Do you know chocolate ingredients?

Hello my fellow chocolate lovers,

 

I am Takanori Chiwata, the chocolate engineer of COCONAMA CHOCOLATE.

 

 

I will be carrying on with the topic “chocolate’s ingredients” in this post.

 

Let’s once again look at the ingredients section of a basic chocolate bar.

 

 

 

It lists sugar, cacao mass, whole milk powder, cacao butter/lecithin, and vanilla.

 

 

We hear cacao mass and cocoa butter often, but what exactly is it?

 

They are both extracted from cacao beans, as well as things like cocoa powder and cacao nibs.

 

Here’s an image of cacao beans.

 

 

 

Now, let me explain about their differences.

 

First off, cacao nibs are just cacao beans crushed in bits after removing its shells.

 

Here’s what we call cacao nibs.

 

 

We simply call the roasted ones “roasted cacao nibs”, and the raw ones “raw cacao nibs”.

Cacao nibs have a nice crunchiness and are not overly bitter, so it will make a nutritious breakfast together with yoghurt.

 

Once cacao nibs are grinded until paste form, it will be called the “cacao mass”.  It is also known by names like cacao liquor and unsweet chocolate. It is 100% cacao just like cacao nibs, but it tastes far different from cacao nibs… This one’s SUPER BITTER.

 

Here’s this bitter guy.

 

 

It looks no different from dark chocolate doesn’t it?

 

When you strain cacao mass, it separates into yellowish liquid and a blackish powder.

We call this liquid “cocoa butter”, and the powder “cocoa powder”

 

Cocoa butter

 

 

 

Cocoa powder

 

Cocoa butter is 100% cacao fat, but the cocoa powder is 22% cacao fat and 78% other cacao elements (There are also 12% and 0% fat, but most cocoa powder is 22% fat ). We call it “cocoa butter”, but we just call it “butter” because it sounds nice and it has nothing to do with dairy products.

 

White chocolate is made combining sugar and whole milk powder to cocoa butter.

 

Cocoa butter

 

 

Sugar

 

Whole milk powder

 

 

 

Milk chocolate is made by adding cacao mass to the ingredients of white chocolate.

 

Cocoa butter

Sugar

 

Whole milk powder

 

Cacao mass

 

 

 

 

 

Cocoa powders are often used in baking goods. It can also make a very mild milk chocolate once added into white chocolate.

 

Please give it a try! Don’t forget to use a pure cocoa powder, since hot chocolate powder already has sugar and milk powder in it.

 

 

We’ve looked over cacao nibs, cacao mass, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder. How are they different in price comparison?

 

Cocoa butter is the most expensive one without a question. They are usually priced double the price of cacao mass, and triple the cocoa powder.

 

Why is it so expensive though? Recently, dark chocolate has been gaining popularity due to its health benefits.

 

 

 

But… We know milk chocolate is everyone’s favourite of all time. The world famous kitkat, Hershey’s chocolate bar, Cadburry’s milk chocolate bar, M&M, and many more. The amount of produce is completely different. In order to make milk chocolate, we need to extract just the cocoa butter from cacao mass. So considering the steps necessary, it gets priced cocoa butter>cacao mass>cocoa powder.

 

 

 

 

FYI: I’ve been using the words “cacao” and “cocoa”. Generally, the unprocessed products are called “cacao” and the processed products “cocoa”, but this can depend on the country you are living in.

 

 

That’s why we call the beans and nibs with “cacao” , and the processed butter and powder with “cocoa” instead.

 

Let’s call it a day now.

 

 

With hopes that you will be able to encounter the perfect chocolate just for you,

 

Takanori Chiwata