People Are Just Discovering Cocoa Powder Is Waterproof

Cocoa powder is one of the most commonly used baking ingredients, but did you know it's 'waterproof'?

After Lucy at @glambrownies shared a video on her TikTok page, other users were shocked that they'd never realised, despite using the ingredient heaps of times.

You can watch the clip below:

In the clip, Lucy can be seen running the kitchen tap over a spoonful of cocoa powder. But instead of mixing, the water simply bounces off the spoon instead.

"When I first started baking and found out cocoa powder was waterproof," Lucy captioned the video.

The baking guru later clarified that by waterproof, the correct term to describe the powder is actually 'hydrophobic' which means it does not mix easily with water.

But why does this happen?

Well, it's all down to the fat molecules within the cocoa powder that repel water, in the same way you cannot mix oil with water either.

Cocoa powder also contains starch molecules, which are hydrophilic (basically, they love water) and increase in size when exposed to water, creating a resistant barrier.

This is why - when cocoa powder is submerged in water or milk - the starch molecules on the outside get wet, but inside, the pocket of cocoa is totally dry.

Science is amazing!

And people on TikTok were shook that they'd never realised, with one writing: "I just found out like right now. Lol."

While another said: "EXPLAIN PLEASE."

And a third added: "Lmao I just found out this right now."

And a fourth said: "HUH. I just learned this."

Others were pretty clued up on the science behind it, with another adding: "Yup, it's hydrophobic, baking = science."

And another wrote: "I found that out when I tried to put it in milk, thinking it was chocolate powder."

Did you know this?