What is the difference between bittersweet chocolate and dark chocolate?

Answer 1

Personally, I think bittersweet is just that: bitter. To me, the strong flavour of bittersweet chocs turns me off. I will take dark choc over bittersweet choc any day.

Answer 2

Bittersweet Chocolate:
Still dark, but a little sweeter than unsweetened. It is unsweetened chocolate to which sugar, more cocoa butter, lecithin, and vanilla has been added. It has less sugar and more liquor than semisweet chocolate but the two are interchangeable in baking. Bittersweet has become the sophisticated choice of chefs. It contains a high percentage (up to 75%) of cocoa solids, and little (or no) added sugar.

German Chocolate:
Dark, but sweeter than semisweet. German chocolate is the predecessor to bittersweet. It has no connection to Germany; it was developed by a man named German.

Eating 2 ounces (50 grams) a day of plain chocolate with a minimum content of 70% chocolate solids can be beneficial to health, providing protection against heart disease, high blood pressure, and many other health hazards as well as essential trace elements and nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium, and vitamins A. B1, C, D, and E and it's a lot tastier than boring old vitamin pills too. A 1 1/2-ounce square of chocolate may have as many cancer-fighting antioxidants as a five-ounce glass of red wine.


I like them both, well all chocolate.
Trader Joe's has what they call their 1lb. + chocolate bars.
Their dark chocolate bars have 72% cocoa which is pretty much the best you can get without looking terribly hard.
They also have dark chocolate truffles in a red box, from France, that are under $3. They are killer. I love! truffle chocolate.

Answer 3

Dark has higher cocoa content. Bittersweet's cocoa is treated with more alkali.