On Food and Cooking

Creations of Cocoa Butter The remarkable
appearance and consistency of chocolate are a
direct expression of the physical qualities of
cocoa butter, the part of chocolate that
surrounds the solid particles of cacao bean
and holds them together. When carefully
prepared, chocolate has a silken or glassy
surface, is hard and not greasy at room
temperature, breaks with a delightful snap, yet
melts to a smooth creaminess in the mouth.
These are very unlike the qualities of any
other food, and are a consequence of the
structure of cacao fat molecules, which are
mostly saturated and unusually regular (most
of them are constructed from just three kinds
of fatty acids). This structure means that the
fat molecules are capable of forming a dense
network of compact, stable crystals, with little
liquid fat left over to ooze out between the
crystals.
However, this special network only
develops when the fat crystallization is