Summer 2026

V’karasa l’ Shabbos oneg – “and you shall call Shabbos a day of delight.”[1] Oneg Shabbos manifests itself in many delightful ways. On Shabbos Kodesh we enjoy delicious ma’acholim and sing l’his’aneig bisa’anugim. We delight in wearing beautiful clothes, taking a well-deserved afternoon nap and, of course, engaging in limud haTorah. All these combine to make the preeminent day of the week extra special.

And what could be more delightful than a steaming cup of coffee on a cold Shabbos morning? How about a delicious mug of hot chocolate?  Does the piping hot mug of hot cocoa mirror the steaming cup of hot coffee in the eyes of halacha? Let’s take a closer look and discover that the twain do not meet.

Chocolate 101

The prime ingredient in chocolate is the cacao bean, which grows in many regions of the world, including West Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia. Cacao beans are not created equal.

Chocolate producers categorize beans into three main varieties: Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario. The most expensive and rarest beans are from Criollo trees, which produce aromatic, premium-quality beans – these are found in only ten percent of manufactured chocolate. Commodity-quality beans used in the chocolates we are most likely to purchase are from the more ubiquitous, hardier Forastero tree – these are used in eighty percent of all chocolate production. Less commonly found are Trinitario beans, which are a combination of the other two types and have the best characteristics of each – more disease-resistant than Criollo but better-tasting than Forastero.

Cacao or Cocoa: What’s the Difference?

Before we continue, let’s clarify the difference between cacao powder and cocoa powder, because they are not interchangeable. Cacao powder is unroasted and cold-pressed, resulting in an inherent bitter flavor, while cocoa powder is roasted at high temperatures, often “Dutch-processed,”[2] giving it a milder flavor.

From Cacao Bean to Cocoa Powder

The cacao bean is one of Hashem’s most fascinating creations. In order for its potential to be fully unlocked, it requires processing. The raw beans are cleaned and roasted in giant roasters –  much like a coffee bean – to release the nib’s delicious cocoa flavors. The bean is then ground into a paste known as cocoa liquor, the primary ingredient of chocolate.

Cocoa liquor produced from premium cocoa beans is rich enough to form chocolate, but liquor made from standard beans lacks richness and cannot be made into chocolate without the addition of cocoa butter.

What is cocoa butter? The cacao bean is made up of over 50% natural fat. When squeezed under enormous pressure in a hydraulic press, the bean exudes fat that is yellow in color, similar to rich dairy butter, hence, the name, cocoa butter. Unlike dairy butter, however, cocoa butter is thicker, blander, and hardens at room temperature. What remains in this extraction process is a massive solid cake which, when ground, will produce cocoa powder. Ironically, for the chocolate manufacturer, the main commodity product is the cocoa butter and the ground by-product is the cocoa powder.

Cocoa powder, unlike other powdered products on the supermarket shelf, is not cooked. Cocoa powder is simply ground from the cocoa cakes. This fact is halachically consequential when one wants to prepare hot chocolate on Shabbos.

Halachos of Cooking on Shabbos

Let’s review some basic Shabbos principles about cooking on Shabbos and see how it applies to cocoa powder.

The first principle regarding a food item that was cooked and is presently dry is ein bishul achar bishul (O.C. 318:4, M.B. 33)– once something is fully cooked, no subsequent cooking takes place, and one is allowed to put the item into a hot bowl of soup, provided it is off the fire.

The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 318:5, Rama) posits: if something has been baked or roasted and is subsequently cooked, has one violated the prohibition of bishul on Shabbos? Case in point: can one pour hot chicken soup over challah that is resting at the bottom of your soup bowl? The poskim differ in their opinions. The halacha is to refrain from pouring hot soup from a pot (kli rishon) onto challah sitting in a soup bowl (kli sheini).

On the other hand, may one pour the soup first into the bowl and then put the challah in the bowl? The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 318, M.B. 45) is hesitant. Preferably, the recommended sequence is: soup pot (kli rishon) to ladle to soup tureen (kli sheini) to soup bowl (kli shlishi) and, lastly, the addition of the challah or baked croutons to the soup.

What about spicing the soup with salt or black pepper? Table salt is essentially cooked and crystallized (O.C. 318:9, M.B. 73), hence, the ein bishul achar bishul principle applies here and so salting hot soup is not an issue. Black pepper, however, is not so simple. Pepper is ground and, as is true for most spices, not cooked, and falls into a different category called tavlin (O.C. 318:10) –or food enhancers.

Here again, using our chicken soup example, one may not pour hot chicken soup from the pot (kli rishon) onto pepper sitting in a soup bowl (kli sheini). However, the Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 318, M.B. 65) is more accepting to permit spicing of hot chicken soup on Shabbos: once poured into the soup bowl (kli sheini), one may add spices directly to the soup.

Implications for Hot Chocolate on Shabbos

What practical ramifications do the halachic guidelines reviewed above have for our Shabbos hot chocolate challenge? As with any classic Jewish dialogue, we answer the question with another  question: how does halacha view cocoa powder in a hot cocoa packet?

• Is the cocoa a stand-alone primary ingredient, similar to challah in chicken soup?
• Or, is the cocoa a flavor enhancer (tavlin), similar to black pepper in chicken soup?

According to the Rema, if the cocoa is viewed as a primary ingredient in the hot cocoa packet, it is preferable to pour the water from the urn (kli rishon) into a cup (kli sheini) and transfer it to a third cup (kli shlishi), into which the packet of hot chocolate may be mixed.

The STAR-K’s Conclusion

Rav Moshe Heinemann shlit”a, STAR-K’s Rabbinic Administrator, views the cocoa as a flavor enhancer, rendering it the halachic status of tavlin, and thus permits adding the hot cocoa to a mug of hot water (kli sheini). Note that under no circumstance may one pour water directly from the urn (kli rishon) onto the cocoa mix on Shabbos, which would constitute bishul, cooking an uncooked, roasted item.[3] Clearly, the world of chocolate is a fascinating journey that covers a plethora of halachic shailos with every step. From Yoreh Deah (ingredients and process) to Orach Chaim (brachos and Shabbos), chocolate covers all the topics in an amazingly delicious way.

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[1] Yeshaya 58:13.

[2] In Dutch processing, the cacao bean is treated with an alkaline solution, typically potassium carbonate or sodium hydroxide, to increase its pH and neutralize its acidity.

[3] A packet of Ko-Sure hot cocoa is a blend of a sweetener (sugar/sucralose), Cholov Yisroel powdered milk, cocoa, vanilla sugar and cellulose gum. The ingredients are blended and packed in individual packets at room temperature. The recommended instructions are to empty the contents of one packet into a mug and to add six ounces of hot water. This method is precisely what is not permitted on Shabbos because the hot water poured from a kli rishon onto the cocoa blend would “cook” the mixture.