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Someone game me a lump of solid cocoa (from Samoa, if that matters).

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What can I do with it that I cannot do with cocoa powder?

Cascabel
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spraff
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    I'm curious exactly what I'm looking at. Is this ground and compressed? How far from the cocoa pod is this? Has it been fermented? Etc – Throsby Mar 12 '17 at 23:53
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    Are you sure it's equivalent to cocoa powder, not chocolate? It looks like the surface has bloomed, which in chocolate means either cocoa butter or sugar rising to the surface, while cocoa *powder* has neither. Maybe it's equivalent to baking chocolate, or something. – Megha Mar 16 '17 at 01:08
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    Agree with Megha, there is no product I could imagine as "solid cocoa" that comes in a lump (not a bean). My best guess is that this is either cocoa liquor (an intermediate product in the processing of beans into chocolate) or a highly processed product intended for drinks, which we would call "drinking chocolate" but the Samoans prefer to call "cocoa". – rumtscho Mar 17 '17 at 18:08

1 Answers1

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I'm no expert in the matter, but the only use I was really able to find is to make Koko Samoa.

This blog I found to be very informative on the subject: https://chocolateclass.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/koko-samoa-simple-recipe-complex-history/

Basically, you shave the cocoa in small pieces, and infuse in hot water, add some sweetness, and you get a nice drink that you serve hot!

Here's a video explaining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3wjufJUBhI

And according to this company, that sells that product, you can make large batches and reheat the next day: http://www.kingkoko.com/recipes.html

Interestingly, their website have a "recipes" section containing only a single recipe for koko samoa. Which encourages me to say that product doesn't have a lot other practical uses.

Sarumanatee
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