Natural cocoa powder

Cacao en poudre non alcalinisé

What it is

Coenraad van Houten's press of 1828 is what made cocoa a powder at all, by squeezing the butter out of the ground bean; the alkali treatment that gives Dutch cocoa its dark colour came out of the same Amsterdam workshop. Natural powder is simply the one left alone, acidity and all, sitting around pH 5.3.

In the kitchen

It is the acid half of any baking-soda recipe, so swapping in Dutch-process powder leaves the soda nothing to react against: the cake rises less and tastes soapy. Going the other way, a pinch of cream of tartar restores the acidity.

Goes with

Cream of tartar Butter Coffee Vanilla Raspberry Cream Dark chocolate

Same species

Blond chocolate Cocoa mass Cacao pulp Cocoa butter Cocoa bean husk Cocoa nibs

Also used with

Instant modified waxy maize starch Kappa carrageenan Sodium bicarbonate

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us