Cocoa ground

White Chocolate. There is at present no standard of identity in the United States for white chocolate. Virtually all current uses of the term white chocolate do not meet the standards for chocolate, which prescribes the presence of ground cacao nibs. This restrictive requirement has acted as a practical deterrent to companies developing and marketing white chocolate-type products in the United States. When such products have been introduced and marketed in the United States, companies have had to label them with fanciful names to avoid the standardized labeling issues. In other countries where a standard of identity for white chocolate exists and where a minimum amount of cocoa butter is required by law, consumers have available to them a variety of easily recognizable products. 

Cocoa beans are sometimes evaluated in the laboratory to distinguish and characterize flavors. Beans are roasted at a standardized temperature for a specific period of time, shelled, usually by hand, and ground or heated slightly to obtain chocolate Hquor. The Hquor s taste is evaluated by a panel of... 

Li13 developed a method for the individual determination of caffeine and theobromine in cocoa beans. Cocoa bean samples are ground as finely as possible (less than 0.5-mm diameter particles), the powder is boiled in... 

The combination of ground cocoa beans and sugar produces a very hard substance with an unpleasant mouthfeel. However, the addition of extra cocoa butter results in a product that melts easily in the mouth. Additionally, the production of cocoa butter results in a lower fat cocoa powder which can be used more readily in both beverages and foods. As the amounts of cocoa butter and other fats, milk solids, sugar, and other ingredients increase, the amount of theobromine and caffeine in the final product decreases. 

Acrolein has been detected in effluent water streams from industrial and municipal sources. Municipal effluents from Dayton, Ohio, for example, contained between 20 and 200 pg acrolein/L in 6 of 11 analyzed samples (USEPA 1980 Beauchamp et al. 1985). Acrolein is also a component of many foods, and processing may increase the acrolein content (USEPA 1980). Acrolein has been identified in raw turkey, potatoes, onions, coffee grounds, raw cocoa beans, alcoholic beverages, hops (USEPA 1980), white bread, sugarcane molasses, souring salted pork, and cooked bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) (Beauchamp et al. 1985). 

The cacao plant, Theobroma cacao, is the source of chocolate which is well known and highly prized in international commerce. The cacao pods contain beans which are fermented and pressed to provide a brown liquid which is the raw material for chocolate. The press cake is ground and sold as cocoa and it also provides a brown colorant. The pods, beans, shells, husks and stems have also been suggested as colorants. They contain a very complex mixture of acyl acids, leucoanthocyanins, flavonoid polymers, tannins, and catechin-type polymers.33... 

Although cocoa as a drink is now rather unfashionable, it provides the raw material for the manufacture of chocolate and is commercially very important. Cocoa (or cacao) is derived from the roasted seeds of Theobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae), a tree widely cultivated in South America and West Africa. The fruits develop on the trunk of the tree, and the seeds from them are separated, allowed to ferment, and are then roasted to develop the characteristic chocolate flavour. The kernels are then separated from the husks, ground up, and processed in various ways to give chocolate, cocoa, and cocoa butter. 

Cocoa seeds contain 35-50% of oil (cocoa butter or theobroma oil), 1-4% theobromine and 0.2-0.5% caffeine, plus tannins and volatile oils. During fermentation and roasting, most of the theobromine from the kernel passes into the husk, which thus provides a convenient source of the alkaloid. Theobroma oil or cocoa butter is obtained by hot expression from the ground seeds as a whitish solid with a mild chocolate taste. It is a valuable formulation aid in pharmacy where it is used as a suppository base. It contains glycerides of oleic (35%), stearic (35%), palmitic (26%), and linoleic (3%) acids (see page 44). 

VCR (Viobin Cocoa Replacer) is ".pressure-roasted defatted wheat germ, ground to a fine powder which is similar in color and texture to processed cocoas...The toasting process develops aroma and taste characteristics that complement...cocoa..." Such aroma as it has, and it would not be mistaken for cocoa, can be attributed to Maillard reactions taking place during toasting. It is manufactured and sold by the Viobin Corporation, Monticello, Illinois. 

Chocolate is a solid-in-oil (S/O) suspension of non-fat partides (of about 10-100 (im diameter) of sugar and cocoa (cacao) in a continuous phase of cocoa butter, which is the natural fat from the cocoa bean [215]. When cocoa beans are cleaned, roasted, cracked and ground, chocolate liquor results, a suspension of cocoa powder in cocoa butter. Depending on how much cocoa butter is removed (by pressing) one can make, in decreasing order of cocoa butter content bitter, unsweetened, baking... 

