Cooking For Engineers

[Warren]

I bought a large package of cocoa, dumped it into a plastic container, and threw away the bag. Since then I've noticed the cocoa has a color like dutch cocoa, and someone said that this brand now is dutch cocoa. Other times I've seen really cheap boxes of cocoa in the store marked "dutch", cheaper than the regular cocoa and wasn't sure I trusted the label.

Can dutch and regular cocoa be distinguished just by the color? Is there some way to test, maybe with litmus or pH paper?

[DuxIl]

"Dutched" cocoa refers merely to the fact that the cocoa has been treated with alkalides at some point during the production process to prevent rancidity and to ensure that it doesn't clump, i.e., remains a powder.

Here's a great site with more information... strangely enough, a Dutch site!

http://www.dutchcocoa.nl/

Here is more information on the subject, and according to this, yes, you can tell the difference by color:

http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/archive_swap31801-31900/31802/1/1.html

Cheers!

[defend]

xenical - http://www.bestrxpills.com

[NhumiSD]

Check the pH of what you are making. The dutch cocoa should cause the pH of your item to go up.

-Nhumi