Cocoa butter is delicious to eat. Many people love its chocolate flavor. There are many benefits of eating cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is very good and beneficial for body and face care. It is also used in cooking. Making sweet dishes, drinks, and snacks using cocoa butter adds a favorable taste.
Is Cocoa Butter Vegan?
Yes, cocoa butter contains no dairy products.
It is a chocolate liquid used in manufacturing edible chocolates that already have a sum of cocoa butter.
How is Cocoa Butter Made?
Cocoa butter and cocoa powder are made from the Theobroma cacao plant. The manufacturing starts with roasting cocoa beans and then stripping beans in their hulls and revealing cocoa nibs. Then a paste made of cocoa nibs is called cocoa liquor. Afterward, beans are pressed with high pressure to release the extra fat. This released fat is called the obroma oil. It is cocoa butter and is separated from the solids. Later, solids are transformed into cocoa powder.
Cacao Butter vs. Cocoa Butter
Cocoa butter and cacao butter are made from the same ingredients. Then what is the difference? The difference is in the manufacturing process. Raw cacao butter processing is slower than cocoa butter. The temperature remains below 115 F, or 46 C.
- Cacao butter is natural.
- In contrast, cocoa butter is produced from roasted beans.
You may check the spelling on the package level.
What is Cacao Butter
Cacao butter is a natural fat content originally from plants.
It is made from cacao beans and adds a creamy smoothness to your dishes. It contains pure chocolate flavor and is slightly yellow. It is a sugar-free vegan product.
Benefits of Cacao Butter
Cacao butter is a natural and dairy-free oil substance and is competent for vegans to use. It contains natural antioxidants and beneficial fatty acids. Its fatty acid components are often used in a moisturizer that hydrates your skin and retrains your body from becoming rough and dry. It has a long storage life, up to 5 years.
How to Cook With Cocoa Butter
Cocoa butter can be used in different recipes. How to cook with cocoa butter? You can make delicious desserts from cocoa butter. Both sweet and savory dishes can be made with cocoa butter. Trust me; cocoa butter adds a fantastic flavor to your words.
You can use cocoa butter to substitute
- oil
- ghee
- coconut butter
You can use cocoa butter while cooking at high temperatures. It won’t burn quickly. But you need to melt the cocoa butter before you start cooking.
Cocoa Butter in Skincare Products
You don’t need to be surprised. Yes, cocoa butter is an essential ingredient in skincare products like body lotion, lip balm, face wash, etc. Cocoa butter naturally hydrates your skin and keeps your body safe from sunburn. Keeping the moisture locked in our bodies is beneficial so that our skin does not get dry.
It naturally contains antioxidants and essential elements which are helpful for your skin. Moreover, cocoa butter has no side effects like other artificial elements. It is a natural remedy, and you can also use it to make homemade beauty packs and apply them to your face and body.
Cocoa butter in skincare-
What Does Cocoa Butter Taste Like?
Cocoa butter has a chocolaty sweet flavor and a light scent. It has a strong chocolate-based flavor and is never eaten alone. It is used as an element in recipes. It is widely used in baking dishes and making sweet recipes.
In the U.S.A., chocolate must be produced only with cocoa butter. American people like cocoa butter very much. It provides genuine crispiness to the candy bars. But in Europe, other types of fats and flavors are also used to manufacture chocolates and similar kinds of products.
Does Cocoa Butter Have Dairy?
No, cocoa butter is not a dairy-based product. It is manufactured from cacao beans. It’s safe. You can use cocoa butter in your vegan diet.
There is no other product to be added with cocoa butter on its processing level. There is neither milk nor any other dairy imported products added to cocoa butter. If you love chocolates. There are many vegan chocolates available in the market. You better know dark chocolate carries fewer vegan products than milk chocolate.
Usage of Cocoa Butter
What are the other uses of cocoa butter? We have already learned from this article that dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate are all made using cocoa butter. Besides, other chocolate products are also made with cocoa butter. For example, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate-flavored chips, chocolate biscuits, brownies, ice cream, and others.
Cocoa butter is very famous for cooking and food lovers. Non-dairy cocoa butter is often used in baking. You have also learned that cocoa butter is added to skin cream and moisturizers.
Benefits of Cocoa Butter
The first benefit of cocoa butter is that it makes dishes tasty and includes a unique flavor. Talking about skincare, cocoa butter is very beneficial. Cocoa butter contains several fatty acids, and it is mainly used in products like lotion, moisturizer, and lip balm.
Cocoa butter contains essential antioxidants, and it is believed that including a little bit of dark chocolate can lower your blood pressure. Cocoa butter can boost your immune system and be good for the heart. As cocoa butter has a high-fat content, it is better to eat it after modification. It contains certain fatty acids which are beneficial for health.
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However, are you disturbed with scars marks on your body or face? Cocoa butter can be a solution to your problem. Skincare Products made with cocoa butter are always recommended for scars and stretch marks on your body. It will completely heal your skin. It is a natural and suitable type of moisturizer for your skin.
Alternatively, if you have sensitive skin and a problem with sunburn, you can use pure cocoa butter to heal your burn. Cocoa butter can also be a way of minor healing rashes.
