Michelle Darmody: Chocolate cravings satisfied with cocoa
Michelle Darmody says the cocoa and buttermilk buns can help satisfy a chocolate craving. Picture: Fergal Phillips.
Cocoa powder is made from crushing the beans of the cacao tree. The beans are fermented, dried, roasted, and turned into a thick paste, from which the fatty cocoa butter is removed and the remaining mixture is then ground to a powder. The powder used to be better known as a comforting hot drink with milk but it is also a versatile baking ingredient and can be a good substitute for the more traditional chocolate bar. The powder does not tend to have sugar added. If you buy a tub of chocolate powder or drinking chocolate that tastes sweet it is not an ideal substitute for cocoa powder.
Evidence gleaned from ancient culinary implements shows that the cocoa plant was first grown for food more than 5,000 years ago in the Amazon rainforest. It was also used in Mexico and Central American many thousands of years ago. Cocoa beans became very precious commodities traded for other foods and goods. The beans and other cocoa products were brought back to Europe by returning Spanish explorers in the 1500s.
