Where to look for cocoa in Holland?

November 19, 2010 8:17 AM

I figure it should be a cinch to find cocoa powder and cocoa butter in Holland, since so much cocoa is Dutch processed. Where do I find them?

Going to be in Holland and I'd love to pick up some unsweetened cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Which kind of stores should I be looking at? Specific stores recommendations in Amsterdam and (even better, in Enschede) would be welcome!

(please be gentle with me if Dutch processing actually has nothing to do with Holland...)

posted by mirileh to Travel & Transportation around The Netherlands (6 answers total)

Dutching does actually have something to do with Holland in that it was developed there - but what Dutch processing means is that the chocholate solids were processed with an alkali to reduce the acidity(that's why you can't use dutched chocolate in recipe's using chemical leavening unless you have another source of acid.)
posted by JPD at 8:23 AM on November 19, 2010

Yeah, "Dutch" is the name of the process, not a descriptor of where it takes place. You can probably find awesome and interesting chocolate in Holland anyway, though, so happy shopping!
posted by donnagirl at 9:03 AM on November 19, 2010

Best answer: You can find normal unsweetened cocoa powder at just about any supermarket. It's called 'cacao' in Dutch. (Cocoa butter is called 'cacaoboter' but I had no idea where you would find it here. Google got me a whole bunch of people asking where you could find it and I could only come up with places in Belgium and the UK, plus a chemist in Haarlem called A.J. van der Pigge. Haarlem is miles from Enschede but it's a short train ride from Amsterdam so it's a start. I would email them first to ask about availability and prices as I understand that it's very expensive.)

I had never heard of 'Dutch-processed' cocoa and had to look it up. I guess it's a North American term?

Sorry if this is not much help but if nobody shows up with the full answer perhaps this will get you part of the way there.
posted by rubbish bin night at 9:14 AM on November 19, 2010

I had never heard of 'Dutch-processed' cocoa and had to look it up. I guess it's a North American term?



A little bit of research I did would seem to imply that nearly all cocoa powders outside of the US are dutched. Probably why the term isn't as wide spread. The only way to tell if it doesn't say it is if an Alkali is included in the ingredient list.
posted by JPD at 9:49 AM on November 19, 2010

Best answer: Cocoa powder: as said, in every store. I prefer Droste...

Cocoa butter:
You could try one of the health/organic food stores (natuurwinkel); there are several in Enschede and at least one in Hengelo), but I can't say for sure if it's common in any of them.

However, I found two Dutch webshops that have it:

http://www.mastercareshop.nl/shop/cacaobutterrawwhitechocolateorganicfairtrade450g-p-175.html

and
http://www.unlimitedhealth.nl/shop/cacao-butter-pieces-organic-p-1270.html
respectively here, same shop:
http://www.unlimitedhealth.nl/shop/cacao-buttter-organic-p-1271.html
posted by Namlit at 9:54 AM on November 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: thanks!
posted by mirileh at 1:37 AM on November 20, 2010