White Chocolate and Rosé

White chocolate is the Rosé of the chocolate world.

I believe white chocolate gets a bad rap, and my personal opinion of why (based purely on non-scientific study) is that what most people think of as "white chocolate" is actually not chocolate at all. Good quality white chocolate consists of cocoa butter, sugar, milk products, and an emulsifier. Other types of "white chocolate" are mostly made of sugar, milk products, and oil.

Now some chocolate snobs will still maintain that even quality white chocolate is not really chocolate because it has no cocoa powder. I think that since it contains cocoa butter, it can still technically be considered chocolate. It should have at least 30% cacao content, and 40% is better.

Of course, some chocolate snobs poo poo milk chocolate as well, and as that is my favorite chocolate, I poo poo the chocolate snobs.

But I digress.

So that stuff in baking aisle called "white baking chips" or "white baking squares"?

Not actual white chocolate.

They do work in a pinch. I've used them to make truffles (practice truffles), and frosting for cakes, but to break out in true truffle-making fashion, I used real white chocolate. I've started using Lindt white chocolate bars because Ghiradelli, my favorite brand to make truffles with, faked me out. They don't actually make real white chocolate chips. Theirs is just "white baking chips."

Darn them.

Lindt is a Swiss company, or a French one. I don't really know, but if it's one or the other, you know they have to be on the level.  Or at least they should be.

When I say white chocolate is the Rosé of the chocolate world, I mean that Rosé gets just as bad a rap as white chocolate. I never used to like white chocolate (or I thought I didn't), until I tried a good quality white chocolate bar, in this case Green & Black's Organic White Chocolate. It had Madagascar vanilla added to it.

YUM.

And just like that I was sold on the white chocolate.

Same thing happened with Rosé. I'm not the wine snob my father is, but I still enjoy fine wines. I'm probably a bigger snob than most of my friends, but when I mentioned to these people that I actually drink and enjoy Rosé , they all gave me the nose-wrinkled "EW!" look, like I had just announced that I enjoy drinking pureed dog feces.

Hey, Rosé is some good stuff. You just have to be smart about it. Again, like white chocolate being associated with stuff that's not really chocolate at all, Rosé is associated with that awful pink Zinfandel one can buy for four bucks at the liquor store. It's mass produced, super sweet, and frankly, disgusting.

Sort of like Chardonnay, which also gets the wine snob nose-wrinkle. I tried a lightly oaked Chardonany from the Weston Wineries 307 label, and it was very good for a white wine. Take that, wine snobs!

But that's another blog.

I'm sure I'll have a truffle for it too. I'm already working on it.

But back to the Rosé. I have tried a few bottles of imported, dry Rosé. One from France, one from Portugal, and one from Spain. They were very good. Not too sweet, crisp, with a fresh finish. And they pair well with white chocolate. Sort of a nice Christmassy combo there, if you want my opinion. Chocolate and wine are always good, but if you're looking to spice up the party with something different than the usual party favors, pair a Rosé with a white chocolate truffle, and voila. Instant festivities.

It's a great idea for an afternoon wedding shower, too.

Milk chocolate pairs well with Rosé too, maybe better than the white chocolate. With chocolate/wine pairings it always depends on the bottle of wine.

This weekend, I tried a Garnacha Rosé paired with just a classic unflavored white truffles. I didn't add anything to my ganache, though I've used peppermint, anisette, and vanilla in my white chocolate ganache before. The result actually improved the wine. The wine on its own was almost too tart for me. I like dry, but not sour. It was close to vinegary. Food smoothed it out (I had some with my butternut squash soup). And the white chocolate really smoothed it out, giving it almost a candy/berry flavor.

All in all, a lovely pairing. I'm going to try the 307 Rosé  with the truffles next, because that's one of my favorite labels, and because their Rosé is a great one to try if one is looking to leave behind their snobbish ways and dive into the new party that is Rosé. Also, I want to try some milk chocolate with a Rosé as well, provided that this time I don't mess up my milk chocolate truffles like the last time (gooey mess everywhere).

 

I also tried a dark, espresso flavored truffle with the Rosé and surprisingly, it was not horrible. Dark chocolate still pairs best with the bold, darker red wines (like Syrah or Zinfandel), but it was palatable with the Rosé. That might have been due to the sourness of the Rosé, but still, a good experiment.