Coenraad Johannes van Houten | |
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![]() Portrait of Coenraad Johannes van Houten | |
Born | |
Died | 27 May 1887 Weesp, Netherlands | (aged 86)
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]