Healthy Cocoa Powder | Top 10 Brands, Benefits & More

Healthy Cocoa Powder is made from cocoa beans, which are harvested from the Theobroma Cacao L. plant. It is an unsweetened chocolate product that gives beverages a rich chocolate flavor. It is created when the fat in cacao beans, known as cocoa butter, is removed during processing. The dried solids that are leftover are ground into cocoa powder. Cocoa powder is known to have a variety of health benefits.

Cocoa was first grown in prehistoric South America. The Spanish Conquistadors presented it to Europe during the age of discovery. Steam-powered machines made it possible to produce cocoa powder in the 1860s. Now, every year, more than 4.5 million tons of cocoa are accumulated around the world.

Let’s explore the top 10 healthy cocoa powder brands of India that are available online.

Hershey’s Cocoa Powder is the pioneer brand in the heathy cocoa powder vertical. Established in 1894, it is also one of the oldest companies in the industry delivering quality products to consumers worldwide. With Hershey’s Cocoa, you can make delectable desserts, bakery items, unique dishes, etc. Hershey’s cocoa powder is 100% pure and natural and has the original taste of cocoa. Consumers all over the internet have given a positive rating to this brand’s quality and hence I chose this as the number one brand for healthy cocoa powder.

Reasons to Buy:

Hershey’s Cocoa is unsweetened and 100% natural product
Oldest and trustworthy brand in the vertical
Can be used to make delectable treats ranging from mouth-watering desserts to fantastic frosting
Antioxidants and dietary fiber are abundant

The Indiana Cocoa Powder is made from cocoa beans that are used in a variety of applications, including baked goods, dishes, and cosmetics. The Delhi-based manufacturing company has taken good measures in manufacturing to ensure the quality of the cocoa powder remains intact. Recipes such as chocolate cake, candy frosting, and other chocolate-based treats and drinks can be made using Indiana cocoa powder as the key component.

Reasons to Buy:

100% natural and unsweetened cocoa.
Is perfect for hot chocolate, syrups, cakes, delicious cookies, biscuits, chocolates and other chocolate-based desserts.
Made from Indian cacao beans.

Cadbury is an old trusted brand in the chocolate industry. Cadbury Cocoa Powder is packaged in a lovely jar that smells like real Cadbury chocolate and is made from the best quality cocoa beans. You can use it to make a hot chocolate drink or experiment with chocolate dishes. It also has a genuine chocolate flavor that delights everyone’s tongue – adults and children. This cocoa powder tastes best when used to make hot chocolate – this delicious drink will brighten your day.

Reasons to Buy:

Made from the finest cocoa beans
Old trusted brand in the country for chocolates
Perfect for making hot chocolates and other recipes
Comes in a lovely-looking jar that not only ensures its freshness but also its durability

HealthyHive Cocoa Powder is made from dutch cocoa beans which develop in cacao tree pods. This Dutched cocoa powder gives a richer taste and warmer colour when used in recipes. Many delicious treats like cookies, cheesecakes, hot cocoa, cakes, shakes, milkshakes, cereal bars, granola bars, and other baked goods can be made with this product.

Reasons to Buy:

High-quality cocoa powder which is made from Dutched cocoa beans, is unsweetened and gluten-free
It comes in a stand-up pouch that is airtight, enclosed, and recyclable.
18-months shelf life

Looms & Weaves Cocoa Powder has a delicious chocolate flavor cocoa powder. It comes in a lovely jar that ensures its freshness and lifespan. You can use it to make a hot chocolate drink or experiment with chocolate recipes.

Reasons to Buy:

Certified organic cocoa powder that is 100 percent natural and unsweetened
No artificial colours or preservatives used
Essential minerals and flavonoids are present.
It’s can be used as a cosmetics ingredient.
Homemade cocoa powder from Kerala

Urban Platter Cocoa Powder is made from cocoa beans that rise in cacao tree stems. It’s cocoa powder has a rich flavor and a strong chocolate flavor without the starches and preservatives that are found in other chocolates. This traditional cocoa powder is a naturally extracted cocoa powder with a pH range of 5 to 6. With this powder, you can make delicious baked goods, pastries, chocolates, and even cereal bars!

Reasons to Buy:

It is raw, unsweetened and completely natural
Cocoa powder is made from Cacao beansproduced in India India, and is processed in a state-of-the-art facility.
Packaged in a sealed plastic Ziploc Poly-bag.

Christopher Cocoa Powder will give your recipes a warmer color and a better taste. It is 100 percent natural and free of antioxidants. It causes addiction as the cocoa powder is made from cacao beans which are handpicked from the best plantations in the world. The brand name is a tribute to Christopher Columbus who first discovered cacao beans in 1502.

