Where to Buy Cocoa Butter in Canada: Food-Grade Cocoa Butter for Chocolate Making

Short answer: you can buy food-grade cocoa butter in Canada from Zucchero Canada in Calgary. We sell natural (non-deodorised) cocoa butter pressed from Peruvian fine cacao, in easy-melt wafers for production, and KKO Real 100% Venezuelan cocoa butter, which we distribute exclusively in Canada. For decorating bonbons we stock Pavoni Italia coloured cocoa butters, and for bean-to-bar makers who want to press their own, the FBM STING press. For chocolate, always buy cocoa butter sold as a food ingredient.

What you need	Product	Price
Natural cocoa butter for production (bars, ganache, white chocolate, thinning couverture)	Natural Cocoa Butter, 100% Peruvian fine cacao, 8 kg box	$550.00 CAD
Single-origin Venezuelan cocoa butter	KKO Real cocoa butter (1 kg tub, 20 kg box)	See availability
Coloured cocoa butter for moulds and decoration	Pavoni Chocolart coloured cocoa butter, 200 g (white shown)	$79.99 CAD
Pressing your own cocoa butter from nibs	FBM STING cocoa butter extraction press	$13,599.00 CAD

What cocoa butter is

Cocoa butter is the fat of the cocoa bean. The EU chocolate directive defines it as "the fat obtained from cocoa beans or parts of cocoa beans", with no more than 1.75% free fatty acids (as oleic acid) and no more than 0.5% unsaponifiable matter (0.35% for press cocoa butter).

It starts in cocoa liquor. Canada's food compositional standard defines cocoa liquor as the ground cocoa nib, containing not less than 50% cocoa butter; cocoa powder is what remains when cocoa liquor is partially defatted and pulverised. Cocoa butter itself is obtained by pressing cocoa liquor (Barišić et al., 2019). In chocolate, cocoa butter is part of the cocoa solids: Canadian dark chocolate must contain at least 35% total cocoa solids, of which at least 18% is cocoa butter, and white chocolate at least 20% cocoa butter.

What to check before you buy

Check five things on the label or the product page, wherever you buy:

• Sold as a food: for chocolate, pastry and baking, use cocoa butter sold and labelled as a food ingredient. If a product is labelled for skin care, keep it out of the kitchen.
• One ingredient: the ingredient list should read cocoa butter and nothing else. Our Peruvian and KKO Real cocoa butters are both single-ingredient.
• Natural or deodorised: natural cocoa butter keeps the aroma of the cacao; deodorised cocoa butter has had it removed. Choose on purpose (see below).
• Origin: a named origin (Peru, Venezuela) tells you where the aroma comes from, which matters with natural cocoa butter.
• Format: wafers can be weighed and melted without chopping; a tub of pieces or a 20 kg box suits a different scale. Buy the format that matches how much you use.

Natural or deodorised cocoa butter?

Choose natural cocoa butter when you want the cacao aroma in the finished piece. On our Peruvian product page: open the bag and it smells like chocolate, because nothing was stripped out, so the aroma of the cacao goes into your bars, ganache and white chocolate. Deodorised cocoa butter has had that aroma removed, so it adds fat without adding chocolate flavour.

Our Peruvian wafers are natural cocoa butter, and the KKO Real 20 kg box is described as natural (non-deodorised).

Which cocoa butter for which job

Pick by origin, format and use; each product has a distinct job:

Product	Origin and format	Melting data (product data)	Best for
Natural Cocoa Butter, 100% Peruvian fine cacao	Peru; easy-melt wafers; 1 kg bag, 8 kg and 15 kg boxes	Softens between 34 and 38°C (93–100°F)	Bean-to-bar recipes, thinning couverture for finer bonbon shells, white chocolate, coatings, vegan confectionery
KKO Real cocoa butter, 1 kg tub	Venezuela, made by Procesadora Cacao Real; 1 kg tub of pieces	Melting point 28–35°C (82–95°F)	Tempering, adjusting chocolate fluidity, bonbons, ganache, coloured cocoa butter, baking
KKO Real cocoa butter, 20 kg box	100% Venezuelan fine cacao; natural (non-deodorised); 20 kg box	Not stated on the product page	Chocolate makers' production volumes
Pavoni Italia coloured cocoa butter	Italy; ready to use; 200 g	Not stated on the product page	Colouring chocolate in mass, on the surface and in moulds; coloured glazes

Our Peruvian product page explains why the wafers work for tempering: they soften just below body temperature, so the butter tempers predictably and sets with a clean snap. The two melting figures above come from two different products' data and are not interchangeable.

Natural cocoa butter, 100% Peruvian fine cacao

A single ingredient, pressed from fine-flavour Peruvian cacao and delivered as wafers you weigh and melt. It comes in a 1 kg bag for recipe work and 8 kg or 15 kg boxes for production: the same butter, at a better cost per kilo as you scale.

