How is cocoa butter produced?

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Permalink Reply by Langdon Stevenson on March 12, 2009 at 7:16pm

Hi Lemm

> someone mentioned that it was not possible to produce cocoa butter unless it was pressed at least 140 F (???)

Yes it is possible. It is just less efficient (slower and lower recovery rate) the cooler the liquor is. I have pressed cocoa butter at body temperature.


> If there's such a thing as "cold-pressed" cocoa butter, what temperature is considered "cold". Is it 115 F, 122 F,...etc.
> Does the definition of "cold-pressed" oils when applied to olive oil apply to cocoa butter?

No idea. In the cocoa industry, this is usually driven by people into "raw food", which I am not involved with. In the olive industry it's about not denaturing or harming the oil which is less stable that cocoa butter. Since olive oil is liquid at room temperature, the definition of "cold pressed" for olive oil is more logical.


> And about the Broma process, which I understand is a dripping process in a warm room; at what temperature is this room?

The hotter the better. Same rules apply as with a hydraulic press. The hotter the fat is, the more easily it flows and separates. Our experiments have shown that low temperatures (between 40 and 50 degrees C perhaps) will work with the broma technique, but the recovery rate is nothing like a hydraulic press or screw expeller can achieve (which is logical).


> Are there really any additional health benefits to get cold-pressed cocoa butter versus the regular one.

Not that I know of, but people into raw foods will have an opinion. What I would be worried about is the secondary processes (like deodorisation, or chemical extraction) and the chemicals that they involve rather than the temperature of the operation. I have samples of some pretty nasty cocoa butter that has been through deodorisation.

Langdon

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Permalink Reply by Lemm Huang on March 12, 2009 at 8:55pm

Hi Langdon,

Thanks for the quick reply. It's clearer now.

Your answer leads me to a few other questions, though?

What do you mean by recovery rate?

The idea of deodorizing is relatively new to me. What's so bad in the cocoa butter that requires it to be deodorized? and what causes it? What sort of chemicals are we looking at here? How do I tell whether I have a nasty cocoa butter? (This last question is especially important to me, since I use cocoa butter often now).

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Permalink Reply by Langdon Stevenson on March 12, 2009 at 9:30pm

Hi Lemm

> What do you mean by recovery rate?

Sorry, should have explained in more detail. Cocoa liquor is about 50% fat, so "recovery rate" refers to the fraction of that 50% that the extraction technique can get out of the liquor. Industrial hydraulic presses can recover most of it (say 12% remaining). Solvent extraction can then get a bit more perhaps.


> The idea of deodorizing is relatively new to me. What's so bad in the cocoa butter that requires it to be deodorized? and what causes it?

A lot of cocoa that is pressed for cocoa butter is poor quality. The best beans are turned into chocolate, everything else gets pressed for butter. So you have lots of off flavours and normal cocoa flavours in the beans that are passed along to the cocoa butter. Many people (like the cosmetics industry) want cocoa butter that has no flavour at all. So deodorizing removes the flavours (good and bad).


> What sort of chemicals are we looking at here?

No idea sorry, I have stayed right away from this sort of thing, so don't know what processes they use.


> How do I tell whether I have a nasty cocoa butter? (This last question is especially important to me, since I use cocoa butter often now).

If cocoa butter smells like mild cocoa and has a nice pale white/yellow colour then it is probably untreated. If on the other hand it has a grey tinge and smells like something other than cocoa (or doesn't smell at all), then it is likely to have been deodorised.

I expect that most cheap cocoa butter will have been deodorized. So have a look at the price you are paying. The cheaper it is, the more likely that it has been deodorised. You get what you pay for.

Langdon

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Permalink Reply by Lemm Huang on March 12, 2009 at 9:41pm

Wow, that's an eye opener.

Langdon, thanks once again for enlightening me.

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Permalink Reply by Langdon Stevenson on March 12, 2009 at 11:10pm

No worries. Happy to help.
Langdon

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