Cocoa Butter

Cocoa Butter - A Delicacy, Cure-all, and Beautifier?!

Cocoa Butter is an ingredient and, as a fat, a flavour carrier in white chocolate, but is also used in cosmetics ✓ pharmaceuticals ✓ and cooking ✓.

Cocoa butter is available with its natural flavour and as deodorised cocoa butter. Deodorised cocoa butter is very neutral in taste, not to say it tastes of nothing.

Our cocoa butter comes from the Dominican Republic and is guaranteed vegan. Like our chocolate-covered cocoa beans, our roasted cocoa beans and our Coffee, all products come from the Dominican Republic from the Soto Santana family and are produced to top quality. We are delighted and proud to now be able to present to you the family's incredibly good cocoa products, which we source directly from them.

What is Cocoa Butter Used For?

Cocoa butter is an ingredient in white chocolate, but it is also essential in good dark chocolate, because without the addition of fat, the chocolate would be a single solid, sticky mass. However, as cocoa butter is a rather expensive raw material, various manufacturers often use other fats when producing their chocolates. But in addition to the preparation of sweet and savoury dishes, cocoa butter is also used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Our skin also benefits from the high fat content and the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and lipids it contains. The pharmaceutical industry still occasionally uses cocoa butter to produce ointments with both medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Cocoa butter is extremely versatile and exceptionally healthy.

How is Cocoa Butter Produced?

Cocoa butter is extracted from the cocoa bean. The fermented cocoa bean is roasted, broken open, and the shell is removed. The cocoa nibs contained within are further processed into cocoa mass. By pressing under strong pressure in a fat press, the cocoa butter is separated from the cocoa mass. This produces cocoa press cake and cocoa butter. The cocoa powder to be obtained from this is referred to as highly defatted or lightly defatted, depending on how much cocoa butter remains in the raw material, based on the degree of deoiling of the cocoa press cake. Cocoa butter is a pale, yellowish, aromatic fat, also known as cocoa fat.

How Does Cocoa Butter Taste and Smell?

Naturally occurring cocoa butter has a mild taste with an unmistakable cocoa flavour. Lovers of white chocolate will be able to unmistakably associate the taste. However, conventional white chocolate, with the addition of sugar and milk or whole milk powder, cream powder, lactose, lecithin, and several other ingredients, naturally has a fundamentally different taste. Cocoa butter is pure nature and completely unprocessed, and while its aroma is only faint, it still smells delightfully of cocoa. Deodorised cocoa butter no longer possesses these characteristics. It neither smells nor tastes of cocoa. Deodorised cocoa butter is preferably used in cosmetics or natural cosmetics, but also in the production of chocolate to imprint it solely with the flavour of cocoa and avoid introducing off-flavours during conching.

How is Cocoa Butter Used in Cosmetics and Pharmaceuticals?

Due to its high fat content and rich vitamin profile, cocoa butter is indispensable in high-quality cosmetic products. For dry, stressed skin, skincare products based on cocoa butter are a rich, nourishing solution, particularly in lip balms, face creams, and body lotions. Cocoa butter supports the skin's natural resilience and strengthens its elasticity, improving the skin's appearance regarding wrinkles and stretch marks. Its high fat content provides the skin with moisture and lipids. Cocoa butter is oxidation-stable and therefore has a particularly long shelf life. In pharmacy, cocoa butter is now only used for the production of ointments. Cocoa butter is also used in the production of soaps due to its re-fattening properties. Dry, chapped hands and skin are richly nourished with products containing cocoa butter.

How is Cocoa Butter Used in Chocolate or Cooking?

Cocoa butter has a melting point of 28–36°C. This is also why chocolate melts on the tongue. This melt-in-your-mouth delight is solid at room temperature; when heated, the cocoa butter becomes liquid and acquires its typical consistency and melt. During chocolate production, cocoa butter is only added at the end of the conching process. The amount of this valuable raw material added depends on the viscosity or flowability of the chocolate. At the Zotter chocolate manufacturer, the addition of cocoa butter is usually between 5-12%. It is most often added to dark chocolate with a 60% cocoa content. The higher the cocoa content, the less cocoa butter is added. Zotter uses deodorised cocoa butter, which has been made flavour-neutral, in its chocolates. Zotter deliberately uses natural cocoa butter only in one specific white chocolate, the "Yellow Chocolate". The intention is to give this white chocolate a cocoa note, which is not usually common for white chocolate. Zotter would never use any foreign fats in the production of its chocolates to save money. Only the finest raw materials are used at the Austrian chocolate manufacturer.

However, cocoa butter is also ideal for frying and baking in the kitchen. Like any other fat, cocoa butter can be easily heated and used for frying. Its smoke point is 200°C without burning. Whether one wishes to use the flavourless or the naturally cocoa-flavoured variant when preparing dishes is a matter of personal preference. Why not give a steak a unique cocoa-like character by frying it in cocoa butter? Anyone who solely wishes to utilise the health benefits of cocoa butter can, of course, choose the deodorised, flavourless version.