4. Cocoa Butter Characteristics
4.1. Free Fatty Acid (FFA)
FFA can have an impact on the hardness of cocoa butter and therefore its processing quality, specifically its crystallisation properties. High FFA butter makes poor quality chocolate, affects bloom, tempering, and can affect the flavour.
Although some FFA may be released from the triglycerides constituting the cocoa butter during factory processing or through poor storage conditions of final products, high FFA levels are mainly associated with poor post-harvest practices.
Lipase enzymes within the seed itself will start to breakdown the triglycerides during seed germination so timely harvesting of pods is important to prevent seeds germinating within overripe pods.
However, the action of microbial lipases associated with pod diseases and poor drying and storage practices is likely to be the major source of FFA.
The fat from whole and healthy beans which have been fermented and dried thoroughly without delay, stored properly and exported promptly from origin will generally have an FFA content of less than 1% and certainly less than 1.3%. Beans which contain fat with a higher FFA content may be due to the use of beans from diseased pods, very slow drying after fermentation (particularly where there are clusters of beans which have not been properly separated from the placenta), high % of broken beans, prolonged storage under humid conditions or with a moisture content above 8%, insect infestation during storage or prolonged storage of beans at tropical temperatures in the country of origin.
These abuses can result in an FFA content above 1.75% which is the legal limit for cocoa butter within the EU (Directive 2000/36/EC) (EU, 2000) and in the Codex Standard for cocoa butter (CAC CXS 86-1981, Rev.-2025).
As explained above, increased levels of broken beans and fragments can significantly increase the FFA content of the fat extracted.
Cocoa butter with an FFA content of 1% or less, together with acceptable flavour in both butter and cocoa mass, is the best indication that the beans were sound at origin and have been prepared and stored properly.
