Cocoa butter, a saturated fat stable at room temperature, is obtained from cocoa tree beans. It is used in chocolate, candy, baking, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The butter has a light yellow color and may have a chocolate aroma in the natural form, unless it’s removed by deodorization.

Most commonly used in milk chocolate and white chocolate, cocoa butter is responsible for the following characteristics in chocolate:

• Hardness at room temperature
• Brightness or gloss
• Pleasant melting  behavior when placed in the mouth

Function

Cocoa butter’s predominant combination of triacylglycerols of palmitic, stearic and oleic acids allows it to be solid at room temperature and to melt in a narrow temperature range of 32°C to  35°C ( 89°F to 95°F).

It serves the following functions and attributes of chocolate:

• Viscosity control
• Emulsification
• Appearance – glossiness
• Snap or brittleness when broken apart
• Heat stability
• Mouthfeel
• Flavor release
• Shelf life

Commercial production

To make cocoa butter, cocoa beans are harvested, fermented, dried and roasted followed by alkalinization (flavor development).

After this, the beans are sent through a grinder that separates the hulls to produce nibs which are ground to produce cocoa mass (cocoa liquor). Cocoa liquor is pressed to extract the butter using hydraulic presses. Cocoa butter can also be separated using solvent extraction.

Application

Cocoa butter is used for thinning and making chocolate coatings. It is seldom used in baking applications because it hardens at room temperature, making it less than ideal for creaming methods unless combined with other liquid fats.