Cocoa powder to numerous is the sweet dark stuff yields a milky drink on a cool winter evening but to bakers and chocolatiers this means something entirely different. True cocoa is manufactured directly from cacao beans and lacks the sugary sweet additives we like so much inside our winter season beverages.
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What precisely is cocoa powder? Well in the chocolate marketplace it's what results when cacao goes through the cocoa pressing process. When a cacao bean is pressed the majority of the fat which will be also known as cocoa butter is taken out from the bean. The cocoa nibs (known to the layman as ground up cacao beans) are ground up between thick stones and the paste that results is named chocolate liquor. The liquor is pressed to eliminate a sizable percentage of the fat from the beans. After the fat is taken out of the beans a chocolate "cake" is formed. This cake is then broken down and results in powder. There is a large difference between the supplemented powder that is available on supermarket shelves and true cocoa, namely the inclusion of massive amounts of sugar.
There are two different kinds of cocoa powder which can be used by bakers and chocolatiers: natural and alkalized (also called Dutch or Dutched cocoa.) Natural cocoa could be the lighter brown colored powder and results from the pressing of the nibs described above. Natural cocoa contains no additives to the and the last product is particularly bitter but performs well in baking when combined with other flavors. The chocolate flavor in natural cocoa powder is specially strong. Alkalized or Dutched cocoa powder is the result of cocoa nibs that are treated with alkalizing solutions that lower the Ph of the ground up beans. Alkalizing cacao nibs creates a wide variety of color variations and taste differences because it reduces the bitterness of the last powder. When cocoa is "Dutched" it is more soluble than non-Dutched cocoa and consequently it is appropriate for use within drinking chocolate. Alkalized cocoa powder has a significantly milder taste to it however when found in baking it has to be combined with baking soda or used in a recipe that incorporates acidic ingredients so the alkali in the cocoa powder is well balanced.
Grapiprant(415903-37-6)
What precisely is cocoa powder? Well in the chocolate marketplace it's what results when cacao goes through the cocoa pressing process. When a cacao bean is pressed the majority of the fat which will be also known as cocoa butter is taken out from the bean. The cocoa nibs (known to the layman as ground up cacao beans) are ground up between thick stones and the paste that results is named chocolate liquor. The liquor is pressed to eliminate a sizable percentage of the fat from the beans. After the fat is taken out of the beans a chocolate "cake" is formed. This cake is then broken down and results in powder. There is a large difference between the supplemented powder that is available on supermarket shelves and true cocoa, namely the inclusion of massive amounts of sugar.
There are two different kinds of cocoa powder which can be used by bakers and chocolatiers: natural and alkalized (also called Dutch or Dutched cocoa.) Natural cocoa could be the lighter brown colored powder and results from the pressing of the nibs described above. Natural cocoa contains no additives to the and the last product is particularly bitter but performs well in baking when combined with other flavors. The chocolate flavor in natural cocoa powder is specially strong. Alkalized or Dutched cocoa powder is the result of cocoa nibs that are treated with alkalizing solutions that lower the Ph of the ground up beans. Alkalizing cacao nibs creates a wide variety of color variations and taste differences because it reduces the bitterness of the last powder. When cocoa is "Dutched" it is more soluble than non-Dutched cocoa and consequently it is appropriate for use within drinking chocolate. Alkalized cocoa powder has a significantly milder taste to it however when found in baking it has to be combined with baking soda or used in a recipe that incorporates acidic ingredients so the alkali in the cocoa powder is well balanced.
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