Cocoa Powder

I knew I had a can of Hershey’s Cocoa Powder in my pantry somewhere when I ran out of my Ghirardelli Cocoa Powder needed for the Black Magic Cake. I ended up finding a can of Cocoa Powder by the local store instead which conveniently sat in front of my eyes on the pantry shelf. All this while, I thought I had hallucinated myself buying a Hershey Cocoa Powder until I found it tucked in the corner of my pantry while I was rummaging for snacks today.

Anyway, I got a brilliant idea to do a color test on the 3 different Cocoa Powder I now have in my pantry. It doesn’t surprise me that when I opened the Hershey one, the Cocoa wasn’t as rich as Ghirardelli’s. I almost always use Ghirardelli Chocolates in my baking and will only use other brands when I can’t find what I want. I “finger-tasted” all three cocoa powder, I can’t really tell if there’s a significant difference between 3 of them; they all tasted bitter. =P. The prices were for sure different and I bought all 3 from the same local grocery store. The darkest Cocoa Powder is Ghirardelli (left) @ $4.99 for a 10 oz can. Store Brand (Market Basket) has the lightest Cocoa Powder but cheap @ $1.50 for 8 ox can. And the Hershey Cocoa Powder was the middle guy both in color and price @ $2.50 for 8 oz can. I haven’t done a baking test using each Cocoa Powder to see the end result of the baked product. I should probably do that one day, when I feel like experimenting! As for now, I am going to kinda jump to conclusion that the darker the Cocoa powder, the richer, the more decandent and the darker your Chocolate confection will be? No?

My baker friend Ween @ Love-A-Cupcakes swears by Valrhona Chocolates. I’ve not seen Valrhona chocolate at my local grocery stores or specialty baking stores (coz there’s none near me), but I know you can get them online and they are pricier than Ghirardelli…So,anyone care to send me a little care package of Valrhonas? =).

This cocoa powder talk reminds me our grandpa’s cocoa trees in Malaysia….I wonder if grandpa or my uncle still has or still harvest cocoa beans. I remember how those fermented cocoa looked and smelled like when they were being “tanned” under the sun. It’s truly amazing how those stinky fugly beans can be processed into delicious chocolates!

Read more about Cocoa Powder HERE.