Reasons to Buy:

Perfect cocoa powder for making milkshakes and hot chocolates
Pure Cocoa powder, no sugar added

Are you looking for the perfect chocolate flavour in your desserts, donuts, and baked goods? You’ve come to the right place! Kitchiez Premium Dark Cocoa Powder is ideal for making rich, bold desserts such as hot cocoa, fudge brownies, and much more. It is dutch-processed and unsweetened which gives it dark colour and rich bold taste. if you try this, you will love it!

Reasons to Buy:

Kitchiez dark cocoa powder is made from prized criollo cacao beans, which are regarded as the best quality cacao varieties, with no bitterness as well as an exquisite chocolate flavour.
The dark cocoa powder gives your treats an extreme, rich aroma and texture, making them even more delectable.

KOR Natural Cocoa Powder is made from cocoa beans which has a strong flavor that is not found in other chocolates. You can use this high-quality cocoa powder to make healthy as well as delicious brownies, cookies, and chocolate cakes.

Reasons to Buy:

It’s Cocoa Powder has not been alkalized in any way. The colour is lighter than regular cocoa powder, but the flavour is rich and intense. For health-conscious consumers, this product is highly recommended.
Antioxidants are abundant in this cocoa, which contains more than Alkalized Cocoa. It’s perfect for baking into dishes and making chocolate-flavored confections.

Essence Nutrition is a company that specializes in providing nutritional Peruvian Cocoa Powder sourced from small farmers in the Amazon, who cultivate it with love and care. This cocoa powder is made entirely of natural ingredients and contains no additives. This is one of the most strong super foods, filled with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants! It is good for bakery items, cooking, shakes as well as Frosting. Don’t overthink, just go for it!

Reasons to Buy:

Cocoa beans imported From Peru [High quality, 100 percent Natural Cocoa]
It has a high amount of vitamins and minerals.
There are no additives in this product.
Best in terms of taste, texture, and color.
No alkalization used

The first and foremost step after handpicking the best quality cocoa beans is to dry and dehydrate them before they can be processed. For this, we need to make sure the cocoa beans are properly dried and then they are roasted so as to make sure they get dehydrated.
The roasted cocoa beans are then peeled properly.
Now, the cocoa beans are ground into pieces.
The cocoa pieces are further processed by the oil pressing method. This method leaves two types of cocoa – cocoa mass and cocoa cake. Cocoa mass is used to make cocoa butter whereas cocoa cake is used to make a healthy cocoa powder.
The final stage is putting the cocoa cake into the grinding machine which gives fine quality cocoa powder.

Cocoa powder is classified into 3 following types:

1. Natural Cocoa

Natural cocoa powder is the regular daily use cocoa powder, which is easily available in your nearby stores or markets. “Natural” is simply the unprocessed version (apart from the initial extrication from cocoa butter); it is available in different names as “unsweetened cocoa” or “pure cocoa.” The taste is slightly fruity, mildly bitter or complex in flavor having a light brown shade.

2. Dutch process Cocoa

Dutch-process cocoa powder is prepared by soaking the natural cocoa beans in an alkali solution to neutralize the acidity and reduce the bitterness. For your knowledge, this process was developed by a Dutch chemist in the early 1800s.

After the treatment, the resultant product obtained is darker than the usual natural cocoa powder. It also has less bitterness. In traditional business terms it is referred to as richer and fudgier flavor for preparing baked items.

This Dutch-processed cocoa powder is labeled as “processed with alkali” or “alkalized cocoa powder.”

3. Black Cocoa

Black cocoa powder is very much similar to earlier types of Dutch processed cocoa, including repeated heavy processing of cocoa powder to turn it into an extreme dark or blackish color. It is very much similar to crushed Oreo biscuits and dark chocolate biscuits having a deep hue.

Friends, if you are looking to prepare a chocolate sauce or dark shaded baked items; Black cocoa is the product you need.

Cocoa powder Uses:

Here are few culinary uses of natural cocoa powder:

· It is widely used to bring flavours, while making biscuits, ice creams, milkshakes, desserts, etc.

· It is useful in baking recipes like cakes, muffins, pancakes, pastries, etc.

· It is used in the manufacturing of coatings for confectioners and frozen desserts. Like your baked chocolate waffle cone.

· It is used in beverage industries to manufacture milk shakes and flavored dairy products.

· It is used in preparing chocolate sauce by mixing with hot milk and water and decorating your recipes.

· Cocoa powder can be dusted on cakes and pastries giving a rich dark look.

Cocoa powder is useful for skincare applications as well

· It is useful to prepare your own DIY dry shampoo

· It can be used as a face mask by combining with rose water to get rid of acne and improve your skin’s hydration.

· Many beauty experts include cocoa powder in their makeup. The natural cocoa contents are beneficial for the skin and help to brighten your face and fade away blemishes.

