If pure cocoa is light brown, why is dark Turkish cocoa powder dark?

November 29, 2023

dark Turkish cocoa powder

To some people, this may seem like a rudimentary and simple question, but if you think about it a little bit, it will keep you busy. When you look at pure, natural cocoa powder, it has a light brown color like milk chocolate. But some cocoa powders are very dark. When we look at a piece of chocolate made with the latter, we see that the color is really dark. Sometimes even a 100% pure chocolate bar is extremely dark in color. Really, why are some cocoa powders – including dark Turkish cocoa powder – are dark if pure brown cocoa is light brown? In this article, we try to answer this question.

dark Turkish cocoa powder

What do you think? What is at work here?

In answer to this question, let’s imagine that there is nothing called “dark cocoa powder” and the dark color of chocolates are because of the fats and other ingredients used in chocolate. But if that’s the case, why is a 100 percent pure chocolate bar so dark at times?

Perhaps your answer is that cocoa powder, which is light brown, turns dark when pressed into chocolate.

But the answer is none of the above! The story is that cocoa beans are prepared in different ways for different processes (chocolate production, baking, natural cocoa powder, etc.). Preparation of cocoa beans for chocolate production is done in such a way that the color of the cocoa powder produced is dark.

Latamarko dark Turkish cocoa powder Production Method

Latamarko, as a successful Turkish food industries company, produces dark Turkish cocoa powder in addition to natural cocoa powder. Dark cocoa powder has several uses other than making chocolate, including: baking products, sweetness, drinks, desserts, etc. The process by which Latamarko produces dark Turkish cocoa powder is called “alkalization“. The company first buys high quality cocoa beans from Ecuador and Ivory Coast. These seeds are completely organic. Latamarko transports cocoa beans to Turkey by highly equipped vehicles and stores them in the company’s warehouses. To produce the dark Turkish cocoa powder – also called Dutch or alkalized cocoa powder – the cocoa beans are roasted so that they can be winnowed easily. The intensity of the roasting process determines the dark color of the final cocoa powder to some extent. But the most important reason to change the color of these powders is to soak them in “potassium hydroxide” solution. This is an alkaline solution that reduces the acidity of cocoa beans, which are, of course, very acidic. Also, as a result of this soaking, the color of the final cocoa powder darkens and its aroma improves. Another benefit of soaking cocoa beans in potassium hydroxide solution is that the final product is more soluble in water. The longer the soaking time, the darker the cocoa powder will be.

dark Turkish cocoa powder

High quality of Latamarko dark Turkish cocoa powder

Latamarko dark Turkish cocoa powder is 100% pure with no additives or sweeteners. Many cocoa powders on the market – especially those that claim to be organic – are mixed with flour and artificial colors. Although these cocoa make huge profits for their fraudulent sellers, they are detrimental to the health of society and also harm the economies of countries. The reason for this fraud is that pure cocoa is an expensive and valuable product. Every year, large quantities of counterfeit cocoa powder are produced and sold without being discovered. But despite the fact that Latamarko dark Turkish cocoa powder is made from organic beans and has a good quality, it has a competitive price.

You may be wondering how it turns out that Latamarko dark Turkish cocoa powder is not counterfeit?

Our answer to you is that Latamarko is an approved brand of the big Turkish commercial company “MT Royal“. The company’s products are completely reliable and different from the bulk cocoa powders available in the market. All of Latamarko’s food products – including the company’s dark Turkish cocoa powder – have several quality certificates. These products are also “HALAL” and are sent in large quantities to different parts of the world.