What is the effect of cocoa powder? Distinguish cocoa powder and chocolate powder
Nowadays, cocoa powder is no longer a stranger to consumers in Vietnam, they are famous not only as powder for mixing delicious milk cups, but cocoa powder can also help improve health. But lately many people spread a new powder that is almost like a cocoa bot. So what kind of powder is it and how to distinguish between cocoa powder and chocolate powder?
1. Characteristics of cocoa powder
What is cocoa powder?
Cocoa powder is a powder that is ground from the residue of chocolate liqueur after being squeezed into a liquid. It is a rather complicated process, fresh cocoa pods will be fermented for 2 - 9 days and dried. Next, the cocoa beans will be roasted to increase the flavor of the cocoa powder.
The cocoa beans are further finely ground, to form a dark brown mixture - called chocolate liquor because at that time cocoa fat and cocoa butter are melted and blended into a mixture.
Finally, the chocolate liqueur will be squeezed into the liquid, and the remainder of the mixture will be cooled and ground into cocoa powder that you can use.
Characteristics of cocoa powder
Natural cocoa powder is light brown in color, but if it has been treated (alkaline) the cocoa powder will have a darker brown color, possibly from reddish brown to almost black. The purpose of the alkalization process will make cocoa powder less bitter and increase solubility.
Cocoa trees were discovered about 3000 years ago in Central America and Mexico. Cocoa was used in the Mayan civilization of Central America, then introduced to Europe by the people who first discovered Spain in the 16th century and quickly gained popularity.
2. Nutritional composition of cocoa powder
Cocoa powder contains many flavanols antioxidants, but if it undergoes acidification, the content of these substances will be reduced. In addition, cocoa powder also contains caffeine and some other beneficial minerals.
Specifically, in each 100g cocoa powder includes the following nutrients:
- Energy: 228kcal
- Country: 3g
- Carbohydrate: 57.9g
- Protein: 19.6g
- Fat: 13.7g
- Fiber: 37g
In addition, cocoa powder also contains a number of vitamins such as: 0.241mg vitamin B2, 0.1mg vitamin E, 2.5microgram of vitamin K, ... and other minerals such as: 128mg calcium, 13.86mg iron, 499mg magnesium, 1524mg potassium,
3. Are cocoa powder and chocolate powder the same or different?
Although made from the seeds of the cocoa tree Theobroma, but the cocoa powder and chocolate powder are inherently different, you can distinguish between the two on a number of points as follows:
Cocoa powder | Chocolate powder | |
Nature | A powder that is crushed from chocolate liquor after being pressed to obtain liquid (removing cocoa butter). | Is a mixture of cocoa powder and cocoa butter, mixed with sugar and milk with different proportions depending on the intended use. |
Color / Classification | The natural cocoa powder is light brown in color, acidic and has a strong chocolate flavor. | Chocolate powder has 3 types: black, white and brown chocolate powder with the same color as its name. |
Sweetness | For cocoa powder that has not been alkaline treated: has a characteristic bitter taste, sometimes with a slight acidity. For alkaline treated cocoa powder: bitterness is reduced and the color may become darker. | According to the proportion of sugar and milk and chocolate has different flavors and colors, such as bitter taste, medium sweetness and bitter sweetness. |