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.
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 made from cocoa beans that have processed into a paste known as chocolate liquor. Using a hydraulic press, produces remove between 50 and 75 percent of the cocoa butter from the chocolate liquor and then pulverize the remaining solids to make cocoa.
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%
After preliminary treatments such as fermentation process described and drying, beans ready for further processing are composed of 87% cotyledon containing only 4-5% water, 12% shell containing 8-10% water and 1 % germ.
Cocoa Powder Properties
