Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

7

I was thinking about making my own chocolate and was looking into cocoa butter. It looks ok, and it smells delicious. Why don't people eat more of it/cook with it?

Here's a comparison vs coconut of differences I could find (from http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/508/2 http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/570/2):

cocoa butter:
cals per 218g: 1927
130g saturated
Monounsaturated Fat 71.7g 
Polyunsaturated Fat 6.5g  
*Total Omega-3 fatty acids 218mg 
Total Omega-6 fatty acids 6104mg
*Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) 3.9mg 20%
*Vitamin K 53.9mcg 67%
Phytosterols 438mg
Theobromine 0.0mg (I didn't know this, guess it's only in the cocoa powder)

coconut oil:
cals per  218g: 1879
189g saturated
Monounsaturated Fat 12.6g 
Polyunsaturated Fat 3.9g 
Total Omega-6 fatty acids 3923mg (no O-3s)
Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) 0.2mg 1%
Vitamin K 1.1 mcg 1%
Iron 0.1mg 0%
Phytosterols 187mg 

butter (couldn't find info on ghee or grass-fed/raw versions):
in 184g of pure butterfat, 117g saturated
Monounsaturated Fat 47.7g 
Polyunsaturated Fat 6.9g 
Total Omega-3 fatty acids 715mg 
Total Omega-6 fatty acids 6193mg
Vitamin A 5673IU 113%
Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) 5.3mg 26%
Vitamin K 15.9mcg 20%
Folate 6.8mcg 2%
Choline 42.7mg
+buncha minerals the others don't have (?)

It doesn't look too far off from butter to me, has more vitK, and even less PUFA than butter, but less vitA and much less O3. But I'm also confused that coconut oil has no O3?

Anyway this is just from a quick look through nutritiondata. Why is coconut oil so popular despite the Omega-6s (is it the MCTs and low amt of O6 compared to others?) And why isn't cocoa butter used more? It's tasty and looks pretty awesome.

edited Aug 5 2011 at 8:20

asked Aug 5 2011 at 8:14

xue
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	How do you know it isnt used more? – Nick Aug 5 2011 at 8:22
	hmm, I've just never heard anyone cook or eat coconut butter, except in chocolate (not even baking in general). If I try to find cocoa butter most of the products are cosmetic-related, there doesn't seem to be a huge market for eating it like there is for coconut oil now. – xue Aug 5 2011 at 9:23
	I'm glad you asked that because I saw it in my grocery store the other day and was very curious about its use. How would you use it? – hemanvt Aug 5 2011 at 12:24
	i'd probably use it like i use butter. mostly in sweet things like chocolate or an almond pastry...i would imagine savory would work too (maybe a mole sauce)? – xue Aug 6 2011 at 1:27

ben61820 · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-05 11:58:34Z UTC

9

I think the main reason is that it's simply not widely available.

I got my hands on some years ago and I had to order it through amazon. It came in a solid block that remains solid at room temperature year round. So, it's difficult to use, relative to any other cooking mediums that I've found.

I only used it to make chocolate and it was fine but I'd have to think that cooking savory dishes with it would result in some amount of chocolatey flavoring that most would find somewhat less-than-desirable. I'm interested in experimenting though.

Of course, directly related to the "not widely available" idea is its cost: it was very expensive.

answered Aug 5 2011 at 11:58

ben61820
16.1k●1●11●57

haha, i guess i'm different--i would definitely try it in savory dishes. i love vanilla in savory dishes too (and have made my own vanilla salt) :) – xue Aug 6 2011 at 1:24

1

Pretty much what I thought when opening this thread. Expensive and hard to find. I got a block of "creme de cocoanut" from a Latino store in FL. It was quite tasty and disappeared quickly once I opened it. Melts in your mouth, and in your hand! Been searching the local international stores for it ever since, to no avail! – Curmujeon Aug 7 2011 at 11:30

thanks for your answer :) the thing is I felt like the really nice coconut products/oil wasn't that popular until recently too (or maybe I just didn't notice/know about it), but once demand increased due to so many benefits, lots of companies were producing it. So I was wondering if there was something not that optimal about cocoa butter, or else why wouldn't more companies pick up on it if more people want it. I mean if it's really good for you but not widely available, they should have picked up on that by now :) – xue Aug 8 2011 at 11:56

