Cocoa

Cocoa butter is the fat that comes from the seeds of the cocoa plant and is obtained by pressing the cocoa mass or by extraction with solvents. Originally native to tropical America, cocoa is also cultivated in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. The processing of raw cocoa beans into cocoa mass has a couple of stages. Firstly, the cocoa beans are being fermented and dried, after this and a quality control step the beans are being cleaned and dehulled from their husks. The remaining part, the inner of the kernel, so called the nib, is being heat-treated, roasted and grounded into a liquid cocoa mass.

The further part of the material is being pressed out of the cocoa mass under high pressure, where a butter comes out of the pressing where filtering takes out the last part of the impurities. Then, we have crude cocoa butter. This can also overgo a further process into a deodorizing (refining) step where a part of the color, impurities and some smells are getting out of the material. The butter would then have a neutral taste. It can be further processed into blocks, nibs or chunks for easier processing in production facilities when operators are handling te material.

The usage of cocoa butter is firstly in food, it is an ingredient to produce chocolate. Secondly, it finds its application in cosmetic industry, where it is ideally used in creams, butters, lotions, lip balms and other cosmetic products such as.