The title of this blog post might seem a bit bold – after reading it you might have many more things you want to know about cacao butter. We are here to further support you, so please reach out via  info@silva-cacao.com.  We’ll do our best to find the answers for you, and share these in another blog post. In the meantime, we listed the most frequently asked questions.

Why can you add cacao butter to chocolate?

With its melting point just below human body temperature, cacao butter ensures that chocolate is solid at room temperature and melts in the mouth, allowing full enjoyment of the chocolate flavours. There are several reasons to add a little extra cacao butter when making chocolate:

• Mouth feel: extra cacao butter can give chocolate a silkier and creamier texture.
• The snap and the shine: with a bit of extra cacao butter the cacao fats set better when tempering cacao mass, resulting in the highly coveted shine and snap.

For white chocolate the question is not why add EXTRA cacao butter, because: white chocolate = cacao butter + sugar + milk (powder) or a vegan option.

What is better: Deodorized or Natural Cacao Butter?

Some questions, including this one, are not easy to answer. It depends on what you want to achieve with your chocolate. Natural cacao butter has the aromas and flavours of the cacao beans it was made from. This can give your chocolate an extra layer of flavour, and/or create a beautiful marriage between cacao beans/inclusion and cacao butter.

At the same time, if you prefer the cacao beans to sing solo, it is better not to interfere with their flavour profile and choose for deodorized cacao butter.

The downside of deodorizing butter is that the treatment of deodorizing strips the beneficial natural nutrients and antioxidants from the butter.

Why opt for deodorized butter from one single country?

This is a smart question, because if the cacao butter is stripped from its natural aromas and flavour, why do we bother to source it from one country. The answer is related to Silva’s business ethics: With a blended cacao butter we can’t guarantee the source of the butter, and possibly the butter is made with cacao from unethical sources. With organic certified cacao butter from Peru or Dominican Republic or any other origins, we know the source of the beans, and that it’s produced in a sustainable way, both socially and environmentally.

Are there different qualities in cacao butter?

YES! The quality and flavour of natural butter are directly related to the flavour and quality of the cocoa beans it was made from. Nicely fermented cocoa beans with a good flavour profile will give you flavoursome butter. Badly fermented beans might very well result in an off-taste in natural butter.

In other words: the better the beans the better the butter. Unfortunately, there is a lot of not-so-good-if-not-to-say-rather-bad cacao butter on the market. Therefore, it is advisable to check the origin of the cacao butter, to find out more about the beans that have been used to make it, and to be curious about the farmers and their production methods. This is not always easy – cacao butter is made in large quantities, and it is generally much harder to trace the cacao back to farm level.

Can you see if cacao butter is good or bad?

You can’t see the quality; it generally doesn’t show from the outside. The proof is in the eating of – in this case – the cacao butter. When tasting, the flavour profile of the butter will show itself. It is up to the chocolate maker to decide if it fits with the cacao beans and/or inclusions they are using.

How should I store cacao butter and what is its shelf life?

When properly stored cacao butter can have a shelf life of 1,5 to 2 years. You can keep it with your beans, because both products need the same storage conditions: a clean and dry room with relative humidity close to 50%, and certainly not higher then 65%, and room temperature between 15°C and 20°C.

Some chocolate makers keep their butter in airtight containers, which helps to keep moisture and smells out.

Is Cacao Butter Healthy?

Cacao butter consists mainly of palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids. Palmitic acid is a saturated fat – not healthy, especially not for heart and blood vessels. On the other hand, oleic acid is an unsaturated fat that decreases the risk of heart disease. And stearic acid, although saturated, has a neutral effect.  All in all, cacao butter seems to have a limited effect on the risk of cardiovascular disease. Cacao butter does contain good doses of antioxidants, magnesium, iron, and Vitamin E, which are considered anti-inflammatory and good for the immune system.

However, and this is important, cacao butter is a fat, and has around 55% saturated fat. And the caloric value of cacao butter is seriously high, almost 900 kCal per 100 gr. For comparison: a Big Mac plus fries is 780 kCal.

In conclusion, and quoting our mothers, grandmothers and their mothers, enjoy cacao butter when you have it, but enjoy it in moderation.

Can I make my own cacao butter?

Yes, you can. A cold oil press and roasted cacao nibs suffice to make your own cacao butter. For a bigger production – around 5 kg nibs per hour – you will need to invest at least 4,000 Euro in machinery. For a cost-efficient (industrial) operation a hydraulic cacao press is used. This machine exerts tremendous pressure on cacao liquor (melted nibs) to separate the fat from the solids. The investment is relatively high for small chocolate makers, especially if you don’t use that much cacao butter.

However, if you want to experiment with making your own cacao butter, we suggest you buy a tabletop oil press (less than 300 Euro). It might be fun to produce cacao butter from your own cacao beans, and make your single origin bar even more single origin.