Cocoa butter

Cocoa butter is the fat extracted from cacao seeds. Its distinctive melting behavior gives chocolate its firm texture at room temperature and smooth melt in the mouth.

Triglyceride: A fat molecule built from glycerol bonded to three fatty acids. Cocoa butter’s physical properties depend on the triglycerides that make up most of it.
Chocolate: A food made from cacao products, usually with sugar and often milk or other ingredients. Cocoa butter is the principal fat that gives many chocolates their texture and melt.
Theobroma cacao: A tropical evergreen tree whose seeds are processed to make cacao and chocolate products. Its seeds are the source of the fat called cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter replacer: A fat used in chocolate-like products that does not require compatibility with cocoa butter. Replacers can replace cocoa butter more fully than fats designed to blend with it.
Oleic acid: A monounsaturated fatty acid found in plant and animal fats. It is one of cocoa butter’s three principal fatty acids.
White chocolate: A chocolate product made with cocoa butter, sugar, and usually milk, but no cocoa solids. Its defining cacao ingredient is cocoa butter rather than nonfat cocoa solids.
Cacao bean: The fermented and dried seed of Theobroma cacao, used to make chocolate and other cacao products. Cocoa butter is extracted from the fat-rich seed, commonly called a cacao bean.
Cocoa butter improver: A compatible fat used in small amounts to alter cocoa butter’s crystallization or heat resistance. Improvers modify cocoa butter performance without serving as a simple one-for-one replacement.
Stearic acid: A saturated fatty acid with 18 carbon atoms. It contributes to cocoa butter’s firmness and relatively high melting point.
Couverture chocolate: Chocolate with a relatively high cocoa butter content, used for coating and enrobing. Its extra cocoa butter supports fluidity and a thin, glossy coating.

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