It is the most expensive ingredient and accounts for one third of the cost of the final product.
Cocoa butter is derived from the cocoa bean, the seed of the Theobroma tree, principally grown in South America and West Africa.
Once the shell has been removed from the seed, the remaining nib contains approximately 55% fat. Mature cocoa beans can store up to 700 mg of cocoa butter. Since a tree may produce as many as 2000 seeds a year, a single tree could yield up to 15 kg of cocoa butter annually.
The solvent extraction of cocoa butter has been developed and perfected over many years. In Holland, Dutch-extracted cocoa butter obtained reputation as a reliable article of commerce in the chocolate industry.
Cocoa butter is composed predominantly of (more than 75%) symmetrical triglycerides with oleic acid in the 2-position.
Approximately 20% of triglycerides are liquid at room temperature and cocoa butter has a melting range of 32 to 35 °C and softens at around 30 to 32 °C.
What is cocoa butter?
