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Cocoa butter and cocoa solids
Cocoa content only tells you how much of the bar’s weight is comprised of cocoa solids. Now, it’s important to understand that “cocoa solids” refers to the chocolate’s combined weight of cocoa butter and dry cocoa particles (i.e. cocoa powder). You can find the amount of cocoa butter from the amount of fat, though. Once you have that you can determine the percentage of the rest of the solids.
Follow these steps from the nutrition label:
1. Note the serving size, since it varies.
2. Note the Total Fat The Fat is from cocoa butter
3. Divide the Total Fat by the Serving size (Fat/Size), then multiply by 100 to get the percentage of fat
4. Subtract the percentage of fat from the cacao percentage and the difference will tell you what percentage of the bar consists of dry cocoa solids. Cocoa butter percentage + cocoa solids percentage = Total cacao percentage.
For example, consider a bar of Lindt Excellence 70%. The Nutrition Facts show the serving size as 42g, with 17g of fat. Divide 17 by 42 and multiply the result by 100, and you’ll get 40. This means there’s 40% cocoa butter. Subtract that number from 70, which in this case is 30% dry cocoa solids . (40 + 30 = 70)
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What do you think of this?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Heim on -
Not all the fat in a chocolate bar, even dark chocolate, is always cocoa butter. Many makers use some added milk fat in the form of AMF. Although this will soften the snap a bit, it helps prevent fat bloom.
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Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on -
AMF is an acronym for what? Anhydrous milk fat? Butter oil is also commonly used.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Heim on
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Yes, anhydrous milk fat, or butter oil. The only other fat source allowed in chocolate standard of identity. Except for oil migration from nuts or nutpastes.
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Permalink Reply by Samantha Aquim on -
Are we not forgetting the natual fat in the liquor? Or should it be considered insignificant?
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Permalink Reply by Brian S. Ruggles on
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If the density of the non-cocoa-butter solids and and cocoa butter is the same, that would mean there is about 10% (of the total weight of the bar) added cocoa butter (based on the normal just-over-50%-cocoa-butter percentage of the average bean). Since the densities of the cocoa butter and the remainder of cocoa solids are bound to be different, it seems worthwhile to compare that to a bar with no added cocoa butter like one from Domori or Patric.
*pause to run to the kitchen**further pause to put the girls down*
As it turns out, those bars don't have much by way of Nutrition Facts - guess where my priorities haven't been. Anyone know of a bar of chocolate with no added cocoa butter that has published Nutrition Facts? Also, with the number involved, I am guessing we won't get very accurate percentages.
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Permalink Reply by Omar Forastero on -
im guessing this formula only applies to dark chocolate since milk has fat content as well
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Permalink Reply by Jcandy on
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Well, I'm on a quest to find chocolate with high cocoa solids & low cocoa butter, then! I've seen that even among chocolates of the same "cocoa" percentages, the fat content can vary. So that would imply that "cocoa content" can refer to either solids or butter. My high-solids search continues! The proportion of cocoa butter in a chocolate is what determines it's fluidity when melted. This is important if the chocolate is to be used for dipping or molding, both of which require very fluid chocolate. It also effects the mouth-feel of the chocolate; low-fat chocolates tend to coat the mouth with a clingy residue. For a chocolate to go nice and fluid when it melts, it will have to have a cocoa butter percentage >38% (most fine covertures will be in the low 40's). the goal is to produce one of the edgier 85% cocoa chocolates, then the sugar would, of course , be only 15%. Here, a 40% cocoa butter content would result in a cocoa solids percentage of 45%, WAY too much. So the manufacturer will have no choice but to lower the solids and increase the butter, and he'll end up with something like 48% cocoa butter, 37% cocoa solids and 15% sugar. It will be very fluid and very expensive.
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Permalink Reply by ChocoFiles on -
JCandy et al,
I've attached a file with info I've collected on the percent of cocoa butter and cocoa solids for some of the bars I've reviewed. I also give my rating of my enjoyment of these bars. In general, the bars with a higher fat content were lower on my enjoyment scale.
(If you're curious, "Class Rating" refers to a system I devised to compare similar type chocolates. Some of my "Classes" are Darks: <59%. 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 100%, White, Milk, Mint, Spices, Spicy Hot, Nuts, Nibs, Orange, Other... I did this as a way to compare bars of a similar group such as "White". This allows me to know which bars I liked best in a certain group even if I don't particularly like that kind of chocolate. "White" is a good example because I don't particularly like White chocolate but there are some bars I gave a White class rating of 10 because if I have a whim for a White bar then that's one I enjoyed the most. I hope this makes sense.)
You can also find more of my review files at Choco Files. - Attachments:
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1-CocoaButter.pdf, 31 KB
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Permalink Reply by ChocoFiles on
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I'm moving some info over from another thread because I think this is better home for it:
Lowe:
In my experience, the general practice seems to be that the higher the overall percentage, the higher the relative percentage of cocoa butter (without increasing the cocoa solids much).
[My guess on why they do this is it that this it's for economic reasons. That assumes that cocoa butter is cheaper than solids.]
Clay's reply:
Lowe:
Some terminology because I know you love this stuff.
What we think of as cocoa powder is what the industry technically calls "non-fat cocoa solids." Cocoa butter is also cocoa solids - so it's good to be careful in differentiating between the two when the goal is to be accurate and precise.
