Cocoa Powder
Unsweetened, ground cocoa, used to flavor or dust dessert-style cocktails.
Origin
Mesoamerica originally (as ground cacao), refined into the modern defatted cocoa powder by Dutch chemist Coenraad Johannes van Houten in 1828.
History
Ground cacao has ancient Mesoamerican roots, but the specific product known as cocoa powder is a 19th-century European innovation: Dutch chemist Coenraad van Houten patented a process in 1828 for pressing much of the fat (cocoa butter) out of ground cacao, leaving a fine, less greasy powder that mixed far more easily into drinks and baked goods. In cocktails, it appears mostly as a rim coating or garnish dusting on dessert-style drinks, contributing intense, unsweetened chocolate flavor.
Flavor profile
Intensely bitter, concentrated chocolate flavor with none of chocolate bar's added sugar or fat.
Tasting notes
Much more bitter and concentrated than melted chocolate or chocolate syrup, since most of the sugar and cocoa butter have been removed, making it useful as a rim or garnish dusting where a little goes a long way.
Substitutes
- Chocolate syrup or creme de cacao, for a sweeter, easier-to-mix chocolate flavor instead of a dry garnish.
- Dark chocolate shavings, for a similar intensity in a different (grated rather than powdered) form.
- Chocolate bitters, for chocolate character in liquid, pre-dosed form.
Common cocktails