Cocoa Powder

Asked by Itzenbrink. Answered on 18th January 2013

Full question

Where I can buy Nigella's "Dean and Deluca Bensdorp Cocoa Powder" in London? In which supermarket does Nigella buy it for the "Chocolate Cherry Trifle" in "Nigella Feasts Crowd Pleasures"? Thank you very, very much!

Our answer

Dean and Deluca is a famous New York gourmet supermarket which sells many high quality products under its own label. There are stores in New York and other locations in the US, plus outlets in the Middle East, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. They also have a mail order service in the US but we believe that they do not currently ship internationally. Nigella will often bring back ingredients from her overseas trips.

The cocoa powder itself is made by the Dutch company Bensdorp and you may be able to find their cocoa powder from other on-line sources. The powder is "Dutch processed" which means that it has been treated with alkali. This reduces the acidity of the cocoa powder and makes it slightly less bitter than natural cocoa powder. Some people also believe that it has a more rounded flavour than natural cocoa powder.

You can use any good quality Dutch processed cocoa powder in the Chocolate Cherry Trifle. Green & Black's is probably one of the easiest to find in the UK, or Valrhona is another good brand to look out for.