It doesn’t look or taste like cocoa-colored chocolate, so what is this sweet treat? We dug into its history to find out exactly what white chocolate is.
What Is White Chocolate, Exactly?
Updated on Apr. 24, 2025
The first modern chocolate bar was invented in 1847, but it wasn’t until 1930 that white chocolate appeared on the scene. Invented by Switzerland’s Nestlé corporation, white chocolate was unlike anything chocolatiers had ever seen before. Nearly a century later, chocolate lovers are still wondering: What is white chocolate?
Made from the same cacao beans as other chocolates, white chocolate is produced with a little twist. Chocolatiers take the brown cocoa solids out of the original chocolate equation entirely, using only the cocoa butter. And here’s more food trivia you might not know: The flavor of white chocolate can vary wildly between brands. Some taste of rich cocoa butter. Some are aggressively sweet. And some have a subtle hint of vanilla flavoring.
Keep reading to find out what white chocolate is, how it tastes and whether it has the same health benefits as other types of chocolate.
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What is white chocolate, exactly?
White chocolate is made by blending cocoa butter with sugar, milk products, vanilla and lecithin, which is a naturally derived fatty acid that’s used as an emulsifier. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), white chocolate must contain the following to qualify:
- At least 20% cocoa butter
- At least 14% milk solids by weight
- No more than 55% sugar or other sweeteners
With those mandatory ingredients accounted for, the FDA allows white chocolate to be made with any or all of the following ingredients:
- Emulsifiers
- Spices
- Natural and/or artificial flavorings
- Nuts
- Coffee
- Malt
- Salt
- Antioxidants
The most common flavoring used in white chocolate is vanilla, but manufacturers are allowed to use almost any flavoring they want. But the FDA does not allow white chocolate to be flavored with anything that tastes like chocolate, milk or butter.
Who created white chocolate?
White chocolate can be traced back to 1865, when chocolatiers discovered broma, a process for extracting cocoa butter from ground and roasted cocoa beans. Fast-forward to the early 1900s: Swiss chocolatiers began blending cocoa butter with milk powder and vanilla, setting the stage for white chocolate as we know it.
In 1920, Hollywood Brands introduced the Double Zero bar—a blend of white chocolate fudge, nougat and peanuts—which would later become Hershey’s Zero bar. But white chocolate really hit the mainstream in 1936, when Nestlé launched its Galak bar.
During World War I and II, flavor innovation took a back seat to nutrition needs: In 1937, the U.S. Army approached Hershey’s Chocolate Corp. to create an emergency ration bar. The resulting D Ration bar was designed to weigh 4 ounces, be high in energy content, transport well, withstand high temperatures and taste “a little better than a boiled potato” to deter soldiers from consuming it outside of emergencies.
Finally, in 1948, Nestlé unveiled its Alpine White bar, a North American favorite that helped spark the world’s obsession with white chocolate.
Is white chocolate truly chocolate?
You may have heard that white chocolate isn’t chocolate because it doesn’t contain chocolate solids. But if chocolate could talk, it’d tell you just the opposite. According to the technical definition, white chocolate most certainly qualifies.
So what is chocolate, technically speaking? It’s defined as a food made from the roasted and ground pods of the cacao tree. After harvesting, the pods are cracked open, and the beans are removed and left out for several days to naturally ferment. Next, the beans are dried and roasted, and their shells are removed and discarded using blowers. What’s left is known as a cacao nib (resembling a chocolate chip), the base element of all things chocolate.
The cacao nibs are ground into a thick, oily paste called chocolate liquor, which is then pressed, pulverized and separated into two different products: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Cocoa solids are brown, flavorful and used to make dark and milk chocolate. Cocoa butter is pure fat and can be used to make white chocolate. Even though they’re made from different components, brown chocolate and white chocolate both come from the same cacao pod.
But just because white chocolate is technically chocolate doesn’t mean everyone recognizes it as such. Outside of its culinary definition, for reasons of taxation and regulation, chocolate also has legal definitions, which are different in every country. In the European Union, chocolate can’t have less than 35% dry cocoa solids. In America, chocolate that contains cocoa solids is defined as “sweet chocolate,” whereas white chocolate has its own distinct definition.
White chocolate vs. milk chocolate: What’s the difference?
The most obvious difference between white and milk chocolate is the color, but that’s not all. Unlike milk, dark or semisweet chocolate, white chocolate contains no cocoa solids, which is why it has a distinctively sweet flavor and white color. The more cocoa solids a chocolate has, the richer the characteristic chocolate flavor.
- White chocolate: no cocoa solids
- Milk chocolate: at least 10% chocolate liquor (which includes both cocoa solids and cocoa butter)
- Semisweet chocolate: 60% cocoa solids
- Dark chocolate: 70% (or more) cocoa solids
- Bittersweet chocolate: 70% (or more) cocoa solids
Is white chocolate healthier than milk or dark?
Nope—and in fact, it’s the least healthful of the bunch. While it’s true that chocolate has some health benefits, it’s difficult to make the argument that white chocolate is a health food. Even though it contains cocoa butter—which is high in vitamin D2, potassium, phosphorus, iron, copper, and magnesium—the primary ingredient in white chocolate is sugar.
In other words, an alternate answer to the question “What is white chocolate?” is this: an occasional indulgence.
Chocolate’s most substantial health benefits come from the flavonoids in cocoa solids, so as a rule, the darker the chocolate, the better. If you’re eating chocolate for your health, stick to dark chocolate with a cocoa percentage of 70% or more.
What does white chocolate taste like?
A high-quality white chocolate bar will taste rich and buttery, with notes of sweet cream and a luxurious, velvety mouthfeel. Many white chocolates have a hint of vanilla flavoring, which helps intensify the flavor of the cocoa butter. Lower-quality white chocolate is sweeter, as it contains more sugar, which is cheap.
How do you use white chocolate?
White chocolate is creamy, rich, sweet and thick. Maybe that’s why you find it in many desserts and even dishes. Indeed, white chocolate is making an aggressive comeback right now. People commonly swap regular milk chocolate out for white chocolate when they want to drink some piping hot and comforting hot cocoa.
You can also bake with white chocolate to make white chocolate fudge, a tasty and innovative twist on traditional, hearty, rich and decadent milk chocolate fudge. White chocolate chip cookies are always winners—toss in some nuts (we’re partial to macadamia) or dried fruits like cranberries for a crunch and citrus tang. Whether you’re making homemade candy, cake or other sweets, you can usually tweak the recipe to use white chocolate instead of milk or dark.
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Sources:
- Food and Drug Administration: “Small Entity Compliance Guide: Standard of Identity for White Chocolate”
- Food and Drug Administration: “White chocolate”
- Food and Drug Administration: “Milk chocolate”
- The Washington Post: “For those who think white chocolate isn’t ‘real’ chocolate, have we got bars for you”
- McGill University: “What’s the difference between white chocolate and brown chocolate?”
- Library of Congress: “Chocolate, Candy and the Law”
- History Channel: “History of Chocolate”
- Wonderopolis: “How is White Chocolate Made?”
- South Florida Reporter: “Nestle Launched the First White Chocolate Bar in 1930–In Switzerland”
- Britannica: “Chocolate”
- BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee: “Cacao, Cocoa & Chocolate: What are the Differences and Do They Matter?”
- OSU News: “The Fascinating Chemistry of Chocolate”
- Chocolate Museum & Cafe “History of White Chocolate”
- All the Whyser: “The Secret History of White Chocolate”
- National Museum of American History: “‘Chocolate is a Fighting Food!’ Chocolate bars in the Second World War”
