What Is White Chocolate? Two Experts Weigh In

White chocolate is primarily made up of three ingredients. "All you really have is cocoa butter, milk powder and sugar," said Sylvester, who's been making chocolate for seven years. "The cocoa butter comes from the cocoa bean, so you can technically call it chocolate, but the reality is that the real cocoa has been squeezed out of the cocoa bean."

Cocoa butter is the ingredient that gives the chocolate its creamy texture, while milk solids and sugar are added for taste. Many brands will also include vanilla and lecithin, a fatty food additive that serves as an emulsifier.

What Percentage of Cocoa Butter Is Needed to Make White Chocolate?

According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, white chocolate must contain a minimum of 20 percent cocoa butter. It should also have a minimum of 14 percent milk solids and at least 3.5 percent milkfat.

The process is quite similar to making a milk chocolate bar, except after the cacao beans are roasted, cracked and winnowed, the cocoa butter is pressed out of the nibs and used to create the final product without the cocoa solids. The butter is mixed with sugar, milk solids and vanilla in a conche machine or melanger to refine the texture and create the desired smoothness and flavor. Then, the mixture is tempered and poured into molds to become solid chocolate.

(FYI, you're likely wondering who invented white chocolate. That credit goes to the Nestlé company, which started producing white chocolate commercially in 1936 as a way to utilize extra milk powder and cocoa butter.)

Is White Chocolate Real Chocolate? 

The short answer? It depends on how you define it. Some chocolate makers will tell you that white chocolate is not real chocolate because it doesn't contain any cocoa solids—the part of the cocoa bean that remains after the butter has been extracted. The remains of the bean are what give dark and milk chocolate their color and flavor, and some experts consider this a key component in chocolate bars. Meanwhile, the absence of these cocoa solids in white chocolate results in a much paler color and a different flavor profile.

Sylvester explains, "Most people call it chocolate, but it's really candy because it's just the fat. There's a very small percentage, I think it's 12 to 15 percent, of cocoa from that butter."

Still, some experts, including Corpuz, would call this real chocolate because cocoa fat is technically a cocoa product. He says, "White chocolate is definitely chocolate. The reason why is, at the end of the day, when we create chocolate, there will always be a percentage attached to it, and what that percentage indicates is the amount of cocoa product in the set chocolate. For example, what we're using is white chocolate 32 percent, [meaning] 32 percent straight cocoa butter."

Corpuz says, "White chocolate has a milkier, sweeter flavor profile [compared to milk and dark chocolate]. It usually already has a vanilla, straightforward flavor, and that's because the flavor of chocolate has been deodorized or taken out of the cocoa butter."

The chocolatier also noted that when the fat doesn't go through deodorization (a steam distillation process that eliminates the natural cocoa aroma), it has a huge impact on the chocolate's taste. He said, "When we extract cocoa butter, that residual flavor of chocolate usually stays with the fat. Some companies, like the Philippine company that we're using, don't deodorize their cocoa butter, so their white chocolate actually has the flavor of chocolate."

Corpuz continued, "Think of it like white sugar. One step of refining becomes dark brown sugar. When we take a second step, it becomes light brown sugar, and then another step would be white sugar. It's a very simplified version. So this idea of when we refine or extract cocoa butter, it's in that dark brown sugar phase where it still has some flavor, and as it gets deodorized, it now becomes like light brown sugar, it has less flavor."

What Flavor Notes Pair Well with White Chocolate?

There's a reason you can't resist those white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. According to Corpuz, white chocolate pairs best with lighter flavors that complement the sweet, milky taste, rather than overpower it.

"A lot of flavors that go well with chocolate are subtle flavors," Corpuz said. "For example, we have the Hojicha Tea bonbon. Hojicha is roasted green tea from Japan. It has this very roasty, nutty flavor profile that, if we paired that with dark chocolate, it would sometimes compete so much that the flavor of the chocolate overpowers it. So when it comes to pairing, it has to be a distinct flavor, but one that won't be overshadowed. Lighter flavors, like teas, go well with white chocolate."

PureWow's former Senior Food Editor, Katherine Gillen, also recommends pairing the sweet and creamy chocolate with tart fruit for a satisfying flavor contrast. (Like this raspberry white chocolate bûche de noël or key lime pie with coconut and white chocolate.)

Oh, I'm so glad you asked. With an ingredient as versatile as white chocolate, you can whip up a variety of Pinterest-worthy treats that are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth, from holiday chocolate bark to white chocolate cranberry oat cookies. Here's a list of 10 must-try white chocolate recipes, courtesy of PureWow's food editors.

• Raspberry White Chocolate Bûche De Noël
• No-Bake Sugar Cookie Truffles
• Key Lime Pie with Coconut and White Chocolate
• Churro Saltine Cracker Toffee
• White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Cookies
• White Chocolate, Espresso and Cardamom Cookies
• Five-Ingredient Holiday Chocolate Bark
• Chocolate-Peppermint Linzer Cookies
• Caramelized White Chocolate Sablés with Sea Salt Recipe
• White Chocolate Aperol Mousse