Like chocolate, cocoa powder is made from the pod-covered cocoa beans of the cacao tree.

Cocoa powder is produced from a dried paste called chocolate liquor that is left after 3/4 of the cocoa butter is extracted from fermented, dried, roasted and cracked cocoa nibs. Hardened chocolate liquor is ground into unsweetened cocoa powder, which can be used to make hot chocolate or in baked goods.

Dutch cocoa is treated to neutralize its natural acidity and has a rich chocolate brown color.