Cocoa butter has a high moisturizing quality and is also used as a shaving cream. If you are tired of nursing razor burn after shaving, you can apply cocoa butter. It is a quick and home remedy to use. In markets, cocoa butter is also used to make good soaps.
Nevertheless, eating too many chocolates may increase your body weight. If you have cholesterol issues, you better avoid food items containing fat because pure cocoa butter is derived from the fatty portion of cocoa beans and is also a plant-originated source of fat.
Is Cocoa Powder Vegan?
Is cocoa powder vegan? People often ask this question too. Yes, cocoa powder is a vegan item. Cocoa powder is produced from dry and roasted cocoa beans. Cocoa powder is also made from cocoa beans.
For baking chocolate cakes, chocolate pastries, and making chocolate drinks, chocolate ice cream-cocoa powder is an essential component to use. You can also use cocoa butter to add extra flavor to your chocolate dishes.
But it may contain artificial non-vegan products. So, please check the ingredients before buying cocoa powder.
History of Cocoa Butter
Since we are talking about cocoa butter, let’s look at its history shortly. Cocoa beans are mainly grown in South America’s rainforests. The Malayans used to grind the cocoa nib into powder and drink chocolate as a drink.
When its value was invented, and it was thought that it could be manufactured in factories and ready to sell in the market, cocoa beans were included in trading.
It was nearly 1600 when chocolate was first brought to Europe by Spanish traders. Europeans chose to mix sugar with chocolate to make tasty sweetened chocolates. The idea was grabbed quickly and became very popular among people. On top of that, cocoa beans became expensive to import.
For this reason, the chocolate drink became an expensive product. It also became a luxury that only was afforded by wealthy people.
What happened next? After the industrial revolution, the Dutch traders sought permission to open and run chocolate bars. When permission was granted, chocolate bars became a popular place for socialization and spending free time in the 17th century.
Process of Cocoa Butter
Cocoa trees must be 20° off the equator to flourish well. They also need a lot of rainfall, wet weather, and correctly drained soil to grow. They grow under canopies in the rainforest and can go for sunshine when they become ready. Generally, they bear fruits after five years of plantation. Then the pods were cut from the tree and pulp and shoveled.
After cleaning and roasting the beans, the cocoa shell is cut and opened to remove its nib. Subsequently, cocoa powder is obtained from it. Also, pure cocoa butter is produced from cocoa beans.
You may wonder if the chocolate flavor will differ according to the type of beans used to make certain kinds of chocolates. Chocolate is made with higher-level cocoa butter, and the cocoa mess has a solid and long flavor.
Once all the ingredients are combined, it goes through a mechanical process in factories. It is refined and smoothened. Before packaging, it gives a last touch of finishing and is made smooth.
Did you know? The most expensive chocolate in the world contains which type of beans? It has criollo beans, which are found in Central America. It will immediately melt in your mouth. Usually, it goes with a lengthy process to make the chocolate soft, smooth, and yummy to taste.
Ethical Issues with Certain Cocoa-Based Products
Though the aim of veganism is quite appreciative, the vegan society’s motive for veganism is to avoid cruelty towards animals. It is also beneficial to use vegan products for human health, animals, and the environment because vegan products do not produce organic wastes and keep the environment fresh and sound to live.
However, the general interpretation of veganism is widely animal-focused. But using and eating too many dairy-based products can harm human health. So, we should keep it in mind as well.
Child Labor
As you know, chocolate is delicious to eat. But the key ingredients like sugar and cacao beans are often farmed and collected using child labor. It also inspires child trafficking across the world. Many poor children work in chocolate manufacturing factories for money.
Whereas the whole world has become aware and raised its voice against child labor, the concept of child labor is still primarily associated with the chocolate industry. Half of the total cocoa production was produced in West Africa, especially in Ghana and Ivory Coast.
The critics find child labor is frequently used in West Africa in the cocoa manufacturing industry. They are against it, but those countries’ law is comparatively weak to stop child labor.
My Opinion
Leaving this complex discussion behind, let’s get back to the main idea. Is cocoa butter vegan? Yes, we discuss that it is a vegan and dairy-free product. It contains valuable ingredients for the body. Cocoa butter is also proven beneficial for health. I believe that if you are on a diet, you can still eat cocoa butter.
It is safe to eat. Specifically, when you are on a diet, your food taste is drastically changed. In that case, you like cocoa butter and chocolate-based items to eat. However, overeating chocolate can increase your weight. But you can include cocoa butter in your vegan diet.
Conclusion
Cocoa butter is originally a vegan product and originated from trees in South America. It is hard to produce cocoa trees and beans. Also, the cocoa industry can be criticized for some issues. Leaving all facts behind, we may say that foods made with cocoa butter are delicious and vegan to eat.
Eva M. Smith is the owner of this website. She is a 4 year old mother of two kids and a professional chef. Eva loves to cook for her family, but being a working mom has a lot of challenges. From squeezing in time to do the groceries to make three meals for the day. Eva knows how challenging cooking can be without a kitchen game plan.
That’s why she perfected techniques of preserving staple ingredients and several foods so that you have something pre-cooked or pre-baked to use for an array of meals. And they do not come short in flavor! And she does not want to sacrifice flavor with convenience. That’s why she is the best person to ask.