Van Houten Finest Dutched Cacao Powder, 8.8 oz (250g)

Dutched cacao from the house that invented it. Coenraad Van Houten's press separated cocoa butter from the bean in 1828 and his alkalising process is why dark, smooth, easily-mixed cocoa powder exists at all. The name on this box is the origin of the method.

Dutched cacao is treated with an alkali to neutralise the natural acidity of the bean. It gives a deeper colour, a rounder and less sharp flavour, and powder that disperses into liquid instead of clumping on the surface.

21% cocoa butter — a full-fat cacao, not the stripped 10-12% sold as baking cocoa in most supermarkets. That fat is what carries the flavour and gives body to a hot chocolate.

Using it: for drinking, whisk into a little hot milk to a paste first, then add the rest. For baking, substitute weight for weight where a recipe calls for cocoa powder; because it is alkalised it suits recipes leavened with baking powder rather than bicarbonate alone.

Per 100 g: 1539 kJ / 368 kcal · fat 21 g, of which saturates 13 g · carbohydrate 8.9 g, of which sugars 0.6 g · protein 20 g · salt 0.07 g

Net weight 250 g (8.8 oz).