Roasting chocolate cocoa butter

The FDA has not legally defined cocoa butter, and no standard exists for this product under the U.S. Chocolate Standards. For the purpose of enforcement, the FDA defines cocoa butter as the edible fat obtained from cocoa beans either before or after roasting. Cocoa butter as defined in the US. Pharmacopeia is the fat obtained from the roasted seed of Theohroma cacao Uinne. 

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). 

Chocolate has antioxidant properties for low-density lipoproteins and hence could prevent heart disease. Foods and beverages derived from cocoa beans have been consumed by humans since 460 a.d. Cocoa pods from the cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao) are harvested and the beans removed and fermented. Dried and roasted beans contain about 300 chemicals including caffeine, theobromine, and phenethylamine. Chocolate liquor is prepared by finely grinding the nib of the cocoa bean and is the basis for all chocolate products. Cocoa powder is made by removing part of the cocoabutter from the liquor. Bittersweet chocolate, sometimes called dark chocolate, contains between 15 and 60% chocolate liquor, the remainder being cocoa butter, sugar, and other additives. Milk chocolate is the predominant form of chocolate consumed in the U.S. and typically contains 10 to 12% chocolate liquor. 

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. 

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. 

Chocolate is the product made by grinding freshly roasted and winnowed cocoa nibs. It contains 50 to 55% cocoa butter and when freshly made is liquid. This basic chocolate is usually cooled in molds to facilitate later handling. Commercial chocolate is prepared by blending the prime liquor with sugar, milk solids and flavorings, particularly vanilla. 

Fat pressed from the roasted cacao bean (cocoa bean) is known as cocoa butter. It is yellow and possesses a slight chocolate flavor. It consists primarily of triglycerides (three fatty acids bonded to glycerol) of the fatty acids palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids. This fatty acid composition causes cocoa butter to be solid at room temperature but to melt at near body temperature. Most of the cocoa butter is used in the manufacture of chocolate. 

Cocoa beans are used extensively in the manufacture of chocolate, but this chapter is confined to the use of cocoa as a beverage. To produce the cocoa powder used in the beverage, the beans are roasted at 150°C and the shell (hull) and meat of the bean (nib) are mechanically separated. The nibs, which contain about 55% cocoa butter, are then finely ground while hot to produce a liquid mass or liquor . This sets on cooling and is... 

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