From my understanding, a cocoa nib is unprocessed cocoa (correct me if i'm wrong please).
Are cocoa nibs ever used for cooking or baking? My assumption is that they need to be processed in order to be utilized.
Baking with Cocoa Nibs – Are Cocoa Nibs Used for Cooking or Baking?
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Best Answer
Cocoa nibs are the result of fermenting the seeds from the cocoa fruit (the size of a large grapefruit), and then roasting the whole cocoa beans, and then de-shelling them
The de-shelling process tends to gently crack the contents into large pieces. Unlike other seeds and nuts this is acceptable as the product is going to be finely ground anyway
You can also buy "raw cocoa nibs", which are fermented, de-shelled, but not roasted. These have a different taste, and do not make good chocolate
Roasted or not they taste interesting and are useful as a whole flavour item in salads, baking, drinks etc. They are very high in fat so use with caution. The fat also has a very low melting point, so will make any warm liquid dish look oily
They are not to everyone's taste, unlike chocolate compound :-)
In both these case the beans have been fermented on the ground for a few weeks. Non-fermented cocoa beans are not very nice (I haven't ever had any though). From what I understand they compare to fermented beans like non-pickled olives are too pickled olives :-/
Roasted cocoa bean nibs, and roasted cocoa beans
Non-roasted cocoa bean nibs