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CocoaFoundry
Cocoa Butter, Single Origin Ghana, Food Grade, Undeodorised, Natural Prime Press
£7.15
for 250g
Product lead
Ghana Cocoa Butter. Natural Prime Press, single-origin.
Produced in Tema, Ghana, from COCOBOD-supplied Ghanaian cocoa beans. Beans are fermented, sun-dried and roasted, then hydraulically pressed at our partner facility to extract the fat. Natural Prime Press, with no solvents, no deodorising and no bleaching.
100% pure cocoa butter. Nothing added at any stage.
Food-grade and cosmetic-grade.
Sourced direct from our partner facility in Tema. Dispatched within 1 working day from our UK hub in Chelmsford, Essex.
From 100g test packs to 20kg online. Bulk and wholesale cocoa butter quoted from 25kg.
Field Test
"Really happy with the cocoa butter. It's good stuff again, keep that supply as I'll keep buying."
UK craft chocolate maker
Cocoa Butter · Verified trade customer
Key properties
Also known asCacao butter. On a cosmetic ingredient list it appears as Theobroma cacao seed butter
OriginSingle-origin Ghana, West Africa
SourceTema, Ghana. Our partner facility, direct relationship
ExtractionNatural Prime Press (hydraulic, no solvents)
TypeUnrefined, undeodorised, unbleached
Fatty acid profileTypically ~33 to 35% stearic, ~33 to 35% oleic, ~25 to 27% palmitic. Published figures for cocoa butter as a class, not a batch measurement. Typical values are below. The certified values for your batch are on its certificate of analysis.
Slip point (melting range)32 to 35°C
Solidification point28.3°C (max)
Free fatty acid (FFA)≤1.72% (typical batch: 1.42%)
Iodine value35 to 40
Saponification value188 to 196
Refractive index1.4560 to 1.4570
Unsaponifiable matter≤0.35%
ColourDeep ivory to pale yellow (natural variation)
AromaMild, natural cocoa aroma
Shelf lifeUp to 24 months stored below 20°C at ≤60% relative humidity
GradeFood-grade and cosmetic-grade
CertificationCOCOBOD-certified · produced in a facility certified to ISO 22000:2018 & ISO 9001:2015 (Tema, Ghana)
Batch-specific COAs available on request · team@cocoafoundry.co.uk
Our guarantee. Check your order when it arrives. If anything is damaged, short or wrong, email your order number to team@cocoafoundry.co.uk within 48 hours with a photograph where you can. You get a full refund including the original delivery charge, or a replacement if you prefer, and we cover the return carriage. We will put it right without argument. Set out in our refund policy.
How to use
Chocolate making
The fat in every real chocolate. Combine with cocoa mass and a sweetener to build your own formulations, from 31% fat couverture-equivalent upwards. Standard temper: 45 to 50°C melt, 27°C cool, 31 to 32°C reheat. Form V crystals every time. Cocoa butter typically runs 33 to 35% stearic acid, and that saturated fraction is what gives stable, predictable crystallisation. Step by step: how to temper single-origin Ghana cocoa butter.
Baking
Richness, moisture, and a subtle cocoa note in cakes, brownies, pastries, and ganache. Dairy-free substitute for regular butter.
Skincare and cosmetics
Solid at room temperature, melts on contact with skin. Base ingredient for body butters, lip balms, creams, lotions, salves, and soaps. Stearic and oleic acid content gives natural emollient behaviour and holds form without synthetic hardeners.
Health and wellness
Carrier fat for active ingredients in balms and topical preparations.
Bulk and wholesale
Online to 20kg, quoted from 25kg. Every pack size from a 100g test pack up to 20kg is on this page and ships from Chelmsford, Essex. Above that, bulk cocoa butter is quoted against your specification, your format and the week, because a published trade price for cocoa is out of date within weeks.
Check one thing on every bulk quote you compare: whether the butter is deodorised. Deodorised and bleached butter is common at volume, it is cheaper to produce, and it behaves differently. Ours is Natural Prime Press, hydraulically pressed with no solvents, and it is neither deodorised nor bleached, so the natural cocoa aroma and colour are still in it. Two quotes are not comparable until you know which one you are being sent.
No minimum on a first order. Qualify the butter on 100g, scale up to 20kg online without speaking to anyone, and come to us for a 25kg quote when the volume justifies it.
For a wholesale cocoa butter quote, email wholesale@cocoafoundry.co.uk or use the Wholesale page. Answered within 1 working day.
The Ghana standard
COCOBOD regulation. Ghana Cocoa Board enforces mandatory quality grading at every stage: farm-gate purchase, district depot, port-side export. No other major cocoa-producing country runs this level of centralised quality control.
Post-harvest processing. 5 to 7 days fermentation. Sun-dried on raised platforms. That is where the flavour compounds come from.
Traceability. COCOBOD grading plus our direct relationship with the facility means every batch traces back from Tema to the Ghanaian growing regions.
Why we exist
CocoaFoundry did not start with a business plan. Our family had been importing Ghanaian food products into the UK for years through the parent company, learning what actually goes wrong in a cross-continental supply chain and what it costs when it does. A customer asked us to find shea butter. The supplier who found it suggested we trial cocoa butter alongside it. One shipment, and the demand behind it did not stop.
Then an early batch of cocoa butter did not meet the standard our customers needed. We pulled every unit, took the loss, and went back to the beginning. That decision is the reason we buy the way we do now. It earned us a direct purchasing relationship with our partner facility in Tema, one of Ghana's leading cocoa processors, with no broker, no trader and no third-party warehouse between their line and our hub in Chelmsford.
