Cocoa, under pressure.
A tin of cocoa is a bean with most of its butter pressed out. Weigh yours, run the press that made it, then put the butter back.
In the pot494.4 g
Cocoa solids222.5 g
Fat271.9 g
Each dot is 1% (4.944 g). The brown ones never leave.
The butter is already in the bean.
Ground nibs make cocoa liquor: cocoa solids held in the bean’s own fat, here 494 g at 55% fat.
How the numbers workThe butter to put back is the butter that came out.
Pressing moves fat, not cocoa solids. The solids in your cocoa are the same grams the liquor had, so the liquor follows from the fat it held.
- Cocoa solids in your cocoa250 × (1 − 0.11) = 222.5 g
- The liquor they came from222.5 ÷ (1 − 0.55) = 494.4 g
- Butter pressed out494.4 − 250 = 244.4 g
- Put it back(27.5 + 244.4) ÷ 494.4 = 55% fat
A mass balance. It ignores moisture (liquor holds about 1–2%) and anything lost in the press or filter. Pressure, warmth and pressing time decide how much fat a cake keeps. Powder is milled and may be alkalized, so a rebuilt mass matches liquor on paper; texture and flavour still follow the powder.
- ICCO · Processing cocoa (presses up to 550 bar)
- Cargill · Cocoa powder range (10–12% and 20–22% fat grades)
- US 21 CFR 163.111–163.114 · chocolate liquor and cocoa standards
- US 21 CFR 101.9(c)(2) · fat-per-serving label rounding
- EU Directive 2000/36/EC · Annex I (cocoa powder, white chocolate)
- Royal Duyvis Wiener · Cocoa butter press
- Chocolate Alchemy · Making cocoa butter at home
Powder grades & namesYour cocoa: cocoa (medium-fat) in the US.
| Fat | US (21 CFR 163) | EU (2000/36/EC) |
|---|---|---|
| 22% and up | Breakfast or high-fat cocoa | Cocoa powder |
| 20 to under 22% | Cocoa (medium-fat) | Cocoa powder |
| 10 to under 20% | Cocoa (medium-fat) | Fat-reduced cocoa |
| Under 10% | Lowfat cocoa | Fat-reduced cocoa |
Suppliers sell mostly two grades, 10–12% and 20–22% fat. The EU measures cocoa butter on a dry basis. Dutch processing is a separate treatment; in the US the name must then carry “processed with alkali” (21 CFR 163.112(c)).
Pressing at home?What a melanger can’t do.
Industrial pot presses squeeze warm liquor at up to about 550 bar (8,000 psi). A melanger refines chocolate but does not separate the fat. Chocolate Alchemy once recommended a small home press for cocoa butter, then reported that the model was discontinued and that it has no reliable replacement to recommend.
For most home recipes, buy food-grade cocoa butter: deodorized for a neutral fat, undeodorized for more cocoa aroma. The cocoa butter guide covers both.
Bring your cocoa
What did pressing take out of my cocoa?
Enter its weight and the fat on the label. A 250 g tin at 11% fat began as about 494 g of cocoa liquor at 55% fat; pressing took 244 g of cocoa butter out. This is a mass balance, ignoring moisture and press losses.
Can I put the butter back?
The butter to add back is the butter that came out. Melting 244 g into that 250 g tin gives 494 g at 55% fat, the make-up of unsweetened chocolate. Powder is milled and may be alkalized, so a rebuilt mass matches liquor on paper; texture and flavour still follow the powder.
What if the bag doesn’t give a fat percentage?
Divide the fat per serving by the serving size, then multiply by 100. Choose Other to enter that percentage. Standard computes at 11%; High-fat computes at 22%.
Separated here, reunited in chocolate