Cocoa Powder

Cocoa powder is a by-product of the manufacture of chocolate, and is made by pressing chocolate liquor, the first stage in turning cocoa beans into chocolate, until it gives up cocoa butter and a paste, which, when dried and powdered, becomes cocoa. Cocoa is used to flavour biscuits, puddings and sauces or mixed with hot milk and sugar to make hot cocoa. In the 1800s, a Dutch chemist perfected a screw press that enabled the cocoa to be extracted more efficiently, and a process of further treating it to produce a darker, milder cocoa known as ‘Dutched’ cocoa, which dissolves more easily and is used for drinking or baking.