Coenraad Johannes van Houten

Coenraad Johannes van Houten
Portrait of Coenraad Johannes van Houten
Born(1801-03-15)15 March 1801
Amsterdam, Batavian Republic
Died27 May 1887(1887-05-27) (aged 86)
Weesp, Netherlands

Coenraad Johannes van Houten (15 March 1801 – 27 May 1887) was a Dutch chemist and chocolate maker known for the treatment of cocoa mass with alkaline salts to remove the bitter taste and make cocoa solids more water-soluble; the resulting product is still called "Dutch process chocolate". He is also credited with introducing a method for pressing the fat (cocoa butter) from roasted cocoa beans, though this was in fact his father, Casparus van Houten's invention.[1]

  1. ^ "Onderzoekers in actie: Peter van Dam De geschiedenis van de firma Van Houten Cacao" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2008.