Is Cocoa Butter Vegan?

Is cocoa butter vegan?

What is cocoa butter?

Cocoa beans are about 50% fat. The fat is what we refer to as “cocoa butter”.

This is a solid chunk of cocoa butter. This particular cocoa butter is non-deodorized, so it actually smells somewhat like chocolate, but a little different.

Cocoa butter is the fat contained within the seed (AKA cocoa bean) of the cacao tree). This is the same seed used to make dark or milk chocolate. The seed itself is about 50% fat. To extract the fat, the seeds or nibs are pressed. The fat is removed, and whatever is left over is often used to make cocoa powder. Pure cocoa powder is essentially ground up cocoa bean with much of the fat removed. The cocoa butter is then purified to remove any dark cacao solid remnants to create pure cocoa butter.

Appearance of Cocoa Butter

When the cocoa butter is in liquid form it is a translucent light yellow. When this fat solidifies, it appears off-white or cream in colour and similar in appearance to actual butter.

Is cocoa butter vegan?

Yes. Since cocoa butter is the fat pressed from the cocoa bean. It is 100% plant-based, much like other fats and oils from other seeds. Many often mistake it for dairy or non-vegan because of the word “butter”. However, cocoa butter is like other plant derived fats and is okay to use for those on vegan diets.

Some uses Of Cocoa Butter

Cocoa butter like many other fats has many versatile uses. Although chocolate is made from grinding up cocoa beans (or the nibs specifically), which contain a lot of fat already, often times more cocoa butter added to it during refining. Adding more cocoa butter makes the chocolate more creamy in texture and also makes it less viscous (more fluid) and easier to work with when tempering or moulding into shapes. Other uses for cocoa butter include:

Cooking

Just like other oils and fats, cocoa butter can be used to sauté

Ingredient in baked goods

Cocoa butter can be used (often in liquid form) as a plant-based fat for cakes, cookies, muffins, and other recipes that require a liquid fat

Skincare

Cocoa butter is used in many lotions, creams, and soaps, or lip balms as it does coat and protect the skin from drying and looking more supple

White chocolate

White chocolate is made only from the fat of the cocoa bean, instead of the whole cocoa bean (which is used for making dark or milk chocolate). White chocolate combines the cocoa butter with sugar, milk powder, and often vanilla. This is your standard white chocolate. Learn more about white chocolate here.