America’s Test Kitchen is a real 2,500 square foot test kitchen located just outside of Boston that is home to more than three dozen full-time cooks and product testers. Our mission is simple: to develop the absolute best recipes for all of your favorite foods.

The amazing team at America’s Test Kitchen put together this definitive list of Chocolate Varieties to study up on. Knowing all of the different terms may make you a more knowledgeable Chocoholic but it won’t change most peoples taste. Most chocoholics  like what they like and won’t change because of facts or trends in health or snobbery.

I can attest first hand there are chocolate consumers who absolutely love white chocolate and other sweet chocolates. Who is to say they are wrong for loving the mouth feel and taste of “The Pretender” ?

White Chocolate: “The Pretender”
Because it contains no cocoa, white chocolate is not actually chocolate. It’s made from cocoa butter (the fat from the bean), sugar, vanilla, and milk solids. Our favorite brand, Guittard Choc-au-Lait White Chips, replaces much of the cocoa butter with hydrogenated palm kernel oil (so the chips hold their shape better). We use white chocolate to add creaminess and structure in some surprising places, such as vanilla ice cream.

From our experience, most American Consumers like milk chocolate . Id be surprised if we were asked more then twice a year for a Gianduia. Not to say that one variety of chocolate is superior to another, its all regional. In Philadelphia, you might expect the South Side Italian neighborhoods to swoon over the “Italian Charmer”, but we’ve yet to notice it.

Gianduia (zhan-DOO-yah): “Italian Charmer”
You may know the flavor of gianduia from Nutella, a popular hazelnut and chocolate spread. Gianduia also comes in bars for baking and as candies called gianduiotti, which are popular in Torino, Italy—gianduia’s birthplace. Hazelnut paste gives this (milk or dark) chocolate its nutty flavor and soft, fudgy texture. Make your own chocolate-hazelnut spread to top toast, fill crêpes, or sandwich together cookies.

Follow the link below for the 12 things every knowledgable chocoholic should know

Source: Dark, light, sweet, creamy: 12 chocolates to know