What is cocoa mass, cocoa powder, cocoa butter? Which should be used to make chocolate?

In the ingredient list of chocolate, it generally contains: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder. The content of cocoa solids will be marked on the outer packaging of chocolate. The more cocoa solids content (including cocoa mass, cocoa powder and cocoa butter), the higher the beneficial ingredients and nutritional value in chocolate. Chocolate products with more than 60% cocoa content on the market are rare; most chocolate products are too high in sugar and taste so sweet that they can only be classified as candies.

Cocoa Mass
After the cocoa beans are fermented, roasted and peeled, they are ground and pressed into “cocoa mass”, also known as “cocoa liquor”. Cocoa mass is an important raw material for the production of chocolate; it also has the nutrition of cocoa butter and cocoa powder. The cocoa mass is dark brown. When it is warm, the cocoa mass is a flowing viscous liquid, and it solidifies into a block after cooling. Cocoa liquor, which can be separated into cocoa butter and cocoa cake, and then further processed into other foods.

Cocoa Powder
Cocoa cakes are brownish-red in color and have a natural strong cocoa aroma. Cocoa cake is an essential raw material for processing various cocoa powder and chocolate beverages. But white chocolate does not contain cocoa powder at all.
Cocoa powder is obtained by crushing cocoa cakes and grinding them into a powder. Cocoa powder also has a cocoa aroma, and contains polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant properties and various minerals such as magnesium and potassium.
Cocoa powder gathers the antioxidant components in cocoa, which is the most beneficial to human health. Medical studies have proven that unsweetened cocoa powder can help control blood pressure, reduce blood clotting and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Coco Butter
Cocoa butter is the naturally occurring fat in cocoa beans. Cocoa butter is solid at room temperature below 27°C, liquid at high temperature, and starts to melt when it is close to the body temperature of 35°C. Cocoa butter is amber in liquid state and pale yellow in solid state. Cocoa butter gives chocolate a unique smoothness and melt-in-the-mouth characteristics; it gives chocolate a mellow taste and a deep luster.

It should be noted that, depending on the type of chocolate, the type of addition is also different. Pure fat chocolate can use cocoa liquid block, or cocoa powder plus cocoa butter, but cocoa butter substitute chocolate will not use liquid block and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter substitute chocolate only uses cocoa powder and artificial fat, which contains harmful of trans fatty acids.