>Always wondered if various "cocoa" products listed on ingredients lists
>could have diary.  I realize that only a relative few manufacturers will
>own up to using a "dairy line" that may introduce trace dairy into their
>products which don't list dairy as an ingredient.
>
>What about:     Cocoa butter
>                Cocoa solids
>                Cocoa powder
>                Cocoa
>                Cocoa etc.?
>
>Greg Epler Wood
>Bennington, Vermont (The Dairy State)

Greg,

I hope this help some.

Milling the Cacao Beans to Produce Chocolate (feb.97 non-dairy.org)

Chocolate comes from the bean of the Cacao trees that grown in the tropical
forests of Africa and South America. The chocolate taste and aroma is
created in a special fermentation process. The cacao beans are heated in
fermentation boxes. They start out the process as purple seeds and end the
process as brown beans. After fomentation the beans are dried, sorted and
cleaned.

Next the Cocoa butter is created by cracking the beans and extracting the
so-called "butter" from the kernel. Once the butter is removed the kernel is
ground into a powder. This powder is what we call cocoa powder. Then the
powder can be mixed with many different ingredients including milk and
milk products to produce the endless variety of chocolates available.

DAIRY-FREE Chocolates

       Baking Chocolate - unsweetened chocolate in block form

       Chocolate Liquor - melted unsweetened chocolate

       Cocoa Butter - The oil that is extracted from the fermented cacao
       bean

       Cocoa Powder- Powder of the ground cacao bean

Border Line - Chocolates

       Dark Chocolate - Dark Chocolates can me made with-out milk.
       So hunt around and read very carefully. If your loved-one doesn't
       have a life threatening allergy to milk ,Dark Chocolate may be a
       loving surprise. The reason for being extra cautious is most
       chocolate manufactures produce milk chocolates on their machines
       so milk trace could be in the dairy-free dark chocolate they produce

       Semi-sweet, Sweet Chocolates - often processed on the same
       machinery as other products that have milk in them like milk
       chocolates, so they are not generally considered safe for people with
       milk allergies. There are some brands that claim to manufacturer
       dairy-free chocolate chips. Please read the labels carefully. Milk
       chocolate, as you may suspect by now, has milk in it.

Now your ready for to take the plunge and sort through your cookbooks for
some chocolate delights.