I think that this is in part why, I've seen coconut oil in many health food stores but not yet cocoa butter. In fact, I didn't even know it existed before getting into this question, so that may be some clue about it. Nonetheless, although it may have some nice properties, I think that 3 gr of Omega-6 PUFAs per 100 gr is a little bit high. As its easy to abuse it, I'd stick with dairy or coconut for butter-like product purposes and let cocoa for what it's best, raw powdered to flavour things a little bit. Really nice with coffee and coconut milk :) – Albert83BCN Apr 4 at 7:41

Alan · Answer 2 · 2011-08-06 12:44:23Z UTC

Well for me it's all down to price. In Australia I can buy a 300g jar of virgin coconut oil for $8 but even a small block of cocoa butter is around $30. Considering I go through almost a jar of coconut oil a week I simply couldn't afford 4 times the cost.

Honey_badger · Answer 3 · 2011-08-05 15:15:29Z UTC

Well if you divide the number of mg of Omega 3 vs. Omega 6 in the cocoa butter, you certainly don't get anything close to a 1:1 or even a 1:2. That's probably the biggest reason that it isn't used more. The MCTs in coconut oil actually tend to be converted to long chain fats once in the body, meaning that the omega 6 content is less problematic because it doesn't stay in the body as a MCT omega 6.

delete me · Answer 4 · 2011-08-05 15:17:01Z UTC

1

haven't tried it, but... http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/cacao/butter.html

answered Aug 5 2011 at 15:17

delete me

xjhues · Answer 5 · 2011-08-05 13:22:01Z UTC

0

I've heard of cocoa butter, but I've never seen it in the store.

True, there is no O-3 in coconut oil. It's recommended because of it's high % of medium chain triglycerides. And it's delicious. :)

answered Aug 5 2011 at 13:22

xjhues
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Jonatan · Answer 6 · 2012-09-27 18:49:57Z UTC

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I just bought 250g for 5 USD here in Colombia and the coconut oil goes for 7 USD for 350g but it is kind of hard to find. Is there a lot of demand for the Cocoa butter?

J

answered Sep 27 at 18:49

Jonatan
1

Janknitz · Answer 7 · 2012-09-27 19:03:40Z UTC

I have a "thing" about not mail ordering food. To me, that's just way too big of a carbon footprint--even if it saves me money over what local stores carry things for. (Yes, I freely admit I'm a hippocrite, because it does not extend to mail ordering other goods, as long as I can save at least 25% over the retail price).

Since I've never seen cocoa butter in the stores, it's not something I would buy. If it appeared at a store and didn't cost too terribly much, I'd love to try it. From what I read above, I guess I won't hold my breath. ;o)

Angippp · Answer 8 · 2012-09-27 20:24:24Z UTC

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because it tastes foul imo

answered Sep 27 at 20:24

Angippp
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Trevor · Answer 9 · 2013-01-07 01:13:51Z UTC

0

how about some recipe suggestions to use with it?

answered Jan 7 at 1:13

Trevor
1●1

James_2013 · Answer 10 · 2013-04-04 06:54:29Z UTC

Coconut Oil = mostly Lauric acid
Cacao Butter = mostly Stearic acid & Palmitic acid.

My understanding is Coconut Oil contains almost 50% Lauric Acid amongst other healthy fatty acids. Lauric Acid is considered to have anti-microbial properties and raises good cholesterol (HDL) which is required for a healthy body and lowers LDL (bad cholesterol).

I believe cacao butter contains many of the same healthy fatty acids that are in coconut oil but does not contain much of the Lauric Acid. If you search on google fatty acid composition of Coconut oil or cacao butter you can find out about the fatty acids they contain and there health benefits.

By the way you can make your own homemade chocolate using cacao butter, cacao powder, sweeteners and any other optional ingredients. Otherwise you could substitute cacao butter with coconut oil, however the chocolate will tend to be softer and will need to be kept in the fridge to prevent it melting.

why don’t people eat more cocoa butter?

10 Answers