Droste Cocoa Powder, 8.8 oz (4 pack)

FIrst FAQ's Then review and RECIPE for hot chocolate below What is Dutch Process This is an alkali treatment that makes the cocoa less acidic and darker. The flavor is milder and less bitter but the color is darker. Can I use it baked goods? Yes, but unprocessed (like Hershey) will give greater lift (rise) Dutch process will taste fudgier (less rise) and also less dry and powdery. Can I make cocoa drink with it? Yes. Why does my cocoa not dissolve into the milk? Cocoa is hydrophobic (rejects water) To counteract that dissolve it (really mix to a smooth paste) in a little COLD water or cold milk before adding hot milk. Why is it so expensive now? You get a lot of cocoa in 8 oz but remember during COVID pandemic, everyone loaded up on chocolate to assuage loneliness and isolation. Or maybe it wasn'treally COVID and you all know that chocolate and lots of it is the specific remedy for dementor oppression. And apparently COVID depression and dementor oppression are similar. This is good cocoa, GREAT cocoa, rated BEST by Cook's Illustrated (America's Test Kitchen.) I think it's the best. I've been using this brand since childhood. (My sister and I liked to bake as kids. Still do.) I now like it for hot chocolate. You can make your own drink, it's a bit more work than opening a packet and pouring on boiling water but you get the best cocoa, and can choose your sugar amount (some, none, stevia, sucralose, whatever works for you.) And your type of milk, full fat, skim, soy, rice, coconut, hemp, almond. I use 1 pct cow milk. I make my hot chocolate by heating up the milk just to the boiling point, not boiling. Mix 2 tsp Droste cocoa powder with a splash of cold milk. Mix to a smooth paste. Pour on the 8 oz of hot milk, stirring to blend. (You can use a Mexican Molido mixer...works well.) I add one mini square of dark chocolate from Aldi (about 1/3 oz or 10 grams --size of a postage stamp) or two) a tiny pinch of salt and a pinch of cinnamon. Mix again. I don't bother with whipped cream but that's nice, or a big fat marshmallow. And then...flannel jammies, a movie and a fireplace and hey wait, it's July so turn down the AC and pretend it's Christmas already. Seriously, this is the best hot chocolate you'll ever have and it's worth the slight effort.

The review asked me to rate the "scent" - it doesn't really have a scent so I gave it a 5 anyway. This Dutch cocoa is delicious. I don't cook with it, I just make hot chocolate and mochas. It dissolves fairly easily, and has the best flavor. When the pandemic started in March of 2020, my only trip outside the house was a daily walk with my dog to Peet's Coffee to get a mocha. It cost $5.26 plus $1 tip. That's $6.26 x 365 x 3 years = $6,855. In the beginning of the pandemic I really tried to observe the mask rule and the 6 foot social distance, but other people didn't and it used to irritate me. So I looked in my storage area and found an old Krups espresso maker I hadn't used in 20 years, fired it up, and started making my mocha at home. The Droste cocoa is *much* better than whatever chocolate syrup Peet's uses, plus I can sweeten to taste. I figure my home mochas cost about $1.10 to make. $1.10 x 365 x 3 = $1205. Over the past three years I've saved $5650 of AFTER-TAX money, I have a delicious mocha made just the way I like it, and I didn't get Covid. YAY

Great cocoa powder. Made a cocoa set for Xmas for my holiday boutique Very chocolaty taste

This is the best tasting chocolate. I have made chocolate cake, delicious I also make a no bake chocolate cookie.

Let's start with opening the box. It's a pet peeve of mine. Seems like most everything you buy nowadays is hard to open. Something ALWAYS goes wrong. It just doesn't open the way you expect, the way the designers presumably expect it to open. It tears in the wrong place, or it's hard to open. Or you can't get it closed properly because it didn't open properly or the close design was faulty. Not so with Droste Cocoa. It's easy to open, it always opens as expected, it closes as designed and expected. It's downright elegant. Now to what counts the most: It tastes better than all the other gourmet cocoas and I've tried a bunch. I always come back to Droste Cocoa, been enjoying it since the middle 1960's.

Best Dutch Cocoa you can purchase. I have a cookie recipe that fails when I have use other brands.

Excellent flavor! Makes a wonderful Dutch Chocolate Pound Cake! Found out about this product on "America's Test Kitchen" where it was recommended as the best dutch chocolate by their chefs. It is often difficult to find locally, so I just order it here. It's a bit of a splurge, but it is worth it. I would absolutely recommend this product.

the very best cocoa.just don't know why it took a month to arrive.