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Abstract

Disclosed is a method for processing unfermented cocoa beans, comprising the steps of: (a) adding water to said unfermented cocoa beans to form a suspension; (b) wet grinding said suspension; (c) subjecting said suspension to a heat treatment at a temperature of 70° C. or less; (d) separating the suspension into a water phase (heavy phase), a fat phase (light phase) and a solid phase, said fat phase comprising cocoa butter as a major component and solids and/or water as minor components and said solid phase comprising cocoa powder and water; and (e) separately processing the three phases, which optionally comprises: separating cocoa butter from the fat phase, separating cocoa powder from the solid phase, and separating cocoa aroma and a polyphenolic powder from at least the water phase. Further disclosed are methods of manufacturing of a cocoa product construction kit and chocolate or chocolate-like products comprising high amounts of nutritionally beneficial and useful components of the cocoa fruit, such as e.g. polyphenols, antioxidants, vitamins and/or sugars, making use of the above technique.

First Claim