What is cocoa powder?

The word cacao comes from the word kakawa from language of the Olmecs people and was already used around 1000 BC.

Cacao is deliciously rich and bitter. Raw cacao beans can be ground and used in lieu of cocoa powder or chocolate. There are two basic types, dutched and natural and each is available with fat contents within a range of about 8-32%.

The powder should be manufactured with well-winnowed nibs from properly fermented and dried cocoa beans.

Cocoa powder is a valuable flavoring material in baked goods and desserts as well as the basis of hot chocolate drinks. It is made from fermented, roasted and ground cacao beans.

Like chocolate, cocoa powder is produce form liquor by removing some of the fat. This is carried out by hydraulic pressing of the liquor, the quantity of fat removed being carefully controlled.

The commercial powder varies in color and flavor, dependent upon the quality the beans used, the degree of roasting and precise method.

The good quality cocoa powder has the following characteristics:
*PH: 5.6 to 7.1 dependent upon whether or not the cocoa beans were processed with alkali.
*Fat: about 24% and not less than 22%
*Moisture: 3-4%

The higher the fat content the more rounded is the flavor. General –purpose manufacturing cocoa as used in dough, biscuit creams or as the basis for coatings has fat content of between 9 and 12%, may be rising a little higher, but cocoa for use in beverages is richer in fat, usually not less than 22%.
What is cocoa powder?

Cocoa powder usage and consumption

Consumption has increased more than tenfold since the turn of the twentieth century, commercial cacao cultivation having spread around the world in a belt within twenty degrees of the equator and the varieties of chocolate flavored confections having proliferated worldly.

Natural and Dutch process cocoa powder may be used interchange as long as there is no leavening in the recipe.

However, if a recipe calls for baking powder or baking soda, need to use the cocoa specified, otherwise, the texture and flavor of the pastry will suffer and the recipe may even fail.

The cocoa powder is made into a drink and can be added to milk, cakes and ice cream. The beans contain the stimulant alkaloid, theobromine (about 2.5 percent) and about 0.8 percent caffeine, but these quantities are reduced after processing.

General purpose manufacturing cocoa as used in doughs, biscuit creams or as the basis for coatings has a fat content of between 9 and 12%, may be rising a little higher.

Confections such as nougats, pastes and pralines also often use cocoa as a flavoring material.

The best way to heighten the flavor of cocoa powder is to blend it with boiling water before adding it to the recipe.

Cocoa differs from the other common beverages (coffee and tea) in that it has a marked nutritional composition, for example cocoa powder contains about 25 percent fat (saturated), 16 percent protein and 12 percent carbohydrate (about half are sugars).

Natural cocoa powder also known as non-alkalized cocoa powder is the classics American cocoa used of making chocolate cakes and brownies. Non-alkalized cocoa powder can be acidic and very assertive in flavor where alkalized is darker, milder in taste and more balanced.
Cocoa powder usage and consumption