Black cocoa
Heavily alkalised cocoa powder, near-black in colour. Used for appearance rather than flavour, and it is milder than it looks.
What it is
Black cocoa is cocoa powder alkalised far beyond the usual Dutch-process level, producing a colour close to black. It is what gives certain sandwich biscuits their characteristic appearance.
The counterintuitive part is that heavy alkalisation reduces flavour rather than concentrating it. Black cocoa is milder, less bitter and less fruity than natural cocoa, and it carries substantially fewer flavanols. It is also very low in fat and very absorbent, so recipes using it generally need extra liquid and are often blended with a standard cocoa rather than using it alone.
- Category kind
- An ingredient form — this is a component rather than a finished product
- Legal status
- Industry convention, not a legal definition
- Also called
- ultra-dutched cocoa
- Flavour families
- roasted, earthy
- Texture
- chalky
What the percentage means here
As with any cocoa powder, any percentage refers to residual fat. Colour is emphatically not a proxy for strength here.
Working with it
Very absorbent and low in fat. Usually blended with Dutch-process cocoa rather than used alone, and it will not react with bicarbonate of soda.
Commonly misunderstood
That black cocoa is the most intense cocoa available. It is the most alkalised, and alkalisation reduces flavour along with acidity.
Related
Compared in
- Black cocoa vs Dutch-process cocoaSet against Dutch-process cocoa, with the practical consequence of each difference.
Defined by
- AlkalisationTreating cocoa with an alkali to raise its pH. Darker, smoother, more soluble — and substantially lower in flavanols.
Sources
- ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)
- The Science of Chocolate — Royal Society of Chemistry(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)