Cargill's Creates Unique Dark Cocoa Powder

In Cargill's cocoa and chocolate business innovation is a vital part of our partnership with customers and there are more innovations to be announced in the coming months.

28 May 2010 --- Cargill's Cocoa & Chocolate business has made a breakthrough in dark cocoa powder taste with its innovative DB82 10-12% Gerkens cocoa powder.

Until now dark powders provided the much valued intense colour for a range of applications, but with such intensity of colour there can be an off taste, sometimes associated with bitterness. However, Cargill's specialised application centre in Baupte, France, has made a breakthrough that has produced a unique dark powder with a round, pleasant and smooth chocolaty flavour.

Piet van Amelrooij, Director, Worldwide Powder Sales, for Cargill's Cocoa and Chocolate business, explains: "Cocoa powder producers have long sought the ultimate combination a powder with warm intense dark colour, but with a rich smooth chocolaty taste. With DB82 we have achieved exactly that and now we have a unique product to offer to the market for use in improving recipes in existing products and to develop new products."

Cocoa powder is used in coatings and spreads, bakery and dairy applications, with Cargill offering the widest range of powders in the industry. DB82 is produced at Cargill's Gerkens cocoa plant near Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

It has a relatively high pH, but tests across a range of applications have shown that this does not have a negative effect on taste, stability or processing parameters.

"Innovation can mean creating something new, or finding creative solutions to transform existing products and DB82 falls into both categories", says van Amelrooij. "In Cargill's cocoa and chocolate business innovation is a vital part of our partnership with customers and there are more innovations to be announced in the coming months."

As one of the world's largest food ingredient suppliers, with over 1,300 researchers, Cargill combines extensive food expertise with a deep knowledge of cocoa and chocolate to create innovations aimed at bringing new business to its customers.

"The feedback from our customers has been that DB82 produces great flavour from so dark a powder, without compromising on taste. Commenting on DB82, one of our customers said 'I was not expecting such good flavour from so dark a powder - where's the bitterness? What's the trick?' There is no trick, just our innovation and expertise combined to produce a unique product. No other company but Cargill has the capability to do this", concludes van Amelrooij.