Cocoa Butter Consistancy

[DeJae]

I have never used Cocoa Butter, I opened a new jar I got today from MMS and I assume it is proper...I guess I was expecting more of a butter.

It was real hard...had to scrap it out of the container with a stiff spoon.

Is this the normal consistancy of it?

[Carrie]

Yes, cocoa butter is pretty hard.

[Kelly]

I just got some today mine is a little softer than you describe but not much. Probably depends where you get it from there will probably be slight variances I would guess.

[CareBear]

hard hard. hard.

keep it in the fridge and it's even harder - you can toss chunks and knock out unfriendly neighbors.

ETA: I used to chunk it up with a butter knife but bent one and now use a flat-blade screwdriver.

[Kelly]

Do we want to store it in the fridge? How about Shea, Shea in the fridge too?

ETA: And forget what I said about mine being a little soft, it's not now, it probably was before because I had just received it in the mail and it's hot outside. Probably was just a little warmed up.

[Jadryga]

Here our average temp is about 24-30 degrees celsius and cocoa butter's still pretty hard, but chunkable. I use a butter knife like Carebear used to.

[CareBear]

It's always best to store butters and oils cool and dark. The fridge is great if you have room. IME, the shea should def go in the fridge if you can, with the cocoa butter next if there is still some room.

In my fridge are shea, mango, and cocoa butter. Also my grapeseed oil, my vitamin E oils, my infused oils... Not much food, but I do have milk too.

[sudsnwicks]

I have the one from MMS too. Yours is the correct consistency. I have to be sawing on it to get little pieces to break off. It's rather tedious using it, but oh it smells so good.

[Kelly]

In my fridge are shea, mango, and cocoa butter. Also my grapeseed oil, my vitamin E oils, my infused oils... Not much food, but I do have milk too.

Vitamin E too? I better make some room in the fridge! I was storing everything in a "rubbermaid" drawer thingy I have in my storage closet which is somewhat cool (we have AC) and it's always dark (except when I turn the lights on).

[Jami]

I have a separate fridge here in my workshop. Should I put all my oils and butters in it? I currently have them upstairs in a dark tub next to my air vent.

I am fairly new to the BB side and didn't know they should be in the fridge. Luckily, I haven't had any of the supplies that long.

Thanks!

[DeJae]

YES IT DOES SMELL YUMMY

Thanks all for verifying the cocoa butter consistancy, haven't opened them yet but guess shea and mango are the same!?!?

Ok, help us newbies out here, how about listing everything that should be in a fridge for us....

I have a second fridge just for soda cans, juice and extras this and that but most of the time it is empty, so I have room, just please name the goodies to put in there.

(thinking, oh boy, cocoa butter in the fridge, will need hacksaw to cut it up, )

I just opened 2- 5 gallon pail of citric acid from MMS too, opened one, it is all hard balls, can't even break them up with a screw driver. They and I are in dry climates, don't understand this, guess I am going to have to email them about it. Afraid to open the second pail.

[Carrie]

Shea and mango are not nearly as hard as cocoa butter. They will stay soft, like playdoh at room temp.

[CareBear]

And they are still softer than CB in the fridge too.

I chunk up my CB before stashing it in the fridge. That way I only need to select an appropriately sized chunk and whittle it down to be what I need.

As for what goes in the fridge? Anything you don't use up fast. You want to slow down the degeneration. IDEALLY you would store butters, many oils, FOs, EOs and milk powders as cool and dark as possible. Room temp is fine for most of the stuff, probably all of it, but in my house room temp hits 90+ in the summer.

[elegantnaturals]

After nearly chopping off my finger chunking up the cocoa butter I received from Brambleberry, I decided to melt it down and pour into a tart pan. Each cocoa butter tart weighs about an ounce which makes my experimenting so much easier! I can imagine though if I were using large quantities that this would not be an option.

Also, I keep my cocoa butter in the freezer until I need it. The same is true for the butters (shea, mango, etc) that I'm not using currently. Anything I am using (or opened) goes into the fridge.

The exception are the oils which I keep in a cool, dark closet in the coolest room in the house (my office, go figure).