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Cocoa butter
 
 
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Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil or theobroma cacao, is a pale-yellow, pure edible vegetable fat extracted from the cacao
Cacao

Cacao , or the cocoa plant, is a small evergreen tree in the family Sterculiaceae , native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. There are two prominent competing hypotheses about the origins of the original wild Theobroma cacao tree....
 bean. It is used to make chocolate
Chocolate

Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that are produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree.Chocolate has become one of the most popular flavors in the world....
, pharmaceuticals, ointment
Ointment

An ointment is a viscous semisolid preparation used topically on a variety of body surfaces. These include the skin and the mucus membranes of the eye , vagina, anus, and nose....
s, and toiletries. Cocoa butter has a mild chocolate flavor
Flavor

Flavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other chemical substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and olfaction....
 and aroma.

Creation
Cocoa beans are ground into chocolate liquor
Chocolate liquor

Chocolate liquor, also known as cocoa liquor and cocoa mass, is a smooth liquid form of chocolate. Like the cocoa nibs from which it is produced, it contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter in roughly equal proportion....
 and pressed to separate the cocoa butter from the cocoa solids
Cocoa solids

Cocoa solids is a term for the nonfat component of chocolate. It may also be called cocoa powder when sold as an end product.In contrast, the fatty component of chocolate is cocoa butter....
 . Cocoa butter can alternately be extracted from whole beans by the broma process
Broma process

The Broma process is a method used to remove cocoa butter from cacao beans, resulting in cocoa solids, also known as cocoa powder. In about 1865 someone at the Domingo Ghirardelli factory discovered that by hanging a bag of ground cacao beans in a warm room, the cocoa butter would drip off, leaving behind a residue that can then be converted...
.






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Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil or theobroma cacao, is a pale-yellow, pure edible vegetable fat extracted from the cacao
Cacao

Cacao , or the cocoa plant, is a small evergreen tree in the family Sterculiaceae , native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. There are two prominent competing hypotheses about the origins of the original wild Theobroma cacao tree....
 bean. It is used to make chocolate
Chocolate

Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that are produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree.Chocolate has become one of the most popular flavors in the world....
, pharmaceuticals, ointment
Ointment

An ointment is a viscous semisolid preparation used topically on a variety of body surfaces. These include the skin and the mucus membranes of the eye , vagina, anus, and nose....
s, and toiletries. Cocoa butter has a mild chocolate flavor
Flavor

Flavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other chemical substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and olfaction....
 and aroma.

Creation


Cocoa beans are ground into chocolate liquor
Chocolate liquor

Chocolate liquor, also known as cocoa liquor and cocoa mass, is a smooth liquid form of chocolate. Like the cocoa nibs from which it is produced, it contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter in roughly equal proportion....
 and pressed to separate the cocoa butter from the cocoa solids
Cocoa solids

Cocoa solids is a term for the nonfat component of chocolate. It may also be called cocoa powder when sold as an end product.In contrast, the fatty component of chocolate is cocoa butter....
 . Cocoa butter can alternately be extracted from whole beans by the broma process
Broma process

The Broma process is a method used to remove cocoa butter from cacao beans, resulting in cocoa solids, also known as cocoa powder. In about 1865 someone at the Domingo Ghirardelli factory discovered that by hanging a bag of ground cacao beans in a warm room, the cocoa butter would drip off, leaving behind a residue that can then be converted...
. It is most often deodorized to remove its strong and undesirable taste.

Uses


Milk and sugar are added to make white chocolate
White chocolate

White chocolate is a confectionery of sucrose, cocoa butter, and milk solids. The melting point of cocoa butter is high enough to keep white chocolate solid at room temperature, yet low enough to allow white chocolate to melt in the mouth....
, but most of it is used to produce milk chocolate, some of which contains more cocoa butter than cocoa liquor.

Because of the low melting point of cocoa butter, it is often used in pharmaceuticals as a base for suppositories
Suppository

A suppository is a drug delivery system that is inserted either into the rectum , vagina or urethra where it dissolves.They are used to deliver both systemically-acting and locally-acting medications....
. It is typically solid at room temperature, but readily melts at body temperature, releasing the medication. Cocoa Butter rubbed on nipples can impede lactation.

Cocoa butter is one of the most stable fats known, containing natural antioxidants that prevent rancidity
Rancidification

Rancidification is the decomposition of fats, oils and other lipids by hydrolysis or oxidation, or both. Hydrolysis will split fatty acid chains away from the glycerol backbone in glycerides....
 and give it a storage life of two to five years, making it a good choice for non-food products. The smooth texture, sweet fragrance and emollient
Emollient

Emollients are substances that soften and soothe the skin. They are used to correct dryness and scaling of the skin. They are a key component in the manufacture of lipstick, lotions, and other cosmetic products....
 property of cocoa butter make it a popular ingredient in cosmetics
Cosmetics

Cosmetics are substances used to enhance or protect the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care Cream , lotions, Powder , perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and gels, deodorants, baby products, bath oils, bubb...
 and skin care products, such as soap
SOAP

SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks....
s and lotion
Lotion

A lotion is a low- to medium-viscosity, topical preparation intended for application to unbroken skin; creams and gels have a higher viscosity. Most lotions are oil-in-water emulsions using a substance such as Cetearyl alcohol to keep the emulsion together, but water-in-oil lotions are also formulated....
s.

Chemical properties


The most common form of Cocoa butter has a melting point
Melting point

The melting point of a solid is the temperature range at which it changes states of matter from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium....
 of around 34 to 38 degrees Celsius
Celsius

Celsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death....
 (93 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit , who proposed it in 1724. Today, the scale has largely been replaced by the Celsius scale; it is still in use for non-scientific purposes in the United States and a few other countries such as Belize....
), rendering chocolate a solid at room temperature
Room temperature

Room temperature is a common term to denote a certain temperature within enclosed space at which humans are accustomed.Room temperature is thus often indicated by general human comfort, with the common range of 10celsius to 23?C , though climate may acclimatize people to higher or lower temperatures....
 that readily melts once inside the mouth
Mouth

The mouth, buccal cavity, or oral cavity is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and begins digestion by mechanically breaking up the solid food particles into smaller pieces and mixing them with saliva....
. Cocoa butter displays polymorphism
Polymorphism (materials science)

Polymorphism in materials science is the ability of a solid material to exist in more than one form or crystal structure. Polymorphism can potentially be found in any crystalline material including polymers, minerals, and metals, and is related to allotropy, which refers to chemical elements....
, having a, ?, ß', and ß crystals, with melting points of 17, 23, 26, and 35–37 °C respectively. The production of chocolate typically uses only the ß crystal for its high melting point. A uniform crystal structure will result in smooth texture, sheen, and snap. Overheating cocoa butter converts the structure to a less stable form that melts below room temperature. Given time, it will naturally return to the most stable ß crystal form.