What Cocoa Meant For
Cocoa powder is a powder product obtained by reducing the fat contained in cocoa mass and forming it into a cocoa cake. Cocoa consists of several variants, namely natural cocoa, slightly alkaline, medium alkaline, very alkaline, and black. Each variety has a different fat percentage, Ph, color, and name. Cocoa powder is widely used as a mixture of various foods and beverages such as milk, instant chocolate, ice cream, pastries, puddings, and others.
Cocoa was first grown in prehistoric South America. It was brought to Europe by the Spanish Conquistadors during the Age of Exploration. Steam-powered machinery made it possible to produce cocoa powder in large quantities in the 1850s. Today, the annual global consumption of cocoa exceeds 4.5 million tons.
Types of Cocoa Powder
1. Organic Cocoa Powder
The most prevalent kind of cocoa powder on the market is natural. The natural in question is a pure form of chocolate that contains no additional sugars. The only further steps involve grinding and extracting the cocoa butter from the collected cocoa beans. This chocolate powder has the same bitter flavor as cocoa beans, as is well known. The flavor is rich, fruity, bitter, and only slightly sour.
The pH range of pure cocoa powder is 5.3 to 5.8. This pH value suggests that it is a great choice for use in baking soda-required cakes. This is because a chemical reaction caused by the pH of the cocoa powder may cause your pastry to rise.
2. Cocoa butter (Dutch Process)
Prior to being ground into cocoa powder, the cocoa beans used in the Dutch process are first rinsed with a potassium carbonate solution to bring their pH level down to a neutral 7. The alkaline process and European style are other names for this procedure. The bitter and sour flavor of the cocoa beans will disappear during this process.
This kind of cocoa powder has a milder, smoother flavor. Additionally, by using this procedure, the cocoa beans no longer undergo a chemical reaction that results in the cake. Therefore, baking soda is necessary for the Dutch procedure of making cocoa powder. This brown has a darker color as its own.
3. Black Cocoa Powder
Like the Dutch procedure for making chocolate powder, this kind of cocoa powder goes through an alkaline process. The fact that this kind of cocoa bean is washed using the ultra-alkaline procedure, also known as Dutch Ultra, is what distinguishes it.
The end result of this washing procedure is still to eliminate the sour flavor. This gives the cocoa powder a smooth, extremely dark texture. Compared to natural cocoa powder, the color is much darker. For cakes, serving, or adornment, it is ideal.
Health Benefit for Our Body
Numerous advantages come from cocoa powder, especially if it contains at least 72% cacao. Here are a few of cocoa powder’s health advantages:
1. Enhanced mental health
More cocoa powder in your diet may assist to enhance your attention span, working memory, and overall cognitive function, according to research. Additionally, it might improve cognitive function in those who have sleep problems.
2. Increased immunity
Iron, zinc, and selenium are minerals found in cocoa powder. These minerals support your body’s operations and strengthen your immune system.
3. Radiation therapy’s side effects have been reduced.
Consuming cocoa powder can be beneficial if you have cancer and are receiving radiation treatment. It has been demonstrated that the selenium in cocoa power limits the harmful side effects of radiotherapy in cancer patients.
4. Improved Nerve and Muscle Function
Magnesium has a critical role in controlling muscle contraction and supporting neuronal activity. Additionally, the mineral lowers the danger of neurological illnesses while defending nerve cells. Consuming cocoa powder helps support healthy muscle and neurological system function because it includes magnesium.
5. Injury Healing
Zinc is a mineral that aids in wound healing and is abundant in 90% cocoa chocolate.
6. Reduced Chance of Heart Disease
Dark chocolate contains flavonols, a type of flavonoid that lowers blood pressure, enhances blood flow, and guards against cell damage to help prevent heart disease. Polyphenols, an antioxidant found in cocoa powder, also aid to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels and lower the risk of heart disease.
Export Potential
Since the development of cocoa cultivation by Spain, which wished to produce cocoa outside of its native environment in Central America due to the ongoing rise in global demand for cocoa, Indonesia has become one of the world’s top cocoa-producing nations. As a result, Spain spread its seeds among its colonies, the Philippines being one at the time.
Because Sulawesi and the Philippines are close by, several sailors sought to transplant cocoa beans grown in the Philippines in North Sulawesi. And it succeeded. As a result, early in the 16th century, Sulawesi also saw the planting of cocoa.
About 4 million metric tons of cocoa are consumed globally each year. 70% of the total came from African nations, including Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast. Indonesia exports over 200 thousand metric tons of cocoa annually, or about 5% of the global total.
Cocoa is produced in Indonesia alone in 450 thousand metric tons annually. Additionally, domestic processing turns 250 000 metric tons of this material into intermediate or completed goods. Two main categories separate processed cocoa products. specifically, intermediate materials, semi-finished materials, finished industrial products, or finished items themselves.
Semi-finished items including cocoa powder, cocoa butter, cocoa paste, and cocoa cake (the raw material used to make chocolate powder) make up 81 thousand metric tons or 175 million dollars’ worth of Indonesian exports. Additionally, dry cocoa beans make up the majority of cocoa exports. After palm oil and coconut, cocoa ranks as Indonesia’s third-largest non-oil commodity export by export value.
America and Malaysia are currently Indonesia’s top export markets for whole or broken raw, dried cocoa beans. From these two nations, Indonesian cocoa is ground and processed into semi-finished and finished raw materials that are then shipped to North Europe and America, the two regions in the globe with the highest per capita chocolate consumption. Northern Europe is home to 16 of the top 20 chocolate-consuming nations in the world.
It is well known that Indonesian cocoa contains high-quality cocoa butter, which has a higher melting point at room temperature. As a result, processed chocolate prepared with Indonesian cocoa will be more resistant to changes in temperature. In comparison to other exporting nations, Indonesian cocoa beans are recognized to have comparatively low pesticide residual levels.
Goorita has the chance to assist in releasing 17 tons of cocoa powder exports to Palestine from the available potential. This attempts to boost cocoa’s export value and reach the largest market feasible.
Goorita is dedicated to continue to offer the best services in response to customer requests for international shipping or exporting of goods.
Sources :
www.ukmindonesia.id
www.tulipchocolate.com
www.webmd.com
www.ditpui.ugm.ac.id
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