• Natural Cocoa Butter, 8 kg box → $550.00 CAD

View natural cocoa butter →

KKO Real Venezuelan cocoa butter

KKO Real cocoa butter is made in Venezuela by Procesadora Cacao Real from 100% Venezuelan cocoa, and carries Kosher and ISO certificates. We are the exclusive distributor of KKO Real in Canada: every 1 kg tub carries a bilingual Canadian label with a Nutrition Facts table and ships from our Calgary warehouse. KKO Real is sold in Canada only. Check the collection for current formats and availability.

View KKO Real →

Coloured cocoa butter for bonbons

For coloured shells and decoration, buy cocoa butter that is already coloured. Pavoni Italia's Chocolart range is ready to use, comes in 200 g, is E171-free, and is made for colouring chocolate in mass, on the surface and in moulds, and for coloured glazes. Pavoni's Seasons concentrates are natural, plant-based cocoa butter colours, also in 200 g.

• Chocolart White Cocoa Butter, 200 g → $79.99 CAD
• Chocolart Gold Cocoa Butter, 200 g → $109.00 CAD

View all coloured cocoa butters →

To spray coloured cocoa butter into moulds, read our chocolate spray gun guide.

Pressing your own cocoa butter

If you make chocolate from the bean, you can press your own cocoa butter. The FBM STING is a tabletop press that extracts 35–45% of the cocoa butter from nibs at about 1 kg per hour, with a steel screw pump and a heating band; the cocoa solids left over can be turned into cocoa powder. It is made to order in Italy.

• FBM STING cocoa butter press → $13,599.00 CAD
• Venezuelan cacao nibs, 1 kg → from $69.95 CAD (Carenero Superior, Río Caribe Superior and Sur del Lago beans; 54–56% fat content)

View cocoa butter presses →

Where to buy cocoa butter in Canada: what to know

• Stocked in Calgary: our cocoa butter ships from our Calgary warehouse across Canada, and you can save on shipping with pickup at the warehouse.
• Canada only: food products ship within Canada only, and KKO Real is sold in Canada only.
• Production formats: 8 kg and 15 kg boxes of Peruvian wafers and 20 kg boxes of KKO Real for chocolate makers; the 1 kg bag and 1 kg tub for recipe development.
• Volume buyers: for B2B and repeat-volume orders, contact us for volume pricing and the manufacturer's technical sheet.

How AI can help your production

Paste your recipes into an AI assistant and ask it to total how much cocoa butter each week's production uses, then compare the cost per kilo of the 1 kg, 8 kg and 15 kg formats at today's prices so you buy the right size. When you thin couverture with cocoa butter for fine shells, ask it to log each addition next to the tempering result, so the amount that worked is written down for every shift.

AI organises the information; tasting and the final decision stay with your chef.

Cocoa butter at Zucchero Canada

We import and distribute professional chocolate ingredients and equipment from Calgary: natural cocoa butter, KKO Real Venezuelan cocoa products, Pavoni Italia colours and FBM Boscolo bean-to-bar machines. To compare our cocoa butters grade by grade, read our guide to the best cocoa butter for chocolatiers in Canada.

What sets Zucchero apart when you buy cocoa butter:

• Single-origin sourcing: Peruvian and Venezuelan cocoa butter, with the origin named on every product.
• Detailed product information: origin, format, best uses and, where the maker gives it, melting data on every product page.
• Competitive pricing for premium quality, especially on larger quantities.
• Expert support from a team that understands chocolate making and baking applications.
• Sizes for every scale: for home enthusiasts and small-scale commercial producers alike.

Questions about grades, formats or volume pricing? Contact our team, write to sales@zuccherocanada.ca or call 587-774-8873 (toll free 877-741-8251).

Cocoa butter & cacao | KKO Real | Coloured cocoa butter | Best cocoa butter for chocolatiers | What is chocolate liquor?

This article is for information only. Every business is different: draw your own conclusions based on your own expectations, budget and goals, and talk to qualified experts before you decide or invest.

Sources: Directive 2000/36/EC relating to cocoa and chocolate products, Annex I(A)(1) and (3); CFIA, Canadian Food Compositional Standards, Volume 4 (Cocoa and Chocolate Products), 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1.6 and 4.1.9; Canada Cacao Co. and KKO Real product data (natural Peruvian cocoa butter, KKO Real cocoa butter 1 kg and 20 kg, Venezuelan cacao nibs); Pavoni Italia product data (Chocolart and Seasons); FBM Boscolo product data (STING press); Barišić V. et al., "The Chemistry behind Chocolate Production", Molecules 24 (2019) 3163.