It was first commercially sold by Swiss company Nestlé in 1936, but in the United States, manufacturing only started in 1984.

During the 21st century, manufacturers began producing more premium white chocolate, and in the United Kingdom the traditionally children's product was marketed to adults for the first time.

Finally, the chocolate is tempered by heating, cooling and reheating the mass, improving the product's appearance, stability and snap.

[1] The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first use of the phrase as occurring in a December 1917 edition of Scientific American magazine, wherein the writer describes white chocolate as a product eaten by the Swiss Army, made entirely of cocoa butter and sugar.

It mentions an earlier use printed in International Confectioner the previous December, where a rumor of a white chocolate being made out of Switzerland is described.

Making white chocolate was said to be a way to use milk powder and cocoa butter, which were then produced in excess.

[3][1] According to Nestlé, white chocolate was originally a coating for a vitamin product they were making in conjunction with pharmaceutical group Roche.

[8] In Spain, white chocolate became common in the early 1970s and by the late 1990s there were four rival brands selling the confection.

As of 2024[update], Valrhona was lobbying the French government to recognize it as a separate type of chocolate.

[23] Hershey's new launch and Nestlé's new White Crunch bar, however, failed to turn around sales.

[22] As of 2001, much of the "white chocolate" sold in the United States was made of palm kernel oils or hydrogenated fats and called "compound coating".

In 1997, the FDA released a proposal for a standard identity,[25] and in 2002, in response to a decade of lobbying, administrative burden of the permit system, and in order to make it easier to market US white chocolate internationally, the FDA regulated a standard of identity for white chocolate for the first time.

[27] As pure pressed cocoa butter has a flavor that can be considered unpleasant in some applications, before it is used in white chocolate, it is partly deodorized.

[29] Beyond cocoa butter, white chocolate contains sugar, milk solids,[30] emulsifiers (generally soy lecithin or PGPR),[31] and flavors (such as vanilla).

CBEs are fats with similar triglyceride structures, such as palm oil and shea butter,[35] while CBSs are fats with dissimilar triglyceride structures that are refined to have similar qualities of hardness, mouthfeel and flavor release.

These include fully refined fats made from palm kernel and coconut oil.

[36][37] The basic process of making white chocolate involves mixing, refining, conching, standardizing and tempering.

[38] In the mixing phase, cocoa butter is combined with sugar, milk solids, emulsifiers and flavors.

[33][44] After conching, the viscosity and taste of the mixture is standardized by adding flavorings, emulsifiers or cocoa butter.

[51][52] Regulations govern what may be marketed as white chocolate: since 2000 in the European Union, white chocolate must be (by mass) at least 20% cocoa butter and 14% total milk solids, of which enough milk fat must be contained to make up 3.5%.

[31] Unlike in the EU, products in the US containing vegetable fats other than cocoa butter cannot be labelled "chocolate".

[b][60][61] Cocoa butter can contribute a yellow color to white chocolate, which can be considered undesirable.

In a reference amount of 100 grams (3.5 oz), white chocolate supplies 2,250 kJ (540 kcal) of food energy, is a rich source (22% of the Daily Value, DV) of riboflavin, and a moderate source (10–15% DV) of pantothenic acid, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium (table).

[73] White chocolate, supplemented with fat-soluble colors and flavors, is often used to coat candies and cakes in the United States.

[76] As of 1992, the Milkybar constituted 80% of the £41,000,000 UK white-chocolate market,[77] in 2020 it was the most popular white chocolate sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The cosmetics industry also purchases white chocolate, based on beliefs that it can help with "skin renewal and rejuvenation".

[15] White chocolate bars can be flavored and filled, including with butterscotch, caramel, coffee, fondant, honey, mint, nougat, nuts and vanilla.