Cocoa butter

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Cocoa butter
Cocoa butter p1410148.JPG
Raw cocoa butter
Fat composition
Saturated fats
Total saturated57–64%:
stearic acid (24–37%), palmitic acid (24–30%), myristic acid, (0–4%), arachidic acid (1%), lauric acid (0–1%)
Unsaturated fats
Total unsaturated36–43%
Monounsaturated 29–43%:
oleic acid (29–38%), palmitoleic acid (0–2%)
Polyunsaturated 0–5%:
linoleic acid (0–4%),
α-Linolenic acid (0–1%)
Properties
Food energy per 100 g (3.5 oz)3,699 kilojoules (884 kcal) [1]
Melting point 34.1 °C (93.4 °F), 35–36.5 °C (95.0–97.7 °F)
Solidity at 20 °C (68 °F)solid
Refractive index 1.44556–1.44573
Iodine value 32.11–35.12, 35.575
Acid value 1.68
Saponification value 191.214, 192.88–196.29

Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, edible fat extracted from the cocoa bean (Theobroma cacao). It is used to make chocolate, as well as some ointments, toiletries, and pharmaceuticals. [2] Cocoa butter has a cocoa flavor and aroma. Its melting point is slightly below human body temperature. It is an essential ingredient of chocolate and related confectionary products. Cocoa butter does not contain butter or other animal products; it is vegan. [3]

Contents

Extraction and composition

The main constituent of cocoa butter is the triglyceride (fat) derived from palmitic acid, oleic acid, and stearic acid. CocoaButTriglyc.svg
The main constituent of cocoa butter is the triglyceride (fat) derived from palmitic acid, oleic acid, and stearic acid.

For use in chocolate manufacture, the cocoa beans are first fermented and then dried. The beans are then roasted and separated from their hulls to produce cocoa nibs. [4] About 54–58% of the cocoa nibs is cocoa butter. The cocoa nibs are ground to form cocoa mass, also known as cocoa liquor or chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor is pressed to separate the cocoa butter from the non-fat cocoa solids. [5] Cocoa butter is sometimes deodorized to remove strong or undesirable tastes. [6]

Cocoa butter contains a high proportion of saturated fats also with the monounsaturated oleic acid in each triglyceride. The predominant triglycerides are POS, SOS, and POP, where P = palmitic, O = oleic, and S = stearic acid residues. [7] [8] [9] [10] Cocoa butter, unlike non-fat cocoa solids, contains only traces of caffeine and theobromine. [11]

Typical fatty acid composition (%) [12]
Fatty acid Percentage
Arachidic acid (C20:0)1.0%
Linoleic acid (C18:2)3.2%
Oleic acid (C18:1)34.5%
Palmitic acid (C16:0)26.0%
Palmitoleic acid (C16:1)0.3%
Stearic acid (C18:0)34.5%
Other Fatty Acids0.5%

Adulterants and substitutes

Some food manufacturers substitute less expensive materials in place of cocoa butter. Several analytical methods exist for testing for diluted cocoa butter. Adulterated cocoa butter is indicated by its lighter color and its diminished fluorescence upon ultraviolet illumination. Unlike cocoa butter, adulterated fat tends to smear and have a higher non-saponifiable content. [13]

Owing to the high cost of cocoa butter, [14] [15] substitutes have been designed to use as alternatives. In the United States, 100% cocoa butter must be used for the product to be called chocolate. The EU requires that alternative fats not exceed 5% of the total fat content. [12]

Substitutes include: coconut, palm, [12] soybean, rapeseed, cottonseed and illipe oils; and shea butter, mango kernel fat [16] and a mixture of mango kernel fat and palm oil, [17] and PGPR.

Uses

Cocoa butter is a major ingredient in practically all types of chocolates (white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate). This application continues to dominate the consumption of cocoa butter.

Pharmaceutical companies use cocoa butter extensively. As a nontoxic solid at room temperature that melts at body temperature, it is considered an ideal base for medicinal suppositories. [18]

Personal care

For a fat melting around body temperature, cocoa has good stability. This quality, coupled with natural antioxidants, prevents rancidity – giving it a storage life of two to five years. [19] The velvety texture, pleasant fragrance and emollient properties of cocoa butter have made it a popular ingredient in products for the skin, such as soaps and lotions.

