whats difference between cacao powder and cocoa powder

Yes, it's the same.

[QUOTE whats difference between cacao powder and cocoa powder
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**** spoonbread, you beat me to it.:D

Raw cacao powder is NOT the same as cocoa powder.

Raw cacao powder is unadulterated and contains many more nutrients than traditional cocoa powder. It's sold mostly via health food stores and online retailers. Just google raw cacao powder to find retailers like rawguru.com, vitacost.com, and livesuperfoods.com which all sell the product (note: this is not an endorsement of any retailer). Many of these retailer sites also promote the benefits of "raw cacao powder." Many recipes are also found on the internet for such things as a banana cacao smoothie. Cacao in its natural state contains no sugars. Ehow.com describes the difference between raw cacao powder and cocoa powder this way:

"Pure, unsweetened cocoa powder tastes very bitter and rich, which is why it is most often used in sweets and confections. To get cocoa powder from the cacao bean, the nibs are first ground into a strong paste. The fat is removed, and the remaining solids are ground up again into a fine dust: cocoa powder. Because of its drying properties, using cocoa powder in a cake often requires the use of more shortening or butter in the recipe.

According to FDA guidelines, cocoa powder and cacao powder are simply different terms for the same powder, and are nearly interchangeable; however, "cacao powder" specifically refers to raw, unsweetened powder. "Cocoa powder," on the other hand, may still have a very small amount of cocoa butter present to enhance the flavor subtly."

I disagree with GoodcatchM

..and here is my reasoning and experience of 15 years in the cocoa business, and as a chemical engineer.

Cocoa powder and cacao powder is the same.
What is considered "raw" cacao is suppose to be a cocoa powder that has been in a process that never exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit...which is already an almost impossible scenario, since cocoa beans are grown in the Equator, and you may exceed that temperature while drying in the patio under the sun covered with black linens (to heat it up and allow the fermentation of the bean)....and yes, you need to dry them, otherwise they will rotten in a few days, and the shell will be too difficult to peel off.

Back to cocoa powder....
ALL cocoa powder comes from the cocoa bean, which without the shell is called cocoa nib (a.k.a. cacao nib). The first step is grinding of the nib (which again, when you grind something to such small particle size you will create a lot of friction with -that's right - heat!). That will give you the cocoa/cacao paste (a.k.a. cacao mass or liquor), which has about 50 to 56% fat (cocoa butter) in it...and ALL cocoa powders have to go through that stage.

Next stage is to take some of that butter away, which the raw community claims can be done through "cold pressing". For any that don't understand that term, cold pressing is done with oils like olive oil to preserve the oil almost intact by cooling the press plates while applying pressure (pressure generates heat, therefore it needs to be cooled). But here is a reminder, olive oil is liquid in room temperature, cocoa butter is SOLID, and it STARTS melting at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit ... so, you cannot control and cool it to a point where it will be still in a solid phase, because it cannot be pressed and "flow" out.

Last operation is to grind the solids left in the press, again - heat...and there is your cocoa powder or cacao powder... you tell me if you call it "raw", a term not defined by the FDA for cocoa, and that can be used by anyone just to sell the cocoa to a much higher price. Maybe that is why bigger, more serious companies don't have this product, since they do not want to be liable for false advertising...

Regarding "Raw" cocoa nibs or cocoa beans...yes, that is possible, and the only concern is the high bacteriological plate count... but how much you want to train your immune system is up to each individual. And yes, the less manipulated the cocoa, the more polyphenols and healthy chemicals you will obtain from it.

There is also a difference between alkalized or ducthed powders, and the natural ones (which do not contain any potassium carbonate), being the second ones the ones containing more of the healthy properties (antioxidants). But that is totally different than claiming a "raw" cocoa powder.

So, that is my explanation, and again, I respect anyone's opinion on what they want to eat or how they want to consume it. I just disagree with misleading the general public just to make juicy profits.

Thank you, CocoaLady

Thanks for the information. I don't mind being corrected. This has been a learning process for me. Perhaps I was misguided and misinformed.

I Too Thank You CocoaLady

Or could that be CacaoLady? ;-)

Thanks very much for the detailed explanation. You took the words right off of my keyboard.

It is frustrating to me when foodies, and especially "professional" chefs buy in to the erroneous claims to simply attempt to squeeze more unearned profits out of the unsuspecting public.

I think it is Barnum who is quoted as saying that there is a fool born every minute. These days I think that there is a sheister born every other minute at least.

Best thing to keep in mind is; buyer beware. Don't just swallow every piece of information thrown at you. Investigate and inform yourself of the facts. - And no; I don't mean look it up on Wikipedia. That too must be taken with a grain of salt (so to speak - and another one of those new marketing gimmicks for chocolate).

Cheers!

educational!

thanks for the insight

I have seen this in several different places and I have to admit I am sceptical as to the raw claims as well. I am a massive chocoholic and have a great interest in how foods are processed and what it takes to "get them to the plate" so I've done a bit of research. Everything I've found agrees that the "Raw" label is hype. Cocoa in it's raw state bears no resemblence to powder at all so it seems to me this is how people make what they want to eat fit into their chosen diet.

But hey I'm skeptical by nature & it's just my opininon

In short, if you’re after the raw product, go for ‘cacao’ whereas ‘cocoa’ refers to the processed product.

Well it's the same, but not all the powder are the same.
However here in Italy we have only CACAO (cocoa does not exist as a word) so if there was a difference we would have had two kinds of CACAO powder. The difference is on the ingredients and here labels HAVE to tell you percentage of cacao, where it comes from, percentage of cacao butter and so one.

Cocoa powder is made when chocolate liquor is pressed to remove three quarters of its cocoa butter.  The remaining cocoa solids are processed to make fine unsweetened cocoa powder.   There are two types of unsweetened cocoa powder: natural and Dutch-processed.

Thanks to all for the info on cocoa and cacao. With the different percentages in solid cocoa bars on the store shelves I get thoroughly confused.

Thanks so much for the information.  I'm interested in the oxalic acid content of cocoa or cacao.  I am trying to get my husbands oxalic acid count in his body up to help fight his cancer.  I know this is  balancing act because your body will produce citric acid to eliminate the oxalic acid when it gets too high in the kidney.  Anyway, any information or source of information you may have about chocolate and oxalic acid would be appreciated.

thanks j

J Phares Funk,

 

I would first like to welcome you to Cheftalk. Cancer is such a terrible enemy and I would like to offer you my full support. As you know increasing those levels is something that you may want to discuss with a urologist .

There are other foods that have high levels of oxalic acid like; spinach ( higher than cocoa), rhubarb, parsley and beetroot . Urologists know this info as well and can give you the latest info pertaining to the various foods and their percentages.(ppm-parts per million)

 

Just a thought.

 

Petals.