Cocoa solids

Cocoa solids is a mixture of many substances remaining after cocoa butter is extracted from cacao beans. When sold as an end product, it may also be called cocoa powder, cocoa, and cacao. In contrast, the fatty component of chocolate is cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is 50% to 57% of the weight of cocoa beans and gives chocolate its characteristic melting properties.Cocoa liquor or cocoa mass is a paste of roasted cocoa beans with cocoa butter and solids in their natural proportions. Chocolate requires the addition of extra cocoa butter to cocoa liquor, and the excess cocoa solids resulting from the chocolate industry dictate the relatively cheap supply of cocoa powder. This contrasts with the earliest European usage of cocoa where, before chocolate was popularized, cocoa powder was the primary product and cocoa butter was little more than a waste product.

Cocoa solids are one of the richest sources of flavanol antioxidants. They are a key ingredient of chocolate, chocolate syrup, and chocolate confections.