What’s the Deal with Blonde Chocolate?

Hershey’s, purveyors of some of the world’s most popular candy, recently announced that for every gold medal the U.S. team wins over the course of the Winter Olympics, they will launch a special giveaway. The first 10,000 people to click on a promotional link on the company’s Facebook and Twitter will receive a coupon for $1.50 off a bar of their Hershey’s Gold. That all sounds great—I love chocolate and gold medals—but what exactly is Hershey’s Gold?

The Hershey’s bar in question is made from caramelized white chocolate, otherwise known as blonde chocolate. The process renders white chocolate, milky white and intensely saccharine, a shade of brown akin to, well, caramel. Blonde chocolate has a toastier, fuller taste than its pale predecessor. In recent years, blonde chocolate has gone from well-kept industry secret to mainstream indulgence. Recently, it even figured into the ingredients list of a special Starbucks mocha.

It’s relatively new: blonde chocolate wasn’t even discovered—accidentally, at that!—until 2006 by chocolate makers at Valrhona. To make it, chocolatiers roast chips of white chocolate (made from cocoa beans, sugar, and milk solids) at somewhere between 200° F and 275° F and stir it constantly to keep it from burning. The heat turns the chocolate a nice milky-coffee color and coaxes out a totally new flavor profile. After it’s melted, it can temper back into hard chocolate and be treated the same as its dark, milk, or white cousins.

Since 2006, it’s charted a slow trajectory from industry-insider knowledge to its current position on our candy aisles and all over the Olympics. Hershey’s version comes studded with pretzels and peanuts, a salty complement to the caramelly sweetness. So whether or not you’re lucky enough to win a part of the Hershey’s promotion, at least you know what it’s about.

Have you tried this unique variety? Tell us about it in the comments.