The characteristics of cocoa butter for cooking are many and truly surprising. Let's find out everything there is to know!
In this article we will tell you about the characteristics of cocoa butter and its applications in the kitchen. Have you ever used this ingredient for your savory preparations or, perhaps, in some desserts? We bet that in the end you won't be able to do without it anymore!
Food grade cocoa butter: all the information you need
Edible cocoa butter is obtained by pressing cocoa beans which, once roasted and crumbled, give life to this fundamental component of cooking and confectionery art. Its taste is neutral, rich in fatty acids and extremely natural. In fact, it is sold without any chemical additives.
Edible cocoa butter is found in the fruit of the cocoa bean: it is, in practice, the natural fat of cocoa. Hence its name. The Thobroma tree, from whose seeds and fruits cocoa butter is obtained, grows in South America and in tropical areas of the world. Cocoa butter is healthier than other fats used in cooking (such as cow butter or olive oil) and has a higher smoke point. Translated, it means that the temperature at which it begins to become harmful to health is much higher than other dietary fats and therefore does less harm. The methods of use are, however, exactly the same. Cocoa butter appears as a crumbly brick with a white-yellow colour. Absolutely not oily (as you might expect) and smells of dark chocolate or cocoa, it remains solid at room temperature. It melts, as we told you before, at higher temperatures than other vegetable fats. The melting temperature of cocoa butter is around 35 degrees.
What are the properties of cocoa butter?
Cocoa butter contains natural antioxidants which make it particularly suitable for food use. In addition to antioxidants, cocoa butter contains saturated fatty acids such as palmitic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid. While it may seem really fatty given the list of saturated fats you just read, edible cocoa butter doesn't contain (much) cholesterol. In fact, among the properties of edible cocoa butter, in addition to the high melting point (approximately 35°), there is also the fact that it does not contain cholesterol. In fact, the rather high lipid content means that cocoa butter (like almond oil, for example) has emollient and protective properties for the body too. In short, it is not as bad as other natural fats and oils that we consume in the kitchen and is also good for the skin.
What more could you want from edible cocoa butter and its properties?
Food Cocoa Butter: Use
Ok, in addition to making the skin soft, being good to eat when we use cocoa butter on the lips how do you use food-grade cocoa butter? Definitely, to make our chocolate preparations brilliant. In fact, cocoa butter contributes to the brilliance and delicacy of cocoa chocolate, the most refined ones. This property (and the others that we have already listed in the previous paragraph) make edible cocoa butter a precious ally in the kitchen: it is perfect, in fact, for baked confectionery preparations such as biscuits, shortcrust pastry and the very complicated but not too much pastry for desserts. Edible cocoa butter is also an excellent product for making croissants and leavened desserts, pralines and even ice creams soft and shiny! In short, it is your best friend in the kitchen where you can use it to fry, cook or cream (yes, even rice). Not to mention, then, that you can replace it with normal supermarket butter to grease pans and molds and waterproof ingredients that easily absorb water and humidity more generally, such as dry biscuits or meringues for example. Another use of edible cocoa butter is as a substitute for normal butters in vegan, raw food or gluten-free recipes. You hadn't thought about that, had you? And if you need a sweet recipe where there is animal butter among the ingredients you can use cocoa butter even for intolerants!
Edible cocoa butter: how to obtain it and where to buy it where to buy cocoa butter
As in all things, even in edible cocoa butter, as the price drops, the quality decreases. For our desserts, however, we always want the best, right? Then we need to think extensively about the fact that cocoa butter is obtained by squeezing cocoa beans at very high temperatures and that the more they are stressed, the more they deteriorate, producing a terrible but much cheaper product. We're not saying you have to rob a bank like in Gomorrah 3 but neither do you have to grab the first edible cocoa butter that comes your way, okay? Avoid running into poor quality products at very low costs which are obtained with solvents, paraffin or other hydrogenated fats. Pay attention to health when choosing a product for your desserts. Sometimes saving doesn't always pay off! Edible cocoa butter is not very easy to find: you can buy it in the most sought after pastry shops or you can buy it online, even from us. You can find edible cocoa butter and the relevant information sheet here. You have everything you need to know about edible cocoa butter and its properties. Are you ready for lots of tasty recipes to prepare with this product? Suggest yours with the hashtag #dolcincasa and we will publish your recipe!
