, 75%, 60%, and milk chocolates  (could even sneak in some white chocolate (which isn't technically chocolate of course).  The unsweetened gets melted and mixed into the batter with sugar, flour....  The others get chopped up into pieces and added to the batter so they bake into gooey little pockets of chocolate. 

 

I've never heard of chocolate chip cookies using unsweetened chocolate.  A mixture of chocolates (excluding unsweetened) is the way to go.

 

Also, never try to melt chocolate chips sold in bags advertised with cookies on the label (Nestle, Hersey's, Ghirardelli, Tulip...).  They have stabilizers in them that help them to hold there shape when they bake (fine for cookies) but they end up a clumpy mess when melting.

 

 

 

No. It is called Baking/Cooking/Unsweetened chocolate because that is what it is.

 

Of course you can cook with any kind of chocolate. But that chocolate is not called Baking/Cooking/Unsweetened chocolate.

 

I use normal high quality 60 to 85% cocoa content bars to make brownies and adjust the sugar content to compensate. I might also chuck in some Belgian chocolate pieces for a fudgey/caramelly distraction or some Swiss chocolate for a hint of hazelnut within.

 

So of course you are not limited to Baking/Cooking/Unsweetened chocolate. 

 

My point is that Baking/Cooking/Unsweetened chocolate is a thing and not only different because of the shape and wrapping, as you suggested. It's a completely different product.

You also contradict yourself by stating that sugar is added to all chocolate, but then confirm that there is unsweetened chocolate....which happens to be Baking/Cooking chocolate. 

[BigStar]

4 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

When it comes to chocolate, there's issues of taste, and then there's issues of health, which are entirely separate.

 

. . . the 80-90% cacao varieties . . . also have a much more bitter taste than the typical store chocolates.

It rather depends. The sugar addicted will of course need their fix and a nearer day of reckoning. But if you don't need it, then you can get used to the bitter taste and even grow to prefer its in-your-face, take-no-prisoners jolt. It's a bit like growing to like strong black coffee, and notably expresso, after weaning yourself from that pussy milk-and-sugar confection. Yeah. Hit me!

 

You can of course combine super dark chocloate with something artificially sweetened or naturally sweet. A few raisins works quite well.

[Eindhoven]

The only reason that I would go out of my way to use unsweetened chocolate in a Brownie recipe, would be if someone was diabetic or wanted to avoid sucrose for one reason or another.

Then I would use unsweetened and substitute sucrose for fructose.

 

Seems pointless to use unsweetened, then to add sucrose and further to chuck in 75%, 60% and milk chocolate. All with copious amounts of sucrose within.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Eindhoven

[asiacurious]

43 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

No. It is called Baking/Cooking/Unsweetened chocolate because that is what it is.

 

 

Ok, so it's basically coming down to semantics.  Wikipedia says:

 

Quote

Baking chocolate, also referred to as bitter chocolate,^[1] cooking chocolate^[2] and unsweetened chocolate,^[3] is a type of dark chocolate that is prepared for use as an ingredient in baking.^[1]

 

But Wikipedia also says:

Quote

 

It is typically prepared in unsweetened,^[1] bittersweet^[2] semisweet^[5] and sweet varieties,^[6] depending on the amount of added sugar.

Recipes that include unsweetened baking chocolate typically use a significant amount of sugar.^[6] Bittersweet baking chocolate must contain 35 percent chocolate liquor or higher.^[6] Most baking chocolates have at least a 50% cocoa content, with the remaining content usually being mostly sugar.^[1]

 

 

 

And plenty of other sources refer to baking chocolate as any of those various preparations (unsweetened, bitterseet, semisweet, and sweet).

 

I had a good laugh at the bit you wrote about contradicting myself!  "Sugar is added to all chocolate, except of course unsweetened chocolate" contains no contradiction.  It contains a clearly stated exception to a general rule.  But if either of these help....

 

Sugar is added to all other chocolate except of course to unsweetened chocolate?

 

Or...

 

Except for unsweetened chocolate, all chocolate has sugar added.

 

Though for me, I prefer my original statement.  Actually, I prefer this even more for it's succinctness:

 

Sugar is added to all chocolate except unsweetened chocolate.

 

 

Perhaps we should discuss carob next? 

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by asiacurious

[Eindhoven]

2 hours ago, asiacurious said:

Ok, so it's basically coming down to semantics.  Wikipedia says:

 

 

But Wikipedia also says:

 

 

And plenty of other sources refer to baking chocolate as any of those various preparations (unsweetened, bitterseet, semisweet, and sweet).

 

I had a good laugh at the bit you wrote about contradicting myself!  "Sugar is added to all chocolate, except of course unsweetened chocolate" contains no contradiction.  It contains a clearly stated exception to a general rule.  But if either of these help....