That is the whole proposition. You are buying from the people who hold the relationship, not from a link in a chain, so the beans, the facility and the specification stay the same order after order. Family-run, and when something goes wrong we fix it and absorb the cost rather than pass it down the line. More on how we got here.
The detail
The Science: Fat Composition & Crystal Structure
Three fatty acids do most of the work: stearic (33 to 35%), oleic (33 to 35%), palmitic (25 to 27%). Those are published figures for cocoa butter as a class rather than a specification for any single batch, and our Certificates of Analysis carry no fatty acid breakdown. What they do report, batch by batch, is slip point, free fatty acids, iodine value, saponification value and refractive index. That combination gives cocoa butter a sharp melting profile, solid at room temperature, slip point 32 to 35°C, clean liquid at body temperature.
Cocoa butter can crystallise into six forms (I through VI). Only Form V produces the gloss, snap, and bloom resistance chocolatiers need. The stearic fraction is what drives tight, uniform crystals, which is why cocoa butter is well suited to Form V and why Ghana butter gets specified for tempering work.
Natural Prime Press, hydraulic and solvent free, keeps the fatty acid profile intact. Clean, mild flavour. Won't fight other ingredients in your formulation.
The longer version, with the crystal forms set out one by one: understanding cocoa butter, fat content and crystal structure.
Quality & Certifications
Produced in Tema, Ghana, in a facility certified to ISO 22000:2018 (Food Safety Management) and ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management).
Every batch is COCOBOD-certified and lab-verified. Certificates of Analysis are issued on request and cover free fatty acids, iodine value, saponification value, refractive index, slip point, and full microbiological testing, covering total plate count, yeast, moulds, coliforms, E. coli, enterobacteriaceae, salmonella.
Product specifications and Certificates of Analysis are issued on request.
Why Separate Cocoa Butter Gives You More Control
Couverture is a pre-set recipe. Fat ratio, flavour and sugar, all locked in by the manufacturer. Buy cocoa butter and cocoa mass separately and you set every variable yourself.
Want 38% fat for silky ganache? Adjust the ratio. 33% for a firmer moulded bar? Same move. Pre-made product versus chocolate that is actually yours.
Per-kilogram cost drops at ingredient level. Couverture builds in a manufacturer's margin. Separate ingredients don't.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is cacao butter the same as cocoa butter?
Yes. Cacao and cocoa are two spellings for the same bean and the trade uses both. Cacao is often used to suggest a product is unroasted, so to be plain about ours: it is roasted. The beans are fermented and sun-dried at origin, then roasted before pressing, because roasting is where the flavour develops. If a supplier's cacao butter is genuinely unroasted they should say so on the certificate, and it is worth asking. On a cosmetic ingredient list the same material is written as Theobroma cacao seed butter.
What is cocoa butter used for?
Chocolate making (texture, snap, mouthfeel), baking (richness and moisture), and skincare (base for creams, lip balms, body butters). It is the fat extracted from cocoa beans, and the core fat in all chocolate production.
Can I use this instead of buying couverture?
Yes. Couverture is cocoa mass + extra cocoa butter + sugar, refined and conched. Buy cocoa mass and cocoa butter separately and you control fat percentage, sweetness and flavour, at a lower per-kilogram cost than branded couverture.
What is the difference between refined and unrefined cocoa butter?
Unrefined keeps the natural cocoa aroma, colour, and nutrient fraction. Refined butter has been deodorised and bleached, with scent and most of the natural properties stripped. Ours is unrefined. Nothing added. Nothing removed. The flavour consequences are set out in deodorized vs undeodorized cocoa butter.
What makes single-origin Ghana cocoa butter different?
Ghana cocoa butter is widely specified for chocolate work because of its stearic fraction, typically around 33 to 35% in published figures for cocoa butter as a class, not a batch measurement. Harder fat, sharper melt profile, better crystallisation during tempering. What we certify batch by batch is slip point, free fatty acids and the identity values on the Certificate of Analysis.
Is your cocoa butter food grade?
Yes. COCOBOD-certified, lab-verified, sourced direct from our partner facility in Tema. Suitable for food and cosmetic use.
Is this cocoa butter edible, and can I cook with it?
Yes. It is food grade, edible cocoa butter, and you can use it for chocolate making, baking and cooking. It is not deodorised, so it keeps its natural cocoa aroma.
How should I store cocoa butter?
Cool, dry, below 20°C, ≤60% RH. Away from direct sunlight and strong odours, because cocoa butter absorbs smells. Properly stored, shelf life is up to 24 months.
Sourcing & Ordering
Pack Sizes
100g250g500g1kg2kg5kg10kg15kg20kg
Available through our online shop up to 20kg. The Cocoa Taster Pack bundles 100g each of cocoa butter, cocoa mass and natural cocoa powder, the fastest way to test the core range.
Trade & Bulk (25kg+): email wholesale@cocoafoundry.co.uk or visit the Wholesale page for trade pricing, quoted within 1 working day.
All orders dispatched within 1 working day from Chelmsford, Essex, tracked, with UK delivery typically 2 to 3 working days. Free delivery on orders over £50 to most UK mainland postcodes.
Certificates of Analysis: batch-specific COAs with full chemical and microbiological testing available on request. Email team@cocoafoundry.co.uk for documentation.