Correcting white chocolate’s errors

Illustration by Analie Foland

Why is white chocolate even a thing? The mere mention of it makes adults turn up their nose, the opposite reaction dark chocolate gets. This may be due to a failure in branding: Because the main ingredient in white chocolate is cocoa butter, the fat byproduct of squeezing cocoa beans. It got tagged as “chocolate,” but since it tastes milky and nothing like the brown stuff, it’s possible the human brain gets pissed at the human mouth whose human eyes promised it a chocolatey treat. That’s fair. So let’s steal the term soie blanche from the French (it means “white silk”) to rename it. While we’re correcting its wrongs, know that vegan soie blanche exists. Find iChoc at www.veganessentials.com and Milkless Polar Dream White Bar at www.premiumchocolatiers.com, or make this easy recipe from One Green Planet: double boil 2 cups cocoa butter, add 3/4 cups coconut oil, 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract; cool in a lined tray in the freezer.