Lecithin in Chocolate

Take a look at an ingredient label on a bar of chocolate. 9 times out of 10 you will see soy lecithin listed there.

Is using lecithin as an ingredient in chocolate important, and what is the benefit of using it?

Lecithin is a phospholipid typically derived from soybeans or eggs.  In its liquid form, it is a yellow-brownish fatty substance with a fairly thick viscosity.

Lecithin is very important to chocolate because it reduces viscosity, replaces expensive ingredients such as cocoa butter, improves the flow properties of chocolate, and can improve the shelf life for certain products.

Viscosity reduction, or making a coating thinner, can certainly be done by adding cocoa butter or other fats and oils, but it takes greater amounts to accomplish this and is therefore more costly. 

What Percentage of Lecithin is Used in Chocolate?

If 3.0% or 4.0% additional cocoa butter (could be even greater depending on the viscosity of the finished product) is needed to thin down a coating, only 0.5% of lecithin would be needed to get the same result. A little lecithin goes a long way. 

However, there is a limit for lecithin. After 0.5%, the reducing effects on viscosity stop and can even start to go the other way and increase the viscosity.

Chocolate manufacturers know just how much to use in each formulation to maximize the advantage in viscosity.

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Bryn Kirk

21 thoughts on “Lecithin in Chocolate

  1. avatar Amy Levin

    When you say that adding too much can make it thicker instead of thiner, would it affect the tempering to add enough that it begins to thicken? I’m making a vegan white chocolate and struggling to achieve a viscosity equal to the dark I make from paste. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

     
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    1. avatar Bryn Kirk

      Too much lecithin will interfere with tempering to the point that it won’t temper at all. In the past, I’ve seen the chocolate turn to the consistency of pudding or frosting and it never hardens. It would make a great filling but not a coating.

       
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  2. avatar Chocolate Lovers

    We stopped buying chocolate with lecithin. Looking for companies that produce chocolate without lecithin, can anyone share?

     
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  3. avatar Dave

    I was wondering how much lecithin there is in chocolate powder like Nesquik? Would the 0.5% also apply to such product? Thank you.

     
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  4. avatar Brian

    Lecithin is used in small amounts in European chocloate, however it is used as an emulsifier to get all the parts of the chocolate to combine nicely.

    Doctor Sarah Myhill an internationally renown ME specialist and nutritional guru recommends using Sunflower lecithin but advises against soy lecithin.

     
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  5. avatar Pfft

    Really? If you would care to look at the labelling on Lindt chocolate, there is clearly stated, that it has soy lecithin in it. Waxy taste however does not come from that, rather it comes from replacing cocoa butter with cheaper fats and oils, also, might be the wrong tempering regimes and glucose syrup to blame.

     
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    1. avatar Steve

      Pfft Cheaper fats and oils can only be used up to 5% in the EU and not at all in the US. I was unable to tell the difference of the chocolate with 5% non cocoa butter added. You can check FDA Standards of Identity for Chocolate(US) or the Codex Alimentaria(EU) for the supporting regulations.

       
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  6. avatar Chuck

    I don’t think any of the European chocolates have lecithin in them. It makes me sick. I can eat Lindt all day long with no ill effects, but Hersheys makes me sick and tastes like wax.

     
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    1. avatar Margaret Lynn

      Yes, I find that Hershey Chocolate does not sit well with me either but I didn’t know why. it is starting to make sense now.

       
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      1. avatar Michaelrt

        Perhaps the use of salt in hersheys chocolate does you wrong.
        If money were no object, cocoa butter could be used to create the final viscousity, but cocoa butter is expensive, so a pound or so of lecethin makes sense. Soy, sunflower or whatever… soy is cheap and effective

         
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    2. avatar Pamella

      All chocolates do have lecithin in the EU, the biggest difference between ours and the US is that we use a different kind of cocoa and we do not add butyric acid either.

       
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  7. avatar Bucky Ball

    Per Epstein and Olsan, March 3, 1912, lecithin increases fermentation. Per “mnwelldir.org”, cancer metabolizes through a process of fermentation; and fermentation requires sugar. Sugar and soy lecithin are ingredients in most American-made chocolates. Many people break out after eating chocolate because their bodies do not easily digest/assimilate lecithin. For these people, lecithin and sugar, combined, can also be a deadly because it stands to reason that if sugar gets trapped in the body, by lecithin, then the growth of cancerous tumors accelerates. Therefore, chocolate manufacturers should exclude lecithin from their products.

     
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    1. avatar Uncle Robert

      The comments above about cancer have no scientific merit (e.g., “cancer metabolizes through a process of fermentation; and fermentation requires sugar.” Sugar is the primary energy source for all cells in the body (not just cancer). In fact, the brain can’t function without sugar. Low sugar levels cause hypoglycemia, which can be life-threatening. Human cells can metabolize sugar either aerobically (respiration) or anaerobically (fermentation). For example, during vigorous exercise, muscle cells use respiration until some muscle cells don’t get enough oxygen and must turn to fermentation. The by-product of the resulting sugar fermentation is lactic acid, which causes muscle aches. In summary, the implied connection between sugar, fermentation, and cancer above is bogus and misleading. The other statement is just as bogus: “lecithin and sugar, combined, can also be a deadly because it stands to reason that if sugar gets trapped in the body, by lecithin, then the growth of cancerous tumors accelerates. Therefore, chocolate manufacturers should exclude lecithin from their products.” Perhaps these statements are offered by an executive in a company that doesn’t use lecithin to produce chocolate in a shameful attempt to scare some people into buying more of that company’s product.

       
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      1. avatar yasmine

        It is not sugar that the body needs it is carbs. you can find carbs in veg and fruit, anything sweet, gluten or starch. apart of animal products. the body also needs fat, actually, the body needs more fat than carbs. the cells feed on fat. check out ketogenic diet – it is high-fat low carb lifestyle. It is very true that the root of almost all illnesses is sugar – at the moment I am researching on making chocolate with stevia which is a natural sweetener, but I need a binder. what kind of binder will be best to use then?

         
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        1. avatar Awadalla Manna

          Not the sugar that is dangerous; it is the high calories, be it from eating too many chocolates or from the starches and fats in your (safe) ketogenic- diet.

           
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