What is cocoa butter?

Cocoa butter is an important ingredient for chocolate and other confectionary products, having a major influence on the organoleptic and physical properties.

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?

Theobroma – Food of God

Theobroma – Food of God
The cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao) is a native of the dense tropical forests of the Amazon where it grows in conditions of semi-shade, warmth, and high humidity.

The genus Theobroma consists of over twenty species (family Sterculiaceae), but only T. cacao is of commercial value. T. cacao is assumed to have spread naturally westward and northward to Guyana and Mexico, and later to the Caribbean islands. In so doing, two distinct subspecies developed.

The Mayas of the Yucatan and the Aztecs of Mexico cultivated cocoa long before its introduction to Europe, and Montezuma, emperor of the Aztecs, is stated to have regularly consumed a preparation called “chocolatl” made by roasting and grinding the cocoa nibs, which were then mashed and mixed with water maize, and spice. The richness of this mixture no doubt had some connection with the Aztec belief that the cocoa tree was a divine origin and later led the Swedish botanist Linnaeus to give the name “Theobroma” – Food of the Gods – to the genus, including the cacao species.
Theobroma – Food of God