This is real chocolate, ground into a powder, not cocoa powder with sugar stirred through it: cocoa mass, sugar, fat reduced cocoa powder and natural vanilla, milled fine enough to disperse into hot milk without lumping. At 48.2% dry cocoa solids it drinks as a proper dark hot chocolate rather than a sweet one.

Milled fine, at least 97% of the fat free dry matter passes 30 microns, so it goes into liquid smoothly, and dusts evenly.

How Is Chocolate Powder Different from Cocoa Powder? 

Cocoa powder is what is left once the cocoa butter has been pressed out of the bean, which is why it tastes sharp and needs help to feel rich. This powder keeps its fat, at 26.3%, because it is made from chocolate rather than from pressed cake. That fat is what gives a drink body and a proper melt across the tongue, and it is the reason a chocolate powder and a cocoa powder are not interchangeable in a hot chocolate recipe even at the same dose.

How to Use Dark Chocolate Powder

Whisk it into hot milk or water for a dark drinking chocolate, blend it into milkshakes and frappes, or fold it into ice cream and mousse bases where you want chocolate flavour without the extra work of melting and tempering a couverture. In bakery it goes straight into cake, brownie and biscuit mixes, and because it is already sweetened you will want to take some sugar out of the recipe to compensate rather than adding it on top.

For volume service, slacken the powder with a little of the hot liquid first and work it to a smooth paste before letting the rest down. That takes a few seconds and gives you a better drink than tipping the powder straight into a full jug.

It also dusts well. The fine particle size gives a clean, even finish on truffles, tortes and finished desserts, and unlike a bare cocoa powder it does not turn bitter on the tongue.

Working With the Sweetness

Half the powder by weight is sugar, which is what makes it convenient and what you have to account for. Treat it as a sweetened chocolate rather than as a cocoa, taste against your existing recipe before you commit a batch, and reduce the sugar elsewhere in the formula rather than assuming it will balance itself.

Storage and Shelf Life

Keep the box closed at 12 to 20°C somewhere dry and away from strong smells, and reseal the liner after each use. Stored that way it holds for 24 months from production. Powders take up moisture and odour readily, so a resealed liner matters more here than the box does.