Cocoa powder almost always contains cocoa butter. A "high-fat" cocoa powder will consist of 20-24% fat by weight; a "low-fat" cocoa powder will consist of 10-12% fat by weight. It's really expensive (in part because it's time consuming) to go much lower than this. Cocoa powders making "non-fat" claims can do this because of labeling regulations that allow "non-fat" claims when the amount is below a certain threshold per serving (usually less than 1/2 gram).
FYI generally, cocoa butter is generally more expensive than cocoa powder- often much more expensive.
By Lowe:
Clay,
Thanks. Using the most precise language possible helps to avoid confusion, so I'm all for using the most accurate terms possible.
Unfortunately, many people aren't that precise or use terms in the wrong way. I think I took my use of these terms from an article in The Nibble: "“Cocoa butter is the natural vegetable fat present in the cacao bean. Beans are approximately 52% cocoa butter by weight (the amount varies by the variety of cacao bean); the rest is cocoa solids"
My line of inquiry started with wondering if there was any correlation between fat content and my enjoyment level (designated by my rating). Thus far I haven't really found out any such correlation, but I still want to differentiate them. So overall a cacao bean has fat and non-fat. I'm trying to be even more precise than cocoa powder since that also has some fat in it. For example, the Mast Bros and Rogue Piura bars that I'm currently reviewing only list cacao/cocoa beans and sugar as their only ingredients. What are the best terms for the 2 components of the beans? How about "cacao fat" or just "fat" for one? What is the other part? Solids, powder, liquor, or mass all seem problematic since they actually have some fat. Is there any term for the non-fat part? It sounds like "non-fat cocoa solids" may be the closest even if that contains some fat.
BTW, I've also been using "cocoa butter" as synonymous with "cacao fat" although I guess they're not really identical. I assume that all of the fat is in the cocoa butter, but that cocoa butter has more than just fat. Is that accurate?
Thanks for your patient help with splitting hairs in this minutia.
From Clay "FYI generally, cocoa butter is generally more expensive than cocoa powder- often much more expensive."
So why do think there's generally higher fat content in higher percentage bars? By adding extra cocoa butter the makers are decreasing their profit margin. It doesn't seem like it's for taste because IMO extra cocoa butter weakens the taste. But maybe the makers just think most people couldn't handle that much "non-fat cocoa solids". What's your opinion?
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Permalink Reply by ChocoFiles on
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Is there anything other than fat in cocoa butter? Or is cocoa butter 100% fat?
Here's information I got from The Nibble: “Cocoa butter is the natural vegetable fat present in the cacao bean... It solidifies into a yellowish-white fat, solid at room temperature." Is this completely accurate?
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Permalink Reply by Langdon Stevenson on -
Lowe, in the linked thread about migraines, Clay said that "Cocoa butter has more than fat in it in the same way that butter has more than fat in it".
This is incorrect. Minifie, Beckett, and the USFDA all agree that the term "cocoa butter" means the _edible fat_ obtained from cocoa beans.
It might be difficult (or even practically impossible) to remove 100% of the non-fat compounds from cocoa butter, but that just means that your cocoa butter is "contaminated" with other compounds. It doesn't mean that cocoa butter isn't pure fat.
By contrast, "butter" in the more common sense of the word refers to a dairy product made from cream. The butter in my fridge is only 81% fat (most of the rest is water). Dairy butter also naturally contains a small percentage of protein and carbohydrates.
Also, Lowe, I've taken a look at the file on your website labelled "Cocoa Fat in Chocolate", and I have a couple of questions and suggestions.
First of all, it would be helpful for the columns to include clear unit measurements.
For example, what exactly does "Percent" indicate? And how about "Cacao fat"?
The lack of clear explanation of these terms makes the data confusing. For example, I don't know what you mean when you state that Green & Black's white chocolate is:
Percent: 30
Cacao fat: 47
Non-fat solids: 0
If the bar is 30% cocoa solids, and 100% of the cocoa solids is cocoa butter, then how did you arrive at the 47% figure? The only way that figure makes sense to me is if you've included milk fat in the "Cacao fat" column.
Also, you asked: "So why do think there's generally higher fat content in higher percentage bars? By adding extra cocoa butter the makers are decreasing their profit margin."
1. You can't simply assume that "higher fat" means "added cocoa butter" (for example, many bars also contain milk fat, and/or other vegetable fats, e.g. Green & Black's white chocolate, as mentioned above).
2. A bar with a higher percentage of cocoa solids would naturally contain a higher percentage of cocoa butter, if expressed as a _percentage of the total bar_ (this is because pure cocoa liquor is always roughly 55% cocoa butter - hence, the more cocoa liquor you use, the more cocoa butter comes along for the ride).
So, an 80% bar with no added cocoa butter would contain about 44% cocoa butter, while a 60% bar with no added cocoa butter would contain only about 33% cocoa butter.
3. Cocoa butter isn't necessarily a more expensive ingredient than cocoa liquor. For example, if you produce your own cocoa liquor on a relatively small scale from whole beans, you can probably purchase cocoa butter from a large manufacturer for a fraction of the price that it costs you to produce your own cocoa liquor.
4. A lot of people (women especially, I've noticed) prefer the taste and mouthfeel of chocolate with a generous amount of added cocoa butter - so it sells very well in certain demographics.
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Permalink Reply by ChocoFiles on
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Langdon,
Thanks so much for that long and very informative reply.
What do you call the part of the cacao seed that isn't fat?
More to reply to, but I'll start with that.
Lowe
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