'Unsweetened cocoa powder' - Why is it so important that it's unsweetened?

Question

I just buy regular cocoa, it doesn't actually say whether it's unsweetened or not!! -- But what's the difference?!! can Anybody explain? 4 me please??

Thanks!! Much Love!!

~ New York City babe xx

Answer 1

When it is unsweetened it is pure chocolate or to say it better the flavor is pure chocolate. When sweetened it does not have the same strength as unsweetened. Usually when a recipe calls for it you are probably adding some sugar to it. Cocoa powder can be added to savory dishes as well. I once saw a recipe for it to be added to chili.

Answer 2

Generally when the cocoa is sweetened, it has instructions on the back to make cocoa by just adding water. If it's the unsweetened kind, it may or may not have a recipe and if it does have a recipe, it will call for adding sugar, milk and things like that. The cocoa that is pre-sweetened generally is a light brown in the container and the un-sweetened is dark brown. You'll see little granules in the sweetened kind and just plain powdery dark brown in unsweetened.

Also, on the sweetened kind, you never know how much sugar is in it and if you are baking with it, your end product might be too sweet. Same applies to salted and unsalted butter - your end product might be too salty with salted butter.

Answer 3

with unsweetened you can control the amount of sugar, usually for cooking, when you already have enough sugar in the recipe....also, sugar can burn when you are melting chocolate, and thus ruin the recipe.

reg. cocoa has sugar in it....good for many things, but not for some recipes.

Answer 4

unsweetened is more like bakers chocolate, and sweetened is more like Nestles quik