Physical properties

Fermenting cocoa beans on a farm east of Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands Cocoa farmer David Kebu Jnr holding fermenting cocoa beans. (10687048615).jpg
Fermenting cocoa beans on a farm east of Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands

Cocoa butter typically has a melting point of around 34–38 °C (93–100 °F), so chocolate is solid at room temperature but readily melts once inside the mouth. Cocoa butter displays polymorphism, having different crystalline forms with different melting points. Conventionally the assignment of cocoa butter crystalline forms uses the nomenclature of Wille and Lutton [20] with forms I, II, III, IV, V, and VI having melting points 17.3, 23.3, 25.5, 27.5, 33.8, and 36.3 °C (63.1, 73.9, 77.9, 81.5, 92.8, and 97.3 °F), respectively. The production of chocolate aims to crystallise the chocolate so that the cocoa butter is predominantly in form V, which is the most stable form that can be obtained from melted cocoa butter. (Form VI either develops in solid cocoa butter after long storage or is obtained by crystallisation from solvents). A uniform form V crystal structure will result in smooth texture, sheen, and snap. This structure is obtained by chocolate tempering. Melting the cocoa butter in chocolate and then allowing it to solidify without tempering leads to the formation of unstable polymorphic forms of cocoa butter. This can easily happen when chocolate bars are allowed to melt in a hot room and leads to the formation of white patches on the surface of the chocolate called fat bloom or chocolate bloom. [4]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chocolate</span> Food produced from cacao seeds

Chocolate or cocoa is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form for at least 5,300 years starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador and later Mesoamerican civilizations also consumed chocolate beverages before being introduced to Europe in the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocoa bean</span> Fatty seed of Theobroma cacao which is the basis of chocolate

The cocoa bean or simply cocoa, also called cacao, is the dried and fully fermented seed of Theobroma cacao, the cacao tree, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter can be extracted. Cocoa trees are native to the Amazon rainforest. They are the basis of chocolate and Mesoamerican foods including tejate, an indigenous Mexican drink.

<i>Theobroma cacao</i> Species of tree grown for its cocoa beans

Theobroma cacao is a small evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. Native to the tropics of the Americas, the largest producer of cocoa beans in 2018 was Ivory Coast, at 2.2 million tons. Its leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed, 10–50 cm (4–20 in) long and 5–10 cm (2–4 in) broad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chocolate bar</span> Confection

A chocolate bar is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A flat, easily breakable, chocolate bar is also called a tablet. In some varieties of English and food labeling standards, the term chocolate bar is reserved for bars of solid chocolate, with candy bar used for products with additional ingredients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot chocolate</span> Heated beverage of chocolate in milk or water

Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking chocolate, is a heated drink consisting of shaved or melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener. It is often garnished with whipped cream or marshmallows. Hot chocolate made with melted chocolate is sometimes called drinking chocolate, characterized by less sweetness and a thicker consistency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chocoholic</span> Person who craves chocolate

A chocoholic is a person who craves or compulsively consumes chocolate. The word "chocoholic" was first used in 1968, according to Merriam-Webster. It is a portmanteau of "chocolate" and "alcoholic". The term is used loosely or humorously to describe a person who is inordinately fond of chocolate; however, there is medical evidence to support the existence of actual addiction to chocolate. Psychoactive constituents of chocolate that trigger a ‘feel-good’ reaction for the consumer include tryptophan and phenylethylamine, which may contribute to cravings and addiction-like responses, particularly in people with specific genetic alleles. The quantity of sugars used in chocolate confections also impacts the psychoactive effects of chocolate.

<i>Theobroma grandiflorum</i> Species of tree

Theobroma grandiflorum, commonly known as cupuaçu, also spelled cupuassu, cupuazú, cupu assu, or copoazu, is a tropical rainforest tree related to cacao. Native and common throughout the Amazon basin, it is naturally cultivated in the jungles of north of Brazil, with the largest production in Pará, Amazonas and Amapá, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. The pulp of the cupuaçu fruit is consumed throughout Central and South America, especially in the northern states of Brazil, and is used to make ice creams, snack bars, and other products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chocolate liquor</span> Pure cocoa mass in solid or semi-solid form

Chocolate liquor, also called cocoa liquor, is pure cocoa in liquid or semi-solid form. It is produced from cocoa bean nibs that have been fermented, dried, roasted, and separated from their skins. The nibs are ground into a paste which is melted to become the liquor, and the liquor is either separated into cocoa solids and cocoa butter, or cooled and molded into blocks of raw chocolate. Like the nibs from which it is produced, it contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter in roughly equal proportion. Its main use is in making chocolate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White chocolate</span> Confection made from cocoa butter without cocoa solids

White chocolate is a confectionery typically made of sugar, milk, and cocoa butter, but no cocoa solids. It is pale ivory in color, and lacks many of the compounds found in milk, dark, and other chocolates. It is solid at room temperature because the melting point of cocoa butter, the only white cocoa bean component, is 35 °C (95 °F).

