chocolate
chocolate-101.Com

A distinction is made between chocolate, the general food product made from cacao beans, and chocolates, which refers to confections made from chocolate: bonbons, pralines, truffles,  etc. While “chocolates” is also the plural form of “chocolate,” simple grammar rules should make this distinction clear. In 1912, the Belgian chocolatier Jean Neuhaus invented the first hard chocolate shell, which he called called couverture, enabling fillings of any kind and consistency—cream, soft caramel, light ganache, liqueurs, etc. Previously, only relatively solid centers like caramels and nut pastes could be enrobed in chocolate—anything less solid would have leaked out. However, this engendered layers of confusion regarding filled chocolates: Neuhaus called his chocolates pralines (creating a dual meaning and confusion with the French caramelized almond pralines, made since 1636). Other chocolatiers referred to them as truffles (creating a dual meaning and confusion with the French balls of ganache, covered in cocoa; sometimes, the shells are filled with ganache, sometimes with creme, whipped cream, fruit purée, liqueur, nut paste, etc.).

Tags:  distinction confections bonbons pralines truffles liqueurs ganache