Use of clarified butter in the chocolate industry

Clarified butter is a cheap industrial fat, which is used to reduce costs. It is significantly cheaper than high-quality cocoa butter! Find out here why we do without it in our production.

A variety of ingredients are involved in the complex process of chocolate production. Cocoa bean, cane sugar or clarified butter - the ingredient list of different chocolate bars varies greatly. The following blog post deals with the topic "clarified butter" and provides you with a lot of interesting information about the origin, the manufacturing process and the use of clarified butter in the chocolate industry. We will then explain in detail why we have deliberately decided not to use clarified butter.

Clarified butter - what is it actually?

The vegans among you will know that the answer to the question "Is clarified butter vegan? Many chocolates do not contain animal products such as milk powder, but clarified butter is often found on the list of ingredients.

Clarified butter is highly heatable, which is why it is often used for frying, baking and deep-frying. But be careful: clarified butter is a fat with a high content of saturated fatty acids. As a result, clarified butter - like other animal fats - is one of the fats that have been shown to contribute to obesity, cardiovascular disease and arteriosclerosis.

Cultivation, extraction and trade of clarified butter

Cooperation with agriculture is essential in the extraction of clarified butter, as the basic ingredient is either fresh cream or butter. The question of whether clarified butter contains lactose must therefore be answered in the affirmative .

In order to turn cream or butter into the coveted butterfat, it undergoes an industrial process. Clarified butter is a technically produced, pure fat made from cream or butter. To obtain pure butterfat as the end product, proteins, water and other ingredients are removed from the cream or butter.

In commerce, clarified butter can be found in foods such as chocolate or cookies and is very popular due to its low purchase price.

Clarified butter in chocolate processing

Whether in discount chocolate or cookies - the cheap industrial fat is used without batting an eye to stretch products. This is because high-quality cocoa butter is a lot more expensive.

Pure butterfat is by no means a must in chocolate production. Retailers could easily dispense with this ingredient and use more high-quality cocoa butter instead. Why this is not done is solely due to economic reasons.

Why does fairafric not use clarified butter?

You will not notice pure butterfat in any of our products on the ingredient list. This is because we deliberately avoid using this ingredient, as quality and health are our top priorities.

fairafric only uses high quality cocoa butter, which is much better than clarified butter.

Another reason why we deliberately speak out against clarified butter lies in the circumstances of its pricing. Conventional agriculture leads to overproduction of milk (and other animal products), which are subsidized by the state on a large scale. This circumstance allows the industry to produce a cheap product from milk surplus. In our opinion, this has nothing to do with sustainable consumer behavior.

Conclusion

Clarified butter is a cheap industrial fat that is used to reduce costs. It is significantly cheaper than high-quality cocoa butter, which is why it is used to stretch it. A process which is mainly used in discount chocolate.

This is a conscious decision of manufacturers to save costs. Our decision - to do without this cheap industrial fat - is also a conscious positioning. Because besides the social component, our chocolates should contain only the highest quality ingredients. At fairafric, you can expect 100% cocoa butter - without any extenders.