Cocoa butter is an extract of fat from cocoa beans. It is used in cosmetology and the food industry. Cocoa butter is mainly used for making chocolate; it gives chocolate products a gentle, uniform structure. Cocoa butter is also a central component of many cosmetics. It is often added to soap, shampoos and lotions. How can you get real cocoa butter?
Pick your recipe
You will need
- - Cocoa beans;
- - grinder, or coffee grinder;
- - hammer;
- - sieve;
- - press.
Instruction manual
1
Rinse the cocoa beans thoroughly in clean cold water and dry.
2
Place the cocoa beans evenly on a heat-resistant mold and fry them in the oven at a temperature of 40 to 60 degrees Celsius for 90 minutes.
3
Leave the cocoa beans to cool at room temperature.
4
Using a hammer, beat the cocoa beans lightly to separate the grains from the outer shell. After frying, the shell should already have moved slightly.
5
Put the processed cocoa beans in a sieve. Gently push cocoa beans in such a way that the shell eventually remains on the surface of the sieve, and the grains fall into the container.
6
Using a grinder (a small device for grinding spices or tobacco), or a coffee grinder, crush the peeled grains of cocoa beans to a powder state. The heat from the grinder will melt the fat in the grains, gradually giving the cocoa a more fluid consistency.
7
Remove the cocoa butter from the powdered grains by pressing using an extruder, expeller or screw press for commercial quality cocoa butter.
Useful advice
1. To get 1 liter of cocoa butter, you will need about 22 kg of cocoa beans. Before you roast cocoa beans, sort them by size to ensure uniform roasting. When removing the shell, do this carefully so as not to crush the cocoa beans into powder.
2. Using an open flame is undesirable for roasting cocoa beans, because the shell may catch fire.
3. Cocoa butter is usually deodorized to remove strong and unwanted fragrances.
4. The moisturizing properties of cocoa butter are often used to prevent stretch marks in pregnant women, in the treatment of cracks in the body and lips, and as a daily moisturizer to prevent dryness and itching of the skin.
5. The velvety structure, pleasant aroma and emollient properties of cocoa butter make it a popular component in skin products such as makeup, soap and lotions.