Cacao Nibs Cacao nibs are crushed bits of cacao beans—which are actually not beans at all, but seeds from the Theobroma plant. Most often, these beans are dried or roasted and then extracted to make cocoa butter for chocolate, or ground into powder to make cocoa powder. Cacao nibs are crushed cacao beans that have not been made into chocolate or cocoa powder. You can find them raw or roasted, and they resemble espresso beans in texture and crunch. They contain no added sugar, so they re bittersweet. They add great texture to cookies—I even use them as a topping for ice cream. They can be found at most specialty and health-food stores or online. Make sure you buy the finely ground variety. 

For the processing of cocoa powder the finely ground roasted cocoa nuts are defatted in hydraulic presses. After pressing ll-12%wt. cocoa butter still is in the powder. For some purposes it is necessary to reduce the butter content below l%wt. The defatting of cocoa powder is one of the few defatting processes by means of C02 which is already done on industrial scale. 

Cocoa beans are roasted, ground and pressed. From this step two principal materials are obtained for the manufacture of cocoa based products cocoa butter and cocoa liquor (the press-cake, which is used to make cocoa powder) ... 

The tree is called cacao (pronounced cah-COW, and its seeds are cacao beans, or cocoa beans. The fat in them is cocoa butter. White chocolate is just cocoa butter mixed with Sugar. The roasted, ground-up beans, with most of the fat removed, are cocoa. Regular chocolate is made by adding extra fat to roasted, ground-up beans. 

Nothing could be simpler. Just put a heaping tablespoon (yielding about 5 grams or more of pure cocoa) or two (or three for a really intense flavor) into a cup or a mug and pour in the hot coffee. Sweeten it with either sugar or an artificial sweetener to taste. Perhaps splash in a dollop of milk. Enjoy If you find that you like this a lot, as I do, you can even add the cocoa powder to the ground coffee beans as you make your pot in the morning or any time of the day. 

Today, continuous screw-presses dominate the mechanical extraction of fats. The only applications still favoring hydraulic presses are those requiring gentle handling, for example, pressing cocoa butter from cocoa beans where the defatted residue is to be fine-ground to make cocoa powder. The development of continuous screw-presses will be outlined in Section 4.2. The development and technology of hydraulic presses was covered in detail in previous editions of this book (109). This edition briefly summarizes the early development of hydraulic presses and then focuses on modern, continuous cocoa butter hydraulic presses used today. 

Ground sugar -Cocoa Mass-Cocoa -Cocoa butter -Milk powder -... 

The left over nibs are ground to be low 20 micron and then heated. This result in the liquid cocoa butter separating from the crushed cells and the cocoa nibs turning into a cocoa mass. This cocoa mass is the semi-finished product which is used in both, chocolate products and cocoa. 

The principal ingredients of the massive chocolate product are the cocoa mass, cocoa butter, ground sugar and milk powder. Typical compositions of massive chocolate products are shovm in Tab. 5.20. 

The first operation of chocolate processing is to homogenize the cocoa mass, ground sugar, milk powder and part of the cocoa butter in a mixer which can be a kneading machine with a Z-shape mixing arm or a continuous screw mixer. 

The fine ground chocolate powder or paste is conveyed into refining equipment where the rest of the cocoa butter, emulsifying agent (lecithin) and the flavourings are added. 

Plain or bitter chocolate is a mixture of ground cocoa nibs with sucrose, cocoa butter and flavouring. Milk chocolate contains in addition milk powder. A bar of chocolate contains about 6 mg of caffeine and a cup of cocoa about 13 mg. 

Particle size Chocolate is a liquid during the mixing process. The cocoa butter in the melted chocolate coats the solid particles of cocoa, sugar, and milk solids. The solid particles in the mixture must not be too large, or the chocolate will have a gritty texture. Generally, the particles are ground to a maximum diameter of 2.0 x 10 to 3.0 X 10-5 m. 

The fermented beans are dried under carefully controlled conditions, and are then bagged and transported for processing to produce cocoa liquor. This is a dark brown substance which is liquid above 36 C. It contains approximately 55% fat and 45% non-fat cocoa solids. Cocoa butter is the fat obtained by pressing hot cocoa liquor. The residue, known as cocoa press cake, is ground up to produce cocoa powder... 

---