Chocolate is one of the most common sweet treats that society enjoys. With there being three main types of chocolate, there is more variety for people to choose from, which can be directly connected to its popularity because it is hard to not like at least one of the three types: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate. However, some people like myself believe that white chocolate should not be considered chocolate because of the ingredients.  

Aside from appearance, the main ingredient in milk and dark chocolate is chocolate solids, which are straight from cocoa beans. When cocoa beans are removed from their pods, fermented, dried, roasted, cracked open, and their shells discarded, what results is a nib. Chocolate nibs are ground into a paste called chocolate liquor. This is also what gives chocolate the brown color. According to bonappetit.com, white chocolate is made with a blend of sugar, cocoa butter, milk products, vanilla, and a fatty substance called lecithin. While white chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is also in milk and dark chocolate, nowhere in these ingredients listed for white chocolate are chocolate solids mentioned.  

  White chocolate should also not be considered chocolate because the taste is completely different from milk and dark chocolate. If someone took a bite of milk or dark chocolate and then had white chocolate, they would immediately be able to tell the difference because white chocolate tastes sweeter than the other two. The difference in flavor connects back to the lack of chocolate solids in white chocolate. The added vanilla and fat that are substitutes create a different taste that is more candy-like.  

While I will enjoy white chocolate from time to time, especially around Halloween with the white chocolate Kit-Kats, there are too many differences between white chocolate and milk and dark chocolate to put it with the other two. Because of these differences, I think white chocolate should be categorized as a candy which would leave only two types of chocolate milk and dark.