Cocoa Butter

About This Product

Cocoa butter is the fat pressed from the roasted or unroasted bean of Theobroma cacao. It carries the INCI name Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter and CAS number 8002-31-1. Natural grades are pale yellow with the characteristic cocoa aroma; deodorised grades have that aroma removed for use where the cocoa note is unwanted, typically in cosmetics or white and flavoured confectionery. Its behaviour comes from an unusually uniform triglyceride composition. Most of the fat is made up of just three symmetrical triglycerides, POS, SOS and POP, built from palmitic, stearic and oleic acids. Because the molecules are so alike, they melt over a narrow range around 32 to 35 degrees Celsius rather than softening gradually, which is why chocolate is solid in the hand and melts in the mouth. Cocoa butter is also polymorphic: it can crystallise into six forms, and only Form V gives the gloss, snap and shelf stability wanted in chocolate. Reaching Form V requires tempering, a controlled heating and cooling cycle; untempered chocolate develops a dull grey fat bloom. It is used in couverture and moulded chocolate, in confectionery coatings and fillings, and in pharmaceutical suppositories where the sharp body-temperature melt is the functional requirement. In personal care it is an occlusive emollient in lip balms, body butters and creams. Bio Green Oils and Fats supplies natural and deodorised cocoa butter to specification on free fatty acid, melting profile, colour, moisture and refining status.