Cocoa may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyglycerol polyricinoleate</span> Emulsion used in food production

Polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR), E476, is an emulsifier made from glycerol and fatty acids. In chocolate, compound chocolate and similar coatings, PGPR is mainly used with another substance like lecithin to reduce viscosity. It is used at low levels, and works by decreasing the friction between the solid particles in molten chocolate, reducing the yield stress so that it flows more easily, approaching the behaviour of a Newtonian fluid. It can also be used as an emulsifier in spreads and in salad dressings, or to improve the texture of baked goods. It is made up of a short chain of glycerol molecules connected by ether bonds, with ricinoleic acid side chains connected by ester bonds.

Mango oil, mango kernel fat, or mango butter, is an oil fraction obtained during the processing of mango butter. Mango oil is a seed oil extracted from the stone of the mango, the fruit of the Mangifera indica tree. The oil is semi-solid at room temperatures, but melts on contact with warm skin, making it appealing for baby creams, suncare balms, hair products, and other moisturizing products. The oil is a soft yellow color with a melting point of 32–42 °C (90–108 °F).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Types of chocolate</span> Classification of different chocolate types

Chocolate is a food product made from roasted and ground cocoa pods mixed with fat and powdered sugar to produce a solid confectionery. There are several types of chocolate, classified primarily according to the proportion of cocoa and fat content used in a particular formulation.

<i>Astrocaryum murumuru</i> Species of palm

Astrocaryum murumuru is a palm native to Amazon Rainforest vegetation in Brazil, which bears edible fruits. Murumuru butter, extracted from the seeds of the plant, may be used as a moisturizer. One remarkable feature of this palm is that it is covered with spines up to twelve inches in length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocoa solids</span> Mixture remaining after cocoa butter is extracted from cocoa beans

Dry cocoa solids are the components of cocoa beans remaining after cocoa butter, the fatty component of the bean, is extracted from chocolate liquor, roasted cocoa beans that have been ground into a liquid state. Cocoa butter is 46% to 57% of the weight of cocoa beans and gives chocolate its characteristic melting properties. Cocoa powder is the powdered form of the dry solids with a small remaining amount of cocoa butter. Untreated cocoa powder is bitter and acidic. Dutch process cocoa has been treated with an alkali to neutralize the acid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chocolate bloom</span> Coating that can appear on chocolate

Chocolate bloom is either of two types of whitish coating that can appear on the surface of chocolate: fat bloom, caused by changes in the fat crystals in the chocolate; and sugar bloom, due to crystals formed by the action of moisture on the sugar. Fat and sugar bloom damage the appearance of chocolate but do not limit its shelf life. Chocolate that has "bloomed" is still safe to eat, but may have an unappetizing appearance and surface texture. Chocolate bloom can be repaired by melting the chocolate down, stirring it, then pouring it into a mould and allowing it to cool, bringing the sugar or fat back into the solution.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chocolate:

Cacao is the seed from which cocoa and chocolate are made, from Spanish cacao, an adaptation of Nahuatl cacaua, the root form of cacahuatl. It may also refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kokum oil</span>

Kokum oil is a seed oil derived from the seeds of the kokum tree. Kokum oil is edible and can also be used for things other than cooking.

The chocolate industry in the Philippines developed after introducing the cocoa tree into Philippine agriculture. The growing of cacao or cocoa boasts a long history stretching from the colonial times. Originating from Mesoamerican forests, cacao was first introduced by the Spanish colonizers four centuries ago. Since then the Philippine cocoa industry has been the primary producer of cocoa beans in Southeast Asia. There are many areas of production of cacao in the Philippines, owing to soil and climate. The chocolate industry is currently on a small to medium scale.

References

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