 

Sugar is added to all other chocolate except of course to unsweetened chocolate?

 

Or...

 

Except for unsweetened chocolate, all chocolate has sugar added.

 

Though for me, I prefer my original statement.  Actually, I prefer this even more for it's succinctness:

 

Sugar is added to all chocolate except unsweetened chocolate.

 

 

Perhaps we should discuss carob next? 

 

 

Since you are using Wikipedia as your source, is there any reason you left out these salient points?;

 

Quote

Baking chocolate may be of a lower quality compared to other types of chocolate, and may have part of the cocoa butter replaced with other fats that do not require tempering.^[4] This type of baking chocolate may be easier to handle compared to those that have not had their cocoa butter content lowered.^[4] Lower quality baking chocolate may not be as flavorful compared to higher-quality chocolate, and may have a different mouthfeel.

 

 

I know you read it, but of course it counters your argument that it is exactly the same as normal chocolate.

 

It is not. 

 

Baking/cooking chocolate is designed for baking and cooking.

 

 

Also interesting;

 

Quote

as less sugar than sweet varieties. In Europe, a regulation exists stating that semisweet varieties must contain more sugar and less chocolate liquor compared to bittersweet varieties. No such regulation exists in the United States, and due to this, semisweet and bittersweet varieties can vary in sweetness and chocolate liquor content. In the U.S., bittersweet varieties are even sometimes sweeter than semi-sweet varieties.

 

The USA has very low or no food standards overall, due to lobbying of corporations.

For that reason alone, I don't use American products in my diet or cooking. It's generally of a lower quality than European foodstuffs.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Eindhoven

[balo]

On 7/3/2020 at 12:43 PM, Eindhoven said:

It's actually possible. LIDL sell Bellarom milk and plain chocolate bars for around £0.35p for a 100 gram bar. That is between 13 & 14 baht.

 

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/food-reviews/g669487/milk-chocolate/

 

The reason they are cheap, they contain only 35-45% cocoa , with milk and other added ingredients. 

Edited July 6, 2020 by balo

[Susco]

9 minutes ago, balo said:

The reason they are cheap, they contain only 35-45% cocoa , with milk and other added ingredients. 

Lidl and Aldi pure chocolate is 52% cacao.

 

The Casino pure chocolate is also 52% cacao, and is available at Big C extra at 139 Baht for 2 x 200 gram

Edited July 6, 2020 by Susco

[CNXexpat]

The German brand "Ritter Sport" you can get at BigC in many different varieties.

[Eindhoven]

16 minutes ago, balo said:

The reason they are cheap, they contain only 35-45% cocoa , with milk and other added ingredients. 

Plain chocolate does not contain milk, even the cheap stuff. It might contain butter. It's 52%, that particular bar.

 

 

Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, concentrated butter (milk), emulsifier: sunflower lecithin, natural vanilla flavour.

 

https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/20430746/chocolat-noir-bellarom

[evadgib]

53 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

The German brand "Ritter Sport" you can get at BigC in many different varieties.

When I was younger this was one of my favorites but it is far too sweet over here.

[evadgib]

40 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

Plain chocolate does not contain milk, even the cheap stuff. It might contain butter. It's 52%, that particular bar.

 

 

Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, concentrated butter (milk), emulsifier: sunflower lecithin, natural vanilla flavour.

 

https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/20430746/chocolat-noir-bellarom

For health reasons i only allow 4 squares of dark chocolate these days. My wife has to hide the rest lol.

[A1Str8]

In Europe a 100gr bar costs about 1 euro. That's the cheaper one. 85% cocoa. 12-16 is really cheap. A hundred thb per a hundred gram is pang mak. 

[Eindhoven]

1 hour ago, A1Str8 said:

In Europe a 100gr bar costs about 1 euro. That's the cheaper one. 85% cocoa. 12-16 is really cheap. A hundred thb per a hundred gram is pang mak. 

 

I just illustrated that it does not.

 

Even Fairtrade products can cost less than 1 Euro

 

https://www.lidl.ie/p/p16838

Edited July 6, 2020 by Eindhoven

[topt]

2 hours ago, Susco said:

 

The Casino pure chocolate is also 52% cacao, and is available at Big C extra at 139 Baht for 2 x 200 gram

If you like plain dark chocolate then this, for me, is the best ongoing value that is easily available, and has been for the past 5 years or more.

[Eindhoven]

3 hours ago, Susco said:

Lidl and Aldi pure chocolate is 52% cacao.

 

The Casino pure chocolate is also 52% cacao, and is available at Big C extra at 139 Baht for 2 x 200 gram

 

It's cocoa, not cacao.