"The cocoa bean has a natural fat content of more than 50 percent, while cocoa powder only contains 10 to 20 percent," Van Almsinck says.
After being roasted most cocoa bean kernels are ground up into a a fatty mass, but to make cocoa powder alkalis are used and the resultant liquid allowed to dry. Most cocoa beans these days come from the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together account for more than half the world's production.
While the Forastero strain accounts for the bulk of world production, the variety Criollo, grown in Madagascar and the Caribbean is regarded by many experts to be of better quality and with a stronger aroma.
The Olmeks gave the plant the name "kakawa" some 3,000 years ago. When the Spanish conquered Mexico around 1500 they at first dismissed cocoa as too bitter, but soon found the addition of sugar made it more palatable.
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