Monica Holland

Cocoa Powder

Appears in
Lick The Bowl Good
Lick The Bowl Good

By Monica Holland

Published 2013

  • About

Cocoa Powder is what remains from cocoa beans after most of the cocoa butter has been removed. There are two main types of cocoa powder— natural cocoa and Dutch-process cocoa.

With Dutch cocoa, the cocoa beans are soaked in an alkaline solution before drying and grinding them into powder. This process makes the overall product less acidic and darker in color. It also gives the cocoa a deeper chocolate flavor and is less bitter than natural cocoa.
Natural cocoa is untreated and is naturally lighter in color and slightly more bitter than Dutch process cocoa. Because Dutch cocoa is less acidic than natural cocoa, it is often used in recipes that call for baking powder, whereas natural cocoa powder is used in conjunction with baking soda.