Chocolate and Cocoa

Chocolate and cocoa are derived from cocoa or cacao beans. When the beans are roasted and ground, the resulting product is called chocolate liquor, which contains a white or yellowish fat called cocoa butter.

• Cocoa is the dry powder that remains after part of the cocoa butter is removed from chocolate liquor.
• Dutch process cocoa is processed with an alkali. It is slightly darker, smoother in flavor, and more easily dissolved in liquids than regular cocoa.
• Bitter or unsweetened chocolate is straight chocolate liquor. In some less expensive brands, some of the cocoa butter may be replaced by another fat.
• Sweetened dark chocolate is bitter chocolate with the addition of sugar in varying amounts. If the percentage of sugar is low, it is sometimes called semisweet or bittersweet.
• Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate with the addition of milk solids. It is used primarily in candy making. (None of the recipes in this book call for milk chocolate.)