Chocolate Activism
Everyone who's done a little cooking knows that the type and quality of the fat you use has a dramatic effect on the final product. That's one of the reasons why mass-produced cookies made with hydrogenated shortening, rather than butter, are markedly different in texture and mouth-feel compared to the ones you bake at home.
That's why it's especially upsetting (well, to those of us who take our food very seriously) that the FDA is trying to change the definition of chocolate so that it doesn't need to contain any cocoa butter at all - cocoa butter being the key ingredient that gives chocolate its creamy texture. Instead, manufacturers would be allowed to use vegetable oils or other fats, instead.
American chocolate is already laughably terrible by international standards, as our current definition allows a waxy product with less cocoa and cocoa butter onto the market. Do we really want American chocolate to become even worse than it is today? Well, the good news is it's not a done deal yet. We're still in the public comment period for this policy change.
The deadline to submit a comment to the FDA is April 25, so hurry to submit a comment to the FDA today. No, really. Go do it right now!
