Complete Cocoa

Why is cocoa hard to dissolve, and what’s the best way to make the perfect hot chocolate?

- Dr Helen Czerski

Almost everyone loves a mug of hot chocolate. Yet this silky, elegant drink gets its delicious flavour from cocoa powder, which is a bitter, gritty and unpolished substance – a classic ugly duckling. The awkwardness of cocoa powder is most obvious when you try to stir it into liquid, such as milk or vanilla essence. It just doesn’t want to go. The powder somehow perches on top of the liquid without getting wet. You can stir for ages, but when you push a clump of powder into the liquid with a spoon, it disappears only briefly before cheerfully popping up to the surface, releasing a puff of dry cocoa just to prove its point. But get the mixing right and silky hot chocolate awaits. What’s the secret of the transformation? We often talk about ‘dissolving’ cocoa powder into milk, but cocoa doesn’t ever dissolve. It’s mostly made up of dietary fibre and starches, with only 10 to 12% cocoa butter and a few other co