It Boosts Metabolism:

Cocoa powder is beneficial to boost your metabolism and assist in fat burning. Thus, many fitness experts recommend people to include cocoa powder in their pre-workout protein shakes.

It Fights Inflammation:

Healthy Cocoa powder assists in proper digestion of food, thanks to its anti-inflammatory property. It helps to maintain a healthy gut which further leads to weight loss.

It Helps in Detoxification:

Cocoa powder is rich in antioxidants like flavonoids, which is beneficial in detoxification of the body. It is also loaded with fibre, which helps in regulating the blood sugar and assists in removing waste from the body.

It Helps to Fights Stress:

Cocoa powder is beneficial to fight stress and improve your mood. This is linked directly to weight loss. Studies show that the level of stress can be directly proportional to the belly fat. Also a stressed body doesn’t have energy to burn fat and control weight.

It Improves Heart Health:

Cocoa powder is very beneficial to fight blood cholesterol and high blood pressure, and also prevent the build-up of plaque in the arteries. This prevents the risk of sudden heart stroke and other heart ailments.

Primarily both these powders belong to the same base ingredient, Cocoa pods. Healthy Cocoa powder is produced from Cocoa beans solids after removing the majority of fats from it.
Cacao powder comes from grinding the cocoa pods and beans together. It is considered a raw product. It is bitter in taste as compared to cocoa powder.
Also, during the processing, Cacao powder is prepared from unroasted raw beans as compared to roasted beans for cocoa powder.
Cocoa powder is sold in markets by adding sugar and dairy content. While the raw cacao powder comes in a natural form having a strong and bitter taste

How about sipping a hot chocolate coffee before reading my next section of the article. In case you need a quick break, check this recipe:

Ingredients required for this recipe are:

Instant coffee powder (2 tbsp), Cocoa powder (2-2.5 tbsp) 200ml of water or milk, ½ tbsp of cinnamon powder and 1 tbsp of sugar (as per taste)

Procedure:

Heat the milk or water in a vessel or pan. (Let us take milk in this recipe)
Take an empty cup and add healthy Cocoa powder, coffee powder and cinnamon powder as selected in the recipe and mix well.
Add a small amount of milk to the cup and prepare a thin paste by steering it with a spoon or fork.
Now add the remaining milk slowly while stirring the drink in the cup.
Hot chocolate coffee is ready!

There are no potent side effects of consuming moderate amounts of cocoa powder on a daily basis.
However, consuming higher amounts of cocoa (above 60 grams/day) can cause caffeine-related side effects like nervousness, excess urination, sleeplessness and increased heartbeat.
Few people have also experienced issues like constipation, headaches and skin reactions if they are allergic to cocoa powder. Also, individuals complain of digestive issues of intestinal discomfort, nausea, stomach aches and gastric problems.

1.  Is cocoa powder healthier than chocolate?

Cocoa powder is basically a purer form of chocolate having about 10-12% of cocoa butter as compared to Chocolate having about 55% of cocoa butter. Cocoa powder is mostly cocoa solids which brings the flavour in any recipe. Thus it is healthier as compared to chocolate.

2.  How much cocoa powder should I eat a day?

The permissible dosage of healthy Cocoa powder is about 30-60 grams per day.

3.  Is it OK to drink hot cocoa before bed?

Yes, it is completely safe and okay to have a hot cocoa drink before going to bed. The essential amino acids in warm milk help to produce the hormones required for sound sleep.

4.  Should I buy organic cocoa powder?

It depends on your final product use. Organic cocoa will definitely have benefits like fewer calories, no chemicals, etc with an increase in the product price. Also buying only organic cocoa powder is not a wise decision if other mediums like water, milk, flour, etc aren’t organic themselves.

5.  Is cocoa powder Keto?

Yes, Cocoa powder has no sweeteners in it, thus it can be used in Keto diets and recipes.

6.  Is cocoa plant based?

Yes, Cocoa powder is a plant-based product. The key content of cocoa is cocoa solids; infact cocoa is a vegan product.

7.  Can I replace cocoa with cacao?

Yes surely. You can always select the healthier option of cacao over normal cocoa powder. However in terms of taste, it’s stronger and bitter.

8.  Is Coca the same as cocoa?

Definitely No! Cocoa powder is obtained from cacao beans, whereas, Coca is the plant, which is used to make cocaine. Both are highly unrelated.

9.  How can we make cocoa powder at home?

Take the cacao pods and remove the cacao beans from it.
Let the cacao beans dry and ferment in the sun for 3-4 days
Now take the dried beans and roast them in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 250 degrees.
Once roasted, remove the cacao nibs from the beans
After it cools down, grind the beans in a food processor or grinder to get a fine powder.
Your raw cocoa powder is ready

I hope i was able to answer your key questions like where do you buy soap base and other such questions via this article.