Can you have white chocolate while following the Elimination Phase of the low FODMAP diet? YES!
White chocolate does not contain any of the cacao mass (cacao solids) from the cacao bean, which is why it is white (or at least a creamy, ivory color). Many of you are fans, so we thought a tutorial was worthwhile – especially because you might have thought you had to give up your favorite treat. But we have good news…
You CAN have white chocolate while following the low FODMAP diet, which you will learn here in our article, All About White Chocolate.
Monash Lab Testing of White Chocolate
At first glance on the Monash app you will note a Yellow light indicating moderate FODMAPs for white chocolate, but as always, we encourage you to click through to read the whole entry of the app. You will see that a 25 gram serving is Green Light and low FODMAP!
The image below shows you how much you can eat! Look at the amount in the bowl. Not bad, eh? You can have this size serving and stay within your low FODMAP guidelines!
Also, the fine print in the Monash app suggests that larger amounts should be avoided IF you malabsorb lactose. If you do not malabsorb lactose, you can certainly try larger servings.
Please ignore Monash’s very unhelpful language of “4 squares” being a low FODMAP serving. This means nothing (how big or small is that square). Please use the 25 g recommended portion as your guide.
How To Choose High Quality White Chocolate
What white chocolate you pick makes a difference in terms of flavor and texture, both in your mouth and when used in a recipe. Let us explain. What is chocolaty about white chocolate is the cacao butter.
Without cocoa butter (or cacoa butter as it might be listed) there is nothing within that white chocolate that comes from the cacao plant and in that case, we agree, those types are not “chocolate” at all!
Make Sure The Ingredients List Cocoa Butter on the Label
Cocoa butter (also called cacao butter) is expensive and can be siphoned off during the manufacturing process and sold to the cosmetics industry – a boon to manufacturers who are more interested in the bottom line than the taste of their product.
That natural fat can be replaced with vegetable oils in cheap “white chocolate”. The aroma and flavors from the cocoa butter will be missing, having been replaced by neutral, flavorless vegetable oil. The texture suffers as well.
Cocoa butter melts very close to body temperature and is part of what gives high-quality chocolates, dark, milk or white, their literal melt-in-the-mouth luxuriousness.
Chocolates made with vegetable oils will be waxy on the tongue and not melt as readily.
When shopping for white chocolate, make sure that cacao butter is the only fat listed on the label. The color of the product will be a creamy white or ivory due to the inclusion of the cacao butter, which has a rich yellow dairy butter color.
Now, once you have identified a quality white chocolate listing cocoa butter on the label there is yet another factor to understand. The cocoa butter in most white chocolate is deodorized, which is a filtering and purification process that creates a more neutral base.
This might be great for cosmetics or for a white chocolate where you want a very neutral flavor profile. But if you want to taste the terroir and cacao-ness of the bean from where the cocoa butter is derived, then look no further than El Rey Icoa white chocolate.
This Venezuelan company makes a white chocolate with non-deodorized cocoa butter, which captures all the natural flavors and aromas of the chocolate itself.
Tasting is Believing
Dédé teaches a chocolate tasting class all over the U.S. to professionals as well as to everyday chocolate fanatics and she always includes Icoa in the sampling as a way to show chocolate lovers who think they hate white chocolate that perhaps there is more than meets the eye, or rather the palate.
We encourage you to do the same. We also use Valrhona Ivoire in the Test Kitchen and occasionally Callebaut.
If Baking, Use the Chocolate Called For
So if you are eating white chocolate, stick to the portion size and find a true white chocolate that you love. If you are baking with it, again, stick with portion size and use whatever white chocolate is recommended in the recipe.
As with all chocolates, substitutions within recipes will affect the outcome and not always for the better. You can try a suitable amount of white chocolate in our Espresso White Chocolate Chunk Cookies. We suggest Callebaut white chocolate, or Valrhona Ivoire for these cookies.
If this article tickled your taste buds, you might want to check out All About Milk Chocolate and our article All About Dark Chocolate. We’ve got good news for you milk chocolate lovers.
Our All About Cocoa article might be of interest, as well.
I have been developing white chocolate recipes for years, including during my stints at Bon Appetit magazine and I am thrilled to be able to now create low FODMAP recipes with this delectable ingredient.
Low FODMAP White Chocolate Recipes
