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If there is an ingredient that you are not familiar with, check our Ingredient section. There are pages and pages of information about the ingredients used in my recipes.
Ingredient Information
Cocoa
Cocoa beans are the source of both chocolate and cocoa powder. After being picked the beans are fermented to destroy the germ. They are then dried, roasted and ground to remove the nibs. (It is the nibs that contain all of the cocoa butter.) The result is a thick paste known as chocolate liquor.
This paste is then refined further by drying and grinding. The result is cocoa powder. Dutch Cocoa or Dutch Process is cocoa that has been treated with an alkali to create a darker, richer, more mellow product.
Cocoa usually has very little fat because most of the cocoa butter is extracted at the initial step and again before drying. A tablespoon of cocoa powder has only 1/2 gram of fat.
1 Tbsp. = 20 calories, 0.5g fat, 0g sat fat, 0g mono fat, 1g protein, 3g carbohydrates, 0mg sodium